St Matthew Passion
A visual translation to enrich Bach's St Matthew Passion
This book contains both the original German lyrics and a Dutch translation of Bach’s St Matthew Passion.
I started this project after I visited a St Matthew Passion performance in 2018. Throughout any performance, it is a common practice to read the accompanying lyrics. Since both music and visuals respectively can reinforce each other well, I wanted to enrich the experience of listening to this brilliant music piece with modern visual aspects. This makes the experience more meaningful.
The St Matthew Passion is immensely layered. Hence, I created a lyrics book where all these layers and emotions become visible.
Every copy contains a unique screen-printed front and back cover.
The book was bound by Wytze Fopma
Red/ blue theme
Once you open this book, the unusual layout will catch your eye immediately. The red/ blue theme refers to Da Vinci’s Last Supper where Jesus is displayed in a Red and Blue dress.
Red symbolizes Passion and Love, w
Calm and somewhat Spiritual. Standing in front of Da Vinci’s Last Supper fresco, I realised that these elements describe the St. Matthew Passion perfectly.
I created a conceptual layout that takes time to discover as it takes time to understand all the hidden elements that Bach has put into the St Matthew Passion.
The red and blue sheets respectively are necessary since they separate the Dutch and German lyrics from one another. When one puts the Blue sheet on, the German lyrics appear and Dutch if the red sheet is used.
Modern style
The St Matthew Passion is a piece of music that applies to all of us because of its many emotions. The modern visual language makes it more accessible to a broader group of people.
I created five modern scenes of The Last Supper, The Foot washing, The Judas Kiss, The Torture and The Entombment. This was done with professional dancers Vera Goetzee, Jente Hageman, Marie Körbl, Milang Lie Meeuw Lew, Lotte Aimée de Weert and photographer Edward Hermans.
The scenes can be found in the book through five fold-out pages. Moreover I made various cut outs of the dancers’ facial expressions from each of the five scenes. These can be revealed on every left page through the red and blue sheet.
