St John Passion

Introduction

The first person to translate a Bach Passion into English was Helen Johnston (1813-1887), who produced a St. Matthew Passion text for Sir William Sterndale Bennett's 1862 edition. She appears not to have turned her attention to the St John Passion, despite Sir Joseph Barnby's frequent revival of it in London in the early 1870s; and it was left to the prolific Rev. John Troutbeck (1832-1899), a Minor Canon of Westminster Abbey, to produce the first English translation for Novello's 1896 edition. He had already covered the same ground as Helen Johnston by producing a St Matthew translation in 1894. The famous Elgar/Atkins edition of the St Matthew (1911) - so long the favourite version of choirs up and down the country - uses elements of both the Johnston and Troutbeck translations, picking out their choicest lines and fitting them together in an unsatisfactory sandwich. But when, in 1929, Ivor Atkins produced Novello's second version of the St John he ignored Troutbeck's earlier version and opted for a new translation from the hymn-writer Dr. T.A. Lacey.

Discussion

This version remained the only way of performing the St John in English until Peter Pears and Imogen Holst prepared their edition for Faber in 1969. This was used on Benjamin Britten's 1972 recording. For a while, during the 1970s and 80s it received a certain number of performances; and I can remember several memorable concerts when Pears was Evangelist and I sang the Tenor Arias. However, the edition was only available on hire, and gradually disappeared from view. So, this is the extent of the previous editions which I have been able to consult in my endeavours to produce a new, singable, English edition for the new century.

Fortunately I now have the experience of having produced the New Novello Choral Edition of ...