1750 Johann Sebastian Bach - BWV 244 - St. Matthew Passion

BWV 244; Year: 1724 (revised multiple times); Genre: Baroque Period/classical

Today's pick number is 1750; the year 1750 not only marked the passing of the incomparable master composer and keyboardist J.S. Bach, but also is where musical historians mark the passing of the big sounding and bombastic Baroque Period and the birth of the "absolutes" and, (as a rule), the "wallpaper music" that was the Classical Period.
For the most part, just like what happens today, (like when disco fell out of favour in the late 70s and the same with glam metal in the late '80s to early '90s), musical tastes shift and with it comes new forms of music, although it was at a much slower rate. However, I doubt during the 1750s you'd see too many people waving banners and wearing shirts proclaiming things like, "The Concerto Grosso Sucks!" or smashing harpsichords as they would do now when musical tastes in the mainstream shift, although I could be wrong.
Of course it is a bit of a misnomer to say that everything Baroque was gone in 1750 or that Classical had fully arrived by that date. I fully believe that with the passing of a composer as great as J.S. Bach, whose style was more or less embodying the Baroque Period, his death was used symbolically as a crossover. That being said, it's also quite interesting to see how many other great composers of the old guard passed away around the mid 1700s and on the obverse, it's just as interesting to see how many people who would become great Classical Period composers were being born at the time. After that shift J.S. Bach and his contemporaries were largely forgotten for many years; for J.S. Bach it wasn't really until Felix Mendelssohn, who was a notable composer from the Romantic Period, discovered and resurrected his music and helped to place him at the top with the other most famous composers.
Anyway, with this pick number being 1750 I figured that I would pick another one of my favourite pieces from J.S. Bach; this is my favourite of Bach's five Passions. This was one of the Passions that was performed many times during his lifetime, he also revised it a few times.

You can find most of the performance here on this YouTube search.



My song pick a year ago today: UB40 - Tears From My Eyes

My song pick two years ago today: Jethro Tull - 10.08 to Paddington

My song pick three years ago today: Jethro Tull - Mayhem, Maybe

My song pick four years ago today: The Kinks - Dedicated Follower of Fashion

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