Many of the fast tutti choruses sung before this chorale return after it, but then with different words and in reverse order (like, for example, ‘Wir haben ein Gesetz’ – ‘Lässest du diesen los’ of ‘Sei gegrüßet’ – ‘Schreibe nicht’). The chorale ‘Durch dein Gefängnis Gottes Sohn’ is seen as the heart of the Passion. In the chorus ‘Bist du nicht’, for example, the voices enter in increasingly rapid succession and at shorter intervals, so that it seems almost as if more and more people join in the shouting. Bach underlines the shouting and jeering with his music. The short choir sections contain a lot of shouting, screaming and cursing.
The flogging is clearly heard, both in the singing and in the accompanying continuo. A fairly direct expression of the words is to be found in many of the recitatives, for instance when the Evangelist tells how Jesus is flogged. He is not afraid and knows everything that will happen – so also that the crucifixion will not be the end of him.īach often adds an extra dimension to the words through his music. Throughout his suffering, this divine origin still plays a role and nowhere is Jesus as human as in the other gospels. John’s version places the emphasis on Christ’s divine origin. The Passion story as told in the Gospel of John is different from that told by the other three evangelists – Matthew, Luke and Mark. For the solo arias, he used poetry from popular Passion anthologies by Barthold Heinrich Brockes, Christian Weise and Christian Heinrich Postel. At key moments, Bach added well-known hymns, which are sung and played by the whole ensemble. The biblical passage is presented by the solo tenor (the Evangelist), and the various roles (Jesus, Pilate, the disciples and the people) are taken by the other singers. Jesus was captured, led before Kaiphas and Pontius Pilate, judged, crucified and put to death. The thread running through the St John Passion is the biblical passage traditionally read on Good Friday, John 18 and 19. During the corona crisis in 2021 – when the Bach Society’s annual tour of the St Matthew Passion could not take place – René Jacobs deliberately opted to perform this version instead. The new ending, too, is a call for compassion. The masterly new opening transformed the whole Passion into a more subdued piece. He also wrote a third new aria: ‘Himmel reiβe’. The vehement ‘Zerschmettert mich’ took the place of ‘Ach mein Sinn’, and instead of ‘Betrachte meine Seel’ and ‘Erwäge’ he wrote the aria ‘Ach windet euch nicht so’. He replaced the closing chorale with ‘Christe, du Lamm Gottes’, which he had written earlier. He wrote a new opening chorus: ‘O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde groβ’, which he also used later in the St Matthew Passion.
For this quick reprise, Bach made some fundamental changes to the piece. One year after its first performance, the St John Passion was performed again. It was the first Passion music he had written as cantor in Leipzig, in 1724. He first performed the piece at Vespers on Good Friday (the Friday before Easter), in Leipzig. In the St John Passion, Bach sets the Passion of Christ to music as the story is told in the Gospel of John. Yet this ‘other’ Passion is certainly a match for its ‘big brother’. The St John Passion is less well known than the St Matthew Passion. Mein Herz indem die ganze Welt (Arioso)ģ7. Schreibe nicht: der Jüden König (Chor)Ģ7b. Da Pilatus das Wort hörete (Rezitativ)Ģ3e. Durch dein Gefängnis, Gottes Sohn (Choral)Ģ3c. Da Pilatus das Wort hörete (Rezitativ)Ģ2. Und gaben ihm Backenstreiche (Rezitativ)Ģ1g. Sei gegrüßet, lieber Jüdenkönig (Chor)Ģ1c. Und die Kriegsknechte flochten (Rezitativ)Ģ1b. Barrabas aber war ein Mörder (Rezitativ)Ģ1a. Nicht diesen, sondern Barrabam (Chor)ġ9c. Auf dass erfüllet würde das Wort (Rezitativ)ġ9a. Da sprach Pilatus zu ihnen (Rezitativ)ġ7e. Wäre dieser nicht einer Übeltäter (Chor)ġ7c. Christus, der uns selig macht (Choral)ġ7b. Petrus, der nicht denkt zurück (Choral)ġ6. Simon Petrus aber folgete Jesu (Rezitativ)ġ5. Jesus ging mit seinen Jüngern (Rezitativ)Ĩ. O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde groß (Chor)Ģa.