Post Description

The St. John Passion calls for four vocal soloists, four-part chorus, and a large orchestra including not only the now-usual string instruments, flutes, oboes, and basso continuo, but also oboes d'amore, oboes da caccia, and violas d'amore; and there is even the possibility of letting a lutenist into the ensemble! Although the work perhaps lacks the scope of its cousin the St. Matthew Passion, it has an immediate, dramatic quality. Bach enacts, as a kind of musical equivalent of the Passion Play, an episode from the story detailing the arrest, trial, and crucifixion, with the words of the historical persons -- Christ, Pilate, Peter, and John as Evangelist -- set in recitatives, followed by a solo commenting on the emotional and spiritual meaning of the event described. The chorus portrays the different crowds.