Though discovery of the original Passion still continues to elude discovery today, its unique instrumentation – including two gambas and two colascioni (theorbo-family lutes) – led Rust to suspect that the music for this Passion might be related to or perhaps recycled from an earlier work.

Indeed its predecessor is the Trauer-Ode, the funeral tombeau Bach composed in 1727 for his former employer in Köthen, Prince Leopold. The Trauer-Ode’s text is, however, brief by comparison to the Passion. With the original Passion libretto extant, however, a search for arias matching the scansion of the Markus-Passion text began…. and it has persisted now for a century and half.

This new edition by Malcolm Bruno offers three beautiful and virtually unknown arias to fill the empty places left by the shorter music of the Trauer-Ode, along with a unique role for an actor as Evangelist. This ‘pocket passion’ of just four singers, actor, and single strings compliments Bach’s two enormous Passions with the intimacy of chamber music, befitting the vigil Christians hold during Easter week for the most important story of their faith.

The authoritative nature of this reconstruction is evident in Breitkopf’s decision to publish it, over 250 years since their loss of Bach’s autograph score. It has been recorded and broadcast in America by the celebrated British actor, Simon Russell Beale (in English), and performed in the Lucerne Festival by Bruno Ganz (in German). Violinist Bjarte Eike of Barokksolistene has championed the work, performing it in Washington DC and Austria. It has never been fully staged.

Concert Theatre Works has created its first-ever staged version, with memorised singers dramatically supporting acclaimed actor, Joseph Marcell (Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Shakespeare’s Globe, Royal Shakespeare Company and The National Theatre). Writer/Director Bill Barclay has fashioned a theatrical presentation that tours the four singers and Marcell to period orchestras who recreate Bach’s long lost vision in few rehearsals and in intimate spaces. Following pandemic delays, Marcell and Barclay will give the world premiere production in New York City on April 13th, 2025 at Music Before 1800 for its 50th anniversary. The production will be filmed and tour internationally in 2025-26.