Passions (Homilius)

Gottfried August Homilius composed Passions for Good Friday services at the Kreuzkirche in Dresden where he was music director (Kreuzkantor) from 1755 to 1785, including oratorios based on the gospels of Matthew and John, Luke and Mark in German.

[1] He attended schools in Dresden and then studied law in Leipzig, where he was also musically active, possibly with Johann Sebastian Bach.

From 1755 until his death in 1785, he was Kreuzkantor, directing the Kreuzschule and responsible for the church music at the Lutheran Kreuzkirche, the Frauenkirche and the Sophienkirche in Dresden.

[1] His most popular work dealing with the passion of Jesus was a cantata, "Ein Lämmlein geht und trägt die Schuld", HoWV 2.

[5] The Passion was performed by the Schiersteiner Kantorei, conducted by Clemens Bosselmann, at the Marktkirche Wiesbaden on 11 March 2023[3][5][11] with soloists Helena Bickel, Jean-Max Lattemann, Gabriel Sin, and again Klaus Mertens, Georg Poplutz as the Evangelist, Frederic Mörth as the voice of Christ, and the Barockorchester La Vivezza.

[6] It was first recorded in the 21st century by the Dresdner Kreuzchor and the Dresden Baroque Orchestra,[13] with soloists Jana Reiner, Katja Fischer, Franz Vitzthum, Stephan Keucher, Christian Lutz and Clemens Heidrich, Jan Kobow as the Evangelist and Tobias Berndt as the voice of Jesus, conducted by Roderich Kreile.

[6][14] A reviewer noted that the unusual triumphant elements, with horns, were delivered with emphasis, and the extended arias showed a good combination of vocal lines and counterpoint.

[15] The Markuspassion (St Mark Passion), "So gehst du nun, mein Jesu, hin", HoWV 1.10, is an oratorio in 47 movements, in two parts.

[16] The madrigal poetry was probably written by a contemporary, such as Traugott Benjamin Berger [de], who wrote other texts for Homilius, or the pastor Ernst August Buschmann.