The original Latin title Passio Domini nostri J.C. secundum Evangelistam Matthæum translates to "The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the Evangelist Matthew".

The available information derives from extant early manuscripts, contemporary publications of the libretto, and circumstantial data, for instance in documents archived by the Town Council of Leipzig.

In 1725 Christian Friedrich Henrici, a Leipzig poet who used Picander as his pen name, had published Erbauliche Gedanken auf den Grünen Donnerstag und Charfreytag ("Edifying Thoughts on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday"), containing free verse suitable for a Passion presentation in addition to the Gospel text.

In this version both choirs have SATB soloists and chorus, and a string section and continuo consisting of at least violins I and II, viola, gamba and organ.

Bach worked together with his librettist, Christian Friedrich Henrici, known as Picander[4] who published the text of the libretto of the St Matthew Passion in 1729.

Picander wrote text for recitatives and arias, and for the large scale choral movements that open and close the Passion.

Bach used the hymns in different ways, most are four-part setting, two as the cantus firmus of the two chorale fantasias framing Part I, one as a commenting element in a tenor recitative.

Like other Baroque oratorio passions, Bach's setting presents the Biblical text of Matthew 26–27 in a relatively simple way, primarily using recitative, while aria and arioso movements set newly written poetic texts which comment on the various events in the Biblical narrative and present the characters' states of mind in a lyrical, monologue-like manner.

49, "Aus Liebe will mein Heiland sterben", where the absence of strings and basso continuo mark a desperate loss of security.

The other is the extensive use of chorales, which appear in standard four-part settings, as interpolations in arias, and as a cantus firmus in large polyphonic movements.

This is notable in "O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde groß", the conclusion of the first half – a movement which Bach also used as an opening chorus for the second version (1725) of his St John Passion (later – ca.

[15] The opening chorus, "Kommt, ihr Töchter, helft mir klagen" is also notable for the use of chorale cantus firmus, in which the soprano in ripieno crowns a colossal buildup of polyphonic and harmonic tension, singing a verse of "O Lamm Gottes, unschuldig".

[1] As is typical of settings of the Passion (and originating in its liturgical use on Palm Sunday), there is no mention of the Resurrection in any of these texts (apart from indirect allusions at Matthew 26:32 and 27:53 and 63).

This theme is reinforced by the concluding chorale of the first part, O Mensch, bewein dein' Sünde groß (O man, bewail your great sin).

Bach's recitatives often set the mood for the particular passages by highlighting emotionally charged words such as "crucify", "kill", or "mourn" with chromatic melodies.

In the turba parts, the two choruses sometimes alternate in cori spezzati style (e.g. "Weissage uns, Christe") and sometimes sing together ("Herr, wir haben gedacht").

Bach often uses madrigalisms, as in "Buß und Reu", where the flutes start playing a raindrop-like staccato as the alto sings of drops of his tears falling.

The Evangelist, a tenor voice, sings the Gospel text in a declamatory style called secco recitative, that is, with only a continuo accompaniment.

Direct speech sections of the Gospel text are brought by other singers in the same "secco" format (e.g. a soprano voice sings the words spoken by Pontius Pilate's wife), except for: Apart from the Evangelist and the Vox Christi the dramatis personae of these Gospel sections of the St Matthew Passion consists of: In between the sections or scenes of the Gospel text, other texts are sung as a meditation or underlining the action, in a variety of formats: In the scheme below indentation indicates the type of movement: |→ Cornerstone choral movements 1.

Kommt, ihr Töchter, helft mir klagen – O Lamm Gottes unschuldig (Chorus I & II – Cantus firmus by ripieno soprano choir) 2.

Wir setzen uns mit Tränen nieder (Chorus I & II) The work is divided into two parts to be performed before and after the sermon of the Good Friday service.

27b) furiously demands against the Jews who arrested Jesus "Zertrümmre, verderbe, verschlinge, zerschelle / Mit plötzlicher Wut / Den falschen Verräter, das mördrische Blut!"

Part One is opened by the chorus "Kommt, ihr Töchter, helft mir klagen" (Come ye daughters, join my lament), on a text by Picander.

Aria (soprano) The narration follows Jesus' instructions for securing the upper room for Passover, and the beginning of the Last Supper.

The work is closed by a grand scale chorus in da capo form, choir I and II mostly in unison for the first part Wir setzen uns mit Tränen nieder (We sit down in tears), but in dialog in the middle section, choir II repeating "Ruhe sanfte, sanfte ruh!"

Mendelssohn's revival brought the music of Bach, particularly the large-scale works, to public and scholarly attention (although the St John Passion had been rehearsed by the Singakademie in 1822).

Sterndale Bennett 1845 edition of the Passion was to be the first of many (as Adolph Bernhard Marx and Adolf Martin Schlesinger's one in 1830), the latest being by Neil Jenkins (1997) and Nicholas Fisher and John Russell (2008).

[30] Once the fuller group of singers and the orchestra were brought in, Devrient recalled, participants were amazed at "the abundance of melodies, the rich expression of emotion, the passion, the singular style of declamation, and the force of the dramatic action.

Their first performance was effectively publicized in six consecutive issues of the Berliner Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung, founded and edited by Adolf Bernhard Marx.

[35] The Hamburg Ballet production has been reproduced several times, including at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York in 1983[36] and the Los Angeles Opera in 2022.