1750 the Oberammergauer passion play was completely recreated and reaches with it its literary zenith. Ferdinand Rosner, „poeta doctus ” [1] and professor of the rhetoric at the academy of knight's created the ‚Passio Nova ‘ with the title ‚Bitter suffering, winning death and glorious resurrection of the confirmed son of God father introduced to the congregation... ‘ [2]. Nearly at the same time the Epos ‚Der Messiahs’ by Klopstock's was published.[3]. Literally the new passion is of equal value to Klopstocks opus. [4] this passion corresponded stylistically as well as formally to the artistic claims and the attitude to life of the baroque. The plot which is based on the new testament is subdivided into nine acts all of them are instigated by a ‚living picture‘.
This form of pictures Rosner adopted from the old passion und developed them to 18 prefigurations. With these living pictures situations were taken from the old testament. He creates more than 90 roles which arise partly logically from the new testament. The figure of the devil and to this provided the allegorical figures of the vice, the stinginess, the envy, the death, the desperation and the sin, he adopts from the old play, however, in contrast to prior, he now let them directly intervene into the play.
Possibly inspired by the Weilheimer passion [5], Rosner adds to his play a protective mind, the ‚Genius Passionis ‘ which is accompanied of six other protective minds. This group, which is in opposite to the diabolical powers, forms the origin of the today's big choir. [6]
Rosner has written the dialogs as well as chanted texts into cadenced language. These arias and recitatives, whose music has got lost, corresponded to the Italian opera taste of the time. All in all the text encloses 8455 verses [7]. Oberammergau, up to now only one passion play under many, became the model for other passion plays, for example: Tölz, Freising, Dachau, Kiefersfelden, Oberaudorf, Thiersee and Erl[8].