The Houston Seminar is offering a three-lecture series examining the passion narrative as set to music in the great oratorios by Handel (“Brockes” Passion, Messiah) and Bach (St. John and St. Matthew Passions). Michael Marissen, professor of music at Swarthmore College, will explore musical and textual aspects of the passion story, illustrating with recorded excerpts.
Lecturer Marissen is the author of Lutheranism, Anti-Judaism, and Bach’s St. John Passion and essays on Bach and religion in Harvard Theological Review, Lutheran Quarterly, and The New York Times.
The class will meet at Christ the King Church. The final session, on Palm Sunday, precedes a presentation by the Bach Choir and Orchestra of Handel’s Brockes Passion.
The lectures are follows: March 31, Tuesday, 7:00 p.m.; April 2, Thursday, 7:00 p.m.; April 5, Sunday, 5:00 p.m. (pre-concert lecture, followed by 6:00 p.m. concert).
Cost of the series is $60; lectures are also priced individually (session 1-2 $25 each, Sunday $15; students $10 each, Sunday $5). Information and registration