On Monday, April 6th, a Nikolaus Matthes special in ‘Geen dag zonder Bach’. He has composed an ending to Johann Sebastian Bach’s unfinished ‘Kunst der Fuge’: a new Contrapunctus XIX. And from April 7th to 9th, we will broadcast the entire St Mark Passion.
Two years ago, the programme ‘Geen dag zonder Bach’ broadcast a newly composed St Mark Passion. The music of Bach’s original St Mark Passion has been lost, but Picander’s libretto has been rediscovered.
Many musicologists have attempted reconstructions by ‘fitting’ parts of earlier music to the libretto. However, the Swiss composer and musicologist Nikolaus Matthes composed completely new music to accompany this libretto. He decidedly did not want to create a reconstruction, but an entirely new St Mark Passion with Bach’s musical idiom.
The Concertzender was therefore the first radio station to broadcast this new St Mark Passion two years ago. In itself a revolutionary project with many wonderful reviews, but also facing quite a bit of resistance from the Bach stronghold.
Our radio broadcast was picked up by the Cantor and Organist of St. Jacobi in Göttingen, Stefan Kordes, who immediately contacted Nikolaus enthusiastically to request permission to perform the St. Mark Passion with his Jacobikantorei in Göttingen.
The German premiere took place there recently, in March 2026, and Nikolaus has since been approached to perform his St. Mark Passion at the Bachfest in Leipzig in 2027. Well-deserved recognition for Matthes!
In the episode of ‘Geen dag zonder Bach’ on Monday, April 6th, 2026, we speak with Nikolaus Matthes about the progress of his St. Mark Passion, but he also plays a new project: he has finished the abruptly interrupted Art of Fugue, Contrapunctus XIX. We play that piece and ask Nikolaus why and how he completed it. Two years ago, we spoke with Nikolaus about the St Mark Passion on our podcast ‘Bach & Co’.
Listen to the episodes here: March 11th, 2024 March 18th, 2024
View the schedule for Geen dag zonder Bach on Monday, April 6th, 2026 (1:00 PM – 2:00 PM) here.
