Spiritual music for the Passion triggers a rollercoaster of emotions

Admittedly, it is not easy, feel-good music that will be performed in Aachen Cathedral on Sunday, 6 April at 6 pm. But you wouldn’t expect it to be during the Easter penitential season, when the Aachen Cathedral Choir performs Bach’s St Matthew or St John Passion in alternate years in keeping with tradition. This year, this practice will be interrupted for a change due to the recent change of leadership in the office of the cathedral choirmaster.

Instead, cathedral organist Michael Hoppe will perform ‘Music for the Passion’ on the organ and play the ‘Way of the Cross / Le Chemin de la croix’ by Marcel Dupré. The complex work, which is one of the most important compositions of the 20th century for the organ, cannot be clearly assigned to a musical genre, but rather operates as an organ meditation, combined with contemporary text reflections by pastoral counsellor Stefan Voges, pastoral counsellor.

‘Dupré himself originally improvised this work to texts by Paul Claudel,’ says Michael Hoppe. ‘Musically, I see a beautiful symbiosis between drama and very internalised moments. The individual stages from the condemnation of Jesus to his death on the cross are subtle meditations with a conscious theology behind them. You can literally hear the hammer blows and gasp for air, then suddenly pause in silence or feel the emotions of the encounter with the weeping women. It’s music that – if you let yourself in – goes through your bones!’

The audience is in for an intense 60 minutes, which already serve as spiritual preparation for Easter in that the ‘Way of the Cross’ at the end, with its timid, quiet sounds, offers a glimpse of the resurrection and the victory of life over death.

Admission to the concert is free, but an appropriate donation is requested at the exit.