Bach Choir of Bethlehem

St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244 Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

passion \pa-shun\ noun. [from the Latin passio, meaning suffering, being acted upon]: 1 often capitalized a: the sufferings of Christ between the night of the Last Supper and his death; b: an oratorio based on a gospel narrative of the Passion
2(obsolete): suffering
3: the state or capacity of being acted on by external agents or forces
4 a (1): emotion (2): plural: the emotions, as distinguished from reason; b: intense, driving, or overmastering feeling or conviction; c: outbreak of anger
5 a: ardent affection: LOVE b: a strong liking or desire for or devotion to some activity, object, or concept

The above definitions, adapted from Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (10^th edition), are just some of the many listed for the word "passion." In our secular world, the first meaning of "passion" which usually comes to mind is the one listed under number 4 or 5 above, a definition related to intense emotion or love. The heading "Bach's Passions" refers actually to the first definition, but the others are not unrelated. Bach's Passions -- there are three of them -- are oratorios based on the gospel narrative of the Passion. But anyone who knows the Passion story knows that it is a tale filled with suffering; a tale filled with emotions, not reason; the ultimate tale of love and devotion...

The Passion story
The Passion technically begins with the Last Supper, the last Passover meal Christ shared with his disciples, on the night before he died. Christians commemorate the Last Supper every year on the feast of Holy Thursday (sometimes called Maundy Thursday). Some versions of the Passion begin earlier in the week, with Christ's triumphant entry into the city of Jerusalem; while this sets up the dramatic turn of events, as the jubilant welcome of Christ is abandoned for his death, it is technically not part of the Passion story.

There are four Passions in the Bible, corresponding to the four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Bach set the Passion three times, using the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and John as the source for his inspiration. Of these, only the setting from St. Matthew and St. John survive; Bach's St. Mark Passion was lost (a few pieces survive), and a setting of the Passion according to St. Luke was falsely attributed to him. (This means someone claimed Bach wrote it, but experts believe that's not true.) Since the St. Matthew Passion and St. John Passion are the ones which survive in their entireties, they will be the focus of these discussions.

The Passion according to St. Matthew is by far the longest. It is probably no surprise that Bach's musical setting of this is also easily the longer of the two. (Bach's family, in fact, called it "the great Passion" because of its enormous length.) Comparing the basic elements of the Passion story side-by-side, we can see where the Matthew and John accounts differ or agree:

St. Matthew (Chapters 26-27)	St. John (Chapters 18-19)
1. The chief priests seek to destroy Jesus
2. Jesus is anointed with precious ointment
3. Judas plans the betrayal of Christ
4. The disciples prepare the Passover meal (Last Supper)
5. The Last Supper
6. The Agony in the Garden
7. The arrest of Jesus	1. The arrest of Jesus
8. The hearing before high priest Caiaphas	2. Jesus is led before Annas
9. Peter's denial of Christ, and his remorse.	3. Peter's denial
10. Judas' repentance and death	4. The hearing before Caiaphas
11. The trial before Pontius Pilate	5. The trial before Pontius Pilate
12. Soldiers crown Jesus with thorns, mocking him	6. Soldiers mock Jesus
13. Crucifixion	7. Crucifixion
14. Death of Jesus, followed by an earthquake	8. Death of Jesus
15. Descent from the Cross; Christ's burial	9. Descent from the Cross; Christ's burial
16. Chief priests demand the tomb be sealed.

Although the overall scope of St. Matthew's story is broader, individual scenes in St. John's version are longer, most notably, Christ's trial before Pilate.

The Passion in Music Prior to Bach
The tradition of setting the Passion story to music is almost as old as the gospels themselves. From the earliest times of formalized church music, the Passions were chanted by the priests. Since the texts are so long, many large portions of the Passion were performed on a reciting tone, were the words were sung rapidly without a set rhythm and without changing pitch. This kind of music would look like this in our modern notation:

Later, composers wrote Gregorian chants to the texts of the Passion. Sometimes, different singers would represent different characters: Jesus Christ, Pontius Pilate, Judas, Peter. Since the Passion is read several times during Holy Week -- the week before Easter, beginning with Palm Sunday (sometimes called Passion Sunday) -- there were and are numerous occasions for musical and dramatic retellings of the tale. In fact, as time passed, the Passion productions became more and more elaborate, and increasingly more dramatic, sometimes so much so that they had to be moved out of the church, since these productions involved the use of the vernacular (the native language of the people, rather than Latin, the language used in the Catholic Church), props, costumes, and acting.

But officially, the Church liked the dramatic productions of Passions, even when they involved laymen (not clergy), since the church was not only a place of worship, but also a common meeting place and the center of the community.

As music evolved, so did the composition of Passions. In the Renaissance (c. 1400-1600), some composers alternated polyphonic choruses with Gregorian chant, reserving the chanted numbers for soloists who represented the Evangelist or Christ, while the chorus would represent the crowd. Later in the Renaissance, some composers created a particular genre of the Passion called a "motet Passion." In a motet Passion, the entire text is sung by an a cappella choir -- essentially, it is a long series of motets. The problem with this genre of Passion was that the same texture and timbre was used for everything, so individual characters in the story could not be developed or distinguished by the music. This is the most unrealistic of the musical Passion settings.

In creating his Passions, Bach drew on parts of all these traditions, plus the musical practices common to his day, including the use of basso continuo, recitative, and a colorful orchestra.

continues