За четыре года до этого концерта бабушка молодого музыканта Белла Саломон подарила ему копию рукописи этого (к тому времени почти забытого) шедевра.

Со смерти Баха в 1750 году музыкальный язык неоднократно и разительно менялся, и баховские сочинения, хотя и восхищали профессиональных музыкантов, и служили для них серьёзной "школой", для представления широкой публике считались неподходящими.

"Страсти" после смерти Баха не исполнялись, да и за пределами Лейпцига (в котором Бах долгое время жил и работал) никогда не звучали.

Учитель Мендельсона Карл Цельтер воспитывал ученика на сочинениях Баха, но был обеспокоен идеей публичного исполнения произведения "устаревшего" стиля, да ещё и такого масштабного! Не случится ли провала?

Мендельсон сократил "Страсти" для берлинской премьеры. Некоторые исторические инструменты пришлось заменить более новыми.

Несмотря на все опасения, успех этого концерта стал источником возрождения широкого интереса и к музыке Баха, и, в дальнейшем, ко всей "доклассической" музыке.

Триумф подарил юному Мендельсону всеобщее признание. "Страсти" пришлось повторить ещё дважды. Цельтер дирижировал в третьем концерте.

The literary basis of "Passion" is the text of the Gospel (usually from Matthew, John, Luke or Mark), which tells about the suffering and death of Jesus Christ.

Actors: * The evangelist is a storyteller (tenor), setting out first -person events. * Jesus - a separate batch, often performed by bass. * Other characters - Apostle Peter, Pilate, Crowd, etc. * Choir - can personify the people.

"Passions" are performed by concert or in the church.

The concerto was published in 1896 with a dedication to the pianist Louis Dimmer (1843 - 1919), who performed it several times. But at the premiere to mark the 50th anniversary of the composer's debut at the Salle Pleyel in Paris, Saint-Saëns himself was at the piano.

According to the author, the work recreated both a sea voyage and the fairy-tale world of the East. Saint-Saëns states that he heard the main theme of the second movement, the "Nubian love song", from boatmen on the Nile and wrote it down on his sleeve. At the end of the second movement, frogs and the chirping of Nile crickets can be heard.

At the opening concert, the orchestra played under the baton of Walter Damrosch (American conductor) and Pyotr Tchaikovsky.

Seeing how many people crowded the upper tiers, the architect of the hall, William Tuthill, left the auditorium right during the performance to double-check his drawings. He was not sure that the supporting columns would withstand the weight of the crowd, but, fortunately, all the calculations turned out to be correct.

Tchaikovsky described Carnegie Hall well, calling the auditorium "extraordinarily impressive and majestic" when it was "illuminated and filled with the public."

Today, the first dance school in Russia is named after the ballet dancer, choreographer, teacher and founder of ballet theory Agrippina Yakovlevna Vaganova.

Shelomo is the Hebrew name of King Solomon. The voice of Shelomo is the cello. When talking about this voice, the words of critic Guido Gatti are usually quoted: "The cello, with its considerable breadth of phrasing, sometimes melodic, sometimes reaching the heights of lyricism, sometimes declaiming, with a dramatic play of shadow and light, is the embodiment of Solomon in all his glory. The soloist's part, more vocal than instrumental, seems to be a musical statement deeply connected with Talmudic prose."

Bloch dedicated this work to the remarkable cellist, Alexander Mikhailovich Barzhansky, a native of the Russian Empire. The composer not only admired his performing art, but also found a friend in him during the difficult years of World War I.

It is curious that Barzhansky not only played in chamber concerts with excellent pianists (for example, with Artur Schnabel), but also often played music with amateurs - Albert Einstein and Elizabeth of Bavaria, Queen of Belgium.