This Passion oratorio Gethsemane und Golgatha was composed in the astonishingly short period from 22 to 28 July 1838 on a text by the evangelist Wilhelm Schuber, a close friend of Friedrich Schneider’s. The premiere took place on Good Friday, 29 March 1839, in the Dessau Castle and City Church under the composer’s direction. Contemporary reviews rank the “curious” work “… with respect to the form, in line with the Passions of the great J. S. Bach, constructed with such pious meaning and high art...