Search - Andrea Lucchesi, G. Battista Columbro, Orchestra Barocca di Cremona :: Luchesi: La Passione di Gesù Christo

This Passion setting by Andrea Luchesi (1741-1801) was probably written in 1776, just before Luchesi was named Kapellmeister "for life" of the Principate of Cologne and Bonn. Luchesi strengthened the chapel (which had become one of the best in Germany), and built up the sacred repertoire to match the importance of the principate. At the beginning of 1776, the chapel began to commission original sacred works (often composed exclusively by the Kapellmeister) for each event of the liturgical year. Luchesi intended to give public demonstrations of the results achieved in the chapel, and thus was born La Passione di Gesù Cristo, created exclusively for the chapel of the prince of Cologne. For this composition of non-liturgical sacred music, Luchesi reworked and set to music a libretto by the poet Metastasio, which had previously been used by other composers.