

The soloists of Bach’s Passion reflect important characters in the narrative: Jesus, Judas, Peter, two high priests, Pontius Pilate and his wife, two witnesses and two maids.

What are the saddest pieces of classical music?.After the sermon, the Passion resumes with Jesus’s interrogation by the high priests and his crucifixion and death, ending the whole work with the sealing of his tomb.Īs the work is performed on Good Friday, the overall atmosphere is one of sobriety and grief and the narrative ends before Jesus's resurrection, a celebration reserved for Easter Sunday. The first movement of Bach’s St Matthew Passion begins with Jesus’s betrayal by Judas, follows the Last Supper and ends with Jesus’s arrest by the Romans at Gethsemane. Passion narratives can vary in terms of the biblical events they include, but all recount the final stage of Jesus’s life. What is the story of JS Bach’s St Matthew Passion? Bach for Beginners: the recordings to help you discover Bach.This facilitated the dramatic elements of the Passion, such as interaction between solo characters and turba (crowd) choruses. The polyphony of the piece was inspired by the Thomaskirche’s layout, with performers split between the church’s two organ lofts. Six of the best: pieces of classical music for Easter.Considering a typical Lutheran sermon lasted for an hour, the Good Friday congregation would have been in for the long haul. Divided into two movements, the Passion was structured to encompass the service’s sermon in the middle of the performance. The extravagant work was written to reflect this crucial moment in the Lutheran calendar: the sombre, dramatic sacrifice of Jesus’s life for his followers. It is widely accepted that Bach debuted his St Matthew Passion at the church’s vespers service for Good Friday on 11 April 1727. Why did JS Bach write St Matthew Passion?īach was the Thomaskantor, or musical director, for Leipzig’s Thomaskirche from 1723. While recordings vary based on tempo, most performances last between two-and-a-half to three hours. The St Matthew Passion is the longest of all Bach’s works.
