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The Great Passion | James Runcie

4 posts | 2 read | 3 to read

'A wise, refreshing novel, and a touching human story ... Runcie has an expert imagination' HILARY MANTEL Love and Death. Grief and Joy. Music that lasts forever. Leipzig, 1726. Eleven-year-old Stefan Silbermann, a humble organ-maker's son, has just lost his mother. Sent to Leipzig to train as a singer in the St Thomas Church choir, he struggles to stay afloat in a school where the teachers are as casually cruel as the students. Stefan's talent draws the attention of the Cantor � Johann Sebastian Bach. Eccentric, obsessive and kind, he rescues Stefan from the miseries of school by bringing him into his home as an apprentice. Soon Stefan feels that this ferociously clever, chaotic family is his own. But when tragedy strikes, Stefan's period of sanctuary in their household comes to a close. Something is happening, though. In the depths of his loss, the Cantor is writing a new work: the Saint Matthew Passion, to be performed for the first time on Good Friday. As Stefan watches the work rehearsed, he realises he is witness to the creation of one of the most extraordinary pieces of music that has ever been written. '[A] moving and fascinating portrait of a rare moment in musical history ... memorable and rewarding' LUCY JAGO

Libby1

The Great Passion | James Runcie

The Great Passion is beautifully written historical fiction based on the life of Bach. In this passage Bach is helping a student get through a particularly difficult passage on the organ but I thought he was giving good life advice:

“This is how we master a problem… We run up to it until we find that it is so familiar that it no longer holds its terrors… Then we can continue without anxiety. You could give it a cheery wave as you say goodbye.”

jenniferw88 Please let me know how this is... I know at least 3 people I could give it to! 🤣 2y

Libby1 @jenniferw88 - I will. It‘s excellent so far! 2y

48 likes1 stack add2 comments

Lauren.Archer

The Great Passion | James Runcie

pick

This did start a little slower for me, but very much picked up at the end that I actually wanted a little more. I am not sure, if my timing was slightly off for reading this and maybe in a month or so, I would have loved it even more, but it was still a solid read. If you love baroque music or just want to read a good story, then give this one a try.

59 likes