St Mark Passion (attributed to Keiser)

Jesus Christus ist um unsrer Missetat willen verwundet is a St Mark Passion which originated in the early 18th century and is most often attributed to Reinhard Keiser. It may also have been composed by his father Gottfried or by Friedrich Nicolaus Bruhns. Johann Sebastian Bach produced three performance versions of the Passion, the last of which is a pasticcio with arias from George Frideric Handel's Brockes Passion. There are two other extant 18th-century versions of the Passion, both of them independent of Bach's versions. The Passion was performed in at least three cities in the first half of the 18th century: in Hamburg in 1707 and 1711, in Weimar around 1712, and in Leipzig in 1726 and around 1747.

The passion was probably composed around 1705 by Gottfried Keiser, by his son Reinhard, or by Friedrich Nicolaus Bruhns. The 18th-century scores of the composition don't always indicate a composer, but the name of Reinhard Keiser or "Kaiser" is found there. The work can also be considered as an anonymous composition. The music of this passion is known from Bach's three versions, from an anonymous manuscript score that originated in or around Hamburg, and from another anonymous manuscript score that is conserved in the county of Hohenstein, Thuringia. No libretto author for the original work is known. Also for the later arrangements text authors are largely unknown, except for the pasticcio parts by Handel based on the Brockes Passion by Barthold Heinrich Brockes.

The oldest record of Jesus Christus ist um unsrer Missetat willen verwundet is a staging in the Cathedral (Dom) of Hamburg in 1707. Shortly before the end of the 20th century a printed libretto of that performance, and that of a repeat performance in 1711, were rediscovered. These performances were directed by Friedrich Nicolaus Bruhns (also spelled: Brauns), the music director of the Hamburg Cathedral from 1685 to 1718, hence the association of the Passion setting with this composer. Possibly the versions performed in Hamburg in 1707 and 1711 were adapted from an earlier lost version, maybe not even composed for Hamburg. The earliest extant copy of the music of the Passion was produced by Johann Sebastian Bach for performance in Weimar around 1712. Which model was used by Bach is not known: it may have differed from the scores used in Hamburg. Bach's adjustments to the score he had before him were probably minor.

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