I couldn’t turn down an offer from Bloomsbury to send an advance reading copy of the historical fiction account of Johann Sebastian Bach’s composition of the “St Matthew Passion” in 1727. James Runcie, in The Great Passion, uses the reality of Bach’s faith and proficiency and the known people who surrounded his work and creates a story that feels true. The writer’s style that feels like classical literature adds to the authenticity.
The difficulty of the work and the great faith behind it flow through the account. Several passages contained uniquely phrased words of faith and wisdom.
From Stefan: I remembered a collector at my last school, one of the teachers who told us that the study of insects was the key to understanding God’s process of creation and renewal. The smallest creatures often contained the most intricate wonders.
From Ernesti: Scripture was for when you have no adequate language. Listening was a form of prayer. Sitting at someone’s bedside in times of sorrow was an act of prayer. Acknowledging that there are times when we are powerless was an act of prayer. . .The life of the faithful involved making everything an act of prayer.
From Anna Magdalena: Every death was different. Grief was specific and precise. There was not general understanding of sorrow or of loss, and anything they might say to Stolle, the words they used, the songs they sang, the advice they gave, could not take away how swiftly and painfully his wife had departed this life.
The story is told through the eyes of Stefan Silbermann, a former Bach pupil as a remembrance of their time together, when he learns of the great musician’s death. After his mother’s death when he was thirteen, Stefan’s father sent him to study under the great master. His assumption was that this would enhance Stefan’s skill for the family business of building and servicing organs. Attitudes of the times, bullying from other boys, and the ever-present threat of death and grief are constants throughout the book that comes to a climax with witnessing an execution and the way it feeds the completion and performance of the “St Matthew Passion.”
The Great Passion is a book for music lovers and for lovers of classical historical fiction. The only difficulty is remembering that is fiction!