Gottfried August Homilius belongs to the last generation of composers of the 18th century who, in addition to the popular Passion oratorios, continued to write oratorio Passions using biblical texts. From his pen a Passion for each of the four Gospels has survived. With sensitive arias, unusal orchestral sound and expressive turba choruses Homilius translated the traditional Passion to his times. It was surely not a coincidence that in Hamburg Carl Philipp Emanuel Bachr resorted primarily to the Passions of Homilius, especially the St. Mark Passion, which he first performed in an abridged version in 1770 and whose music he employed in 14 of his 21 pasticcio Passions.
Scoring: Soli SATB, Soliloquenten, Coro SATB, 2 Fl, 2 Ob, 2 Fg, 2 Cor, Timp, 2 Vl, Va, Bc. Duration: 140 min.