The tradition of Passion oratorios recounting the crucifixion of Jesus Christ dates back to the 17th century. In the following century, composers added sophisticated arias and recitatives to the elaborate choral parts. These oratorios, simply called Passions, were performed during Holy Week in practically every German Lutheran church. This tradition was also observed at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, where in 1723, the nearly forty-year-old Johann Sebastian Bach accepted the position of cantor.
TheSt. John Passion was composed a year later. It was the first of three Passion oratorios he wrote. The second was the monumental St. Matthew Passion, and the score for the third, composed to the words of the Gospel of Mark, has been lost.
In each of these Passions, the text of the Bible is literally sung by the tenor – the Evangelist (in this case, St. John) – while other singers are assigned to the remaining characters in the drama. The choral parts and some of the arias, whose texts were not taken from the Gospel, comment on the described events. It is possible, though not certain, that Bach himself wrote the words to the captivating choral parts that open and close the St. John Passion. What we can be sure of is that the first of Bach's Passions proved to be one of the greatest masterpieces in the history of music, not only because of its perfected oratorio form but also due to its emotional, psychological, and philosophical depth, which has remained profoundly moving and relevant for three centuries.
Excerpt from Bach's St. John Passion performed by The Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner:
