No 192 St Matthew Passion

Our series closes with a film rarity, the seldom-screened Matthäus Passion by Ernst Marischka, who became famous for his Sissi films. In his unusual screen adaptation, the director makes sole use of the power of the fine arts – works by Cranach, Rembrandt, Rubens and other tell the story of the Passion. The camera picks on details and creates visual associations; at times, the paintings seem almost to be animated. Accompanying it, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Herbert von Karajan performs a 90-minute version of the Passion. In his »light« version of the St Matthew Passion, with this novel combination of painting and music Marischka succeeds in creating great intensity. We talk with the Leipzig painter Michael Triegel about this »first oratorio in film form«, as Marischka himself described his work.