No 18 The Death of Jesus

For around 150 years – from its premiere in Berlin in 1755 to the end of the 19th century – the Passion oratorio »Der Tod Jesu« (»The Death of Jesus«) by Carl Heinrich Graun was one of the most popular sacred works in Protestant Germany. The libretto by the Berlin-based Enlightenment poet Carl Wilhelm Ramler forgoes the use of biblical quotations and instead recounts the suffering and death of Christ in affecting, sentimental poetry, to which Graun wrote an appropriate musical setting. In recent years, the Gellert Ensemble from Leipzig have taken a deep interest in works of the »empfindsam« style, which makes them the ideal performers for Graun’s masterpiece.