The Garden Act

Jesus Predicts Peter’s Denial (Nos. 14-17) The next recitative includes several interesting word-painting motifs and musical illustrations. When the Gospel mentions “the song of praise”, the bass line has an ascending line of 16th notes. Next, as Jesus quotes the Old Testament, the music illustrates the scattering of the sheep. Lastly, when Jesus announces his […]

The Preparation of the Passion

Opening Chorus (No. 1) Bach’s St. Matthew Passion opens with a monumental choral fantasy that lays out the architecture for the entire work, through a dialog between the two choirs: one representing “the Daughters of Zion” (“Die Töchter Zion” – Jerusalem and its people, and, indirectly, everybody involved in the actual events of the Passion […]

Speaking to humanity

It was only in 1721, 3 years before Bach’s first Easter in Leipzig, that the local church authorities allowed the then-cantor, Johann Kuhnau, to perform a Passion Oratorio in concertante style for the Good Friday evening service.  Up until then, the long-standing tradition in Leipzig (as opposed to other, more progressive locations in Germany) had […]