Joseph McHardy

Prom 40: St John Passion

~ Andrew Benson-Wilson

BBC Proms: Bach’s St John Passion
Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki
Royal Albert Hall, 19 August 2024


Bach’s Passio secundum Joannem, the St John Passion, was first performed on 7 April 1724 during the Good Friday Vespers at the Nicholaskirche in Leipzig, a last-minute change from the originally planned Thomaskirche. It was less than a year since he took up the post of Thomaskantor, a post that, infamously, had been first offered to both Telemann and Graupner who both turned the offers down. The 300th anniversary of the first performance was one of several anniversaries celebrated during this year’s BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall. It was first performed complete at the Proms in 1967, although extracts had been incorporated into the popular ‘Bach Wednesdays’ since 1924.

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Chineke! Voices: Vicente Lusitano

~ Andrew Benson-Wilson

The music of Vicente Lusitano
Chineke! Voices, Joseph McHardy
St Martin-in-the-Fields, 18 June 2022

Vicente Lusitano (c1520-c1561)
Beati omnes qui timent Dominum; Hic est Michael Archangelus;
Emendemus; Ave Spes Nostra; O Beata Maria; Regina Coeli;
Quid Montes, Musae?; Salve Regina; Inviolata, integra et casta es

The latest incarnation of the Chineke! Foundation (whose aim is to champion change and celebrate diversity in classical music) is Chineke! Voices, a group of professional black and ethnically diverse singers whose debut concert at their base at St Martin-in-the-Fields was dedicated to the music of the 17th-century Portuguese composer Vicente Lusitano (c1520-c1561). Lusitano was probably the first European composer of African descent to be published in Europe (Liber primus epigramatum 1551). He was a key musical figure although, helped by a bit of fake news by another musician, Vicentino, who lost a feud with Lusitano over a complex argument on musical theory. he has largely been written out of musical history. Lusitano’s music has been researched and edited for this concert by the conductor Joseph McHardy.

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