St. Matthew Passion

The St. Matthew Passion is the monumental passion by J. S. Bach considered to be one of the pillars of Western musical culture. It was first performed in Leipzig on Good Friday, 1727 or 1729.

Musical settings of the story of the Passion of Jesus taken from the four Gospels had been part of church liturgy during Holy Week from the earliest times and from the 13th century had taken on some dramatic content with the use of different solo voices for the various characters, supported by choruses for the crowd and disciples. Lutheran settings in northern Germany by the time of Bach had developed into a form of oratorio, presented in the vernacular where chorales, and other settings of devotional texts and even instrumental passages were introduced between the strictly scriptural text passages taken from the appropriate Gospel.

Bach composed five settings of the Passions. One, St. Mark, is lost; there are doubts as to the authenticity St. Luke; and there are references to a single choir version of St Matthew that no longer exists. Only St. John, first performed in 1724, and St. Matthew survive.

The St John Passion had been considered too theatrical, and this aspect was “toned down” in St. Matthew. The work is still extremely large scale however, and is scored for the following:

• Two four-part choruses (choirs) - with an additional treble (or frequently these days, women's) choir for the initial movement. (One or other of these choirs sing the roles of the disciples, followers and unite for the "crowd" and the various chorales throughout the work.)
• Two orchestras, each comprising strings, pairs of flutes and oboes, a bassoon with organ with other parts requiring three types of oboe, two recorders and a viola da gamba. (This orchestration has changed over the years with performances by modern much larger symphony orchestras using then unknown instruments such as the clarinet.)
• Soloists comprise the “Evangelist” (narrator) a tenor, Jesus (bass) and additional soprano, alto (or contralto) tenor and bass who sing the roles of other characters as required – Pilate, Judas, Joseph of Arimathea etc.,

The text is taken from Martin Luther’s translation of the gospel according to Matthew, interspersed with arias, recitatives and choruses contemplating the events taking place and appropriate chorales – these already familiar to the congregation – appearing from time to time. The material not taken from the scriptures was written by one Christian Freidrich Henrici, working under the non-de-plume Picander, who had already written material for the St John Passion and a number of Bach’s cantatas. The narrative, which is in two parts, begins with the events leading up to the Last Supper and ends with Pilate ordering a watch over the Tomb.

The first performances were in 1727 and 1729, before a revised version was heard in 1736. There exists an autographed version of the score in Bach’s own hand that he prepared immediately after this last performance. Already the compositional style of Bach’s mature period was beginning to lose favour and there is no further known performance of the work until 1829 when Felix Mendelssohn prepared and conducted a much augmented version of the score. Similar versions were the norm until the “early music” movement during the last third of the 20th century brought about a plethora of performances and recordings based on modern perceptions of the original style and sound, using “authentic” instruments and techniques.

Either way, this work - with Bach’s own St John Passion and Mass in B minor, and Handel’s “Messiah” - sits at the pinnacle of the sacred music of the High Baroque; and can be included with the greatest works of any genre of any time.

Organization

The biblical text of the St. Matthew Passion is taken from chapters 26 and 27, which is sung piecemeal throughout the work by the "Evangelist" in recitative. Aside from this unifying element, the work is structured much like other Baroque oratorios such as the Messiah, with weighty movements involving full chorus interspersed with solo arias. A feature of Bach's other Passions and sacred cantatas, the chorales were intended to involve the congregation.

What sets the Passions apart from the sacred oratorios of Handel is the seamless way in which the elements work together to provide a continuous and cohesive narrative. The dramatic device often works in the following way: the evangelist first quotes from scripture and informs the listeners what is happening; next, one of the soloists offers their personal reaction to the events; then one of the choirs gets involved either to urge the action forward or to react as a crowd; lastly, the congregation and choirs sing a hymn of lament together for Jesus's impending doom.

One of the most illustrative examples of this smooth narrative progression begins with the duet "So ist mein Jesus nun Gefangen" (No. 27), which takes place immediately after Jesus has been arrested. The alto and soprano sing in disbelief about Jesus being taking away in chains in long, twisting melodic lines, over which the second chorus sings with sharp accents "Let him go! Don't hold him!" When this doesn't appear to work, both choruses suddenly erupt angrily with "Sind Blitze, Sind Donner":

Have lightning and thunder disappeared in the clouds?
Open your fiery pit, O Hell;
Wreck, ruin, engulf, shatter
With sudden force
The false betrayer, the murderous blood!

The Evangelist and Jesus continue after this, as Peter cuts off the ear of the guard, and Jesus reassures the disciples that prophecy is being fulfilled. In this case, it is unclear if the choruses and soloists are supposed to represent the crowd, or the disciples, or as a stand-in for the congregation's horror, but it acts as a terrifying interlude between the action as related in the gospel.

Orchestration and Musical Style

Bach wrote parts for several instruments that are no longer used in the modern orchestra. In the string section, the viola da gamba (a smaller version of the cello, but with six strings frets) has an important and virtuosic solo part, which is often replaced by the cello. It is in the woodwinds where the greatest differences are found. Instead of flutes, which did not exist as we know them in the 1730's, Bach wrote for "flauto traverso," or wooden recorders. In addition to oboes, Bach wrote for a pair of the leather crescent-shaped "oboes da caccia," which fell out of use after Bach's death. While our modern knowledge of how the oboes da caccia sounded is sketchy, Bach's use of the instrument in the St. Matthew Passion suggests a very exotic, dark sound, used to chilling effect in "Ach, Golgatha!" (No. 59).

For listeners whose only acquaintance with Bach is the keyboard music and popular choruses such as "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring," the Passions sound surprisingly dissonant and chromatic. Especially in the music for the Evangelist, whose vocal lines modulate frequently to distant keys, it sounds very "modern" compared to other Baroque music.

At the point in the Passion where Pilate asks the crowd who he should set free, Jesus or Barrabas, the choirs both sing at top volume a fully-diminished seventh chord.

In keeping with the lamentful subject-matter Bach makes frequent use of the piangi, or crying motive. This typical Baroque figure consists of two slurred notes containing a half-step fall (i.e., C to B).