It is some years since the Banbury Choral Society sang this work, (April 2001!) so it is with special anticipation that we look forward to the performance.

Towards the end of his first year as Cantor at the St Thomas School in Leipzig, Bach composed his first large-scale setting of the passion of Jesus Christ, based on the narrative in the gospel according to St John. As there are one or two dramatic omissions in the passion story in John’s Gospel, Bach borrowed from St Matthew for Peter’s lament and for the earthquake. The first performances of this special festival work took place in St Nicholas’ church, Leipzig on the afternoon of Good Friday 1724. The performance in Bach’s day was interrupted by a lengthy sermon of over an hour, deepening the reflections on the passion narrative.

Two huge choral movements begin and end the work and enfold the story of the death of Jesus, beginning with his entering the Garden of Gethsemane where he was arrested. The biblical narrative is mostly set in recitatives sung by the evangelist and other soloists who represent persons in the story. The chorus represents the crowd!

Solo arias serve as points of repose and reflection, as do the numerous well-known chorales or hymns where the choral forces represent the congregation and react and respond to the drama of Christ’s suffering and crucifixion.

For later performances Bach made several revisions of movements, but his final version of 1740 closely resembles the original plan. His second great passion setting was that of St Matthew’s Gospel, first performed in 1727, and he certainly composed others , but these are now lost.