Program Notes
The St. John Passion was first performed on April 7th, Good Friday, in 1724, during Bach’s first year in Leipzig. The tradition of re-enacting the events of the day Jesus died dates from the early Christian church, when the Gospel narrations of the betrayal, trial, and crucifixion were chanted. The annual presentation of the Passion on Good Friday was intended to remind the congregation of events in the life of Jesus that are an integral part of Christian beliefs. The larger, more complex and dramatic works performed in the Lutheran church during the 17th and 18th centuries were also intended to provide the opportunity to reflect on and to experience these events. By Bach’s time, this tradition of presenting complex, dramatic works with solos, choruses, and instruments was well established in Northern Germany.
To appreciate Bach's St. John Passion, it is useful to compare it to his St. Matthew Passion, which he composed twelve years later. Both are large works that set two chapters of the Passion story in recitative, sung by the narrator, the voice of the evangelist, whether John or Matthew; the other soloists sing the words of Jesus, Pilate, Peter, and others who participate in the story. Whenever the crowd, the soldiers, or another group of people speak, Bach gives their words to the chorus with more elaborate settings than in the recitatives.
The chorus and soloists have a second role as active listeners to the story, who express the sentiments of the Lutherans for whom Bach wrote the passions. The soloists' arias and the chorales of the chorus are placed at telling points in the scriptures, where their modern (to Bach) texts serve as an appropriate commentary. The chorus also sings long and complex numbers to open and close the Passions.
The instrumentalists play a significant role as well, especially in the commenting movements. An aria may really be a trio for one singer with two oboes, flutes, or violins. And in choral crowd scenes, the orchestra typically adds still more voices to an already intricate counterpoint.
Though a big work by most standards, Bach's St. John Passion is much shorter than his grand St. Matthew Passion. Bach takes his cue from the difference in the texts. The account in John is less dramatic than in the other gospels. Accordingly, Bach makes of it a subtler, more personal, more intimate story.
John's version omits many of the symbolic, portentous, and stirring events that are related in the St. Matthew gospel. John relates so many of Jesus's teachings at the Last Supper that the scene cannot be included at all. Absent as well are the agony in the garden of Gethsemane, the death of Judas, the ominous dream of Pilate's wife, and even the crowd's final acknowledgement that "truly he was the son of God." Some of the omissions John makes were apparently just too much for Bach. He borrows from the gospel of Matthew for Peter's lament and for the earthquake, both of which are colorfully set.
All the cuts, as Bach clearly recognizes, help to focus the drama on Christ's trial before Pilate, a political, psychological, and emotional conflict, but one without obvious good-guy and bad-guy roles. In those two chapters of John, Christ is not a particularly strong character. He does not claim to fulfill scriptures, nor does he make prophecies, although he holds fast to the words he speaks. And in the end, he dies quietly. Pilate, on the other hand, has great presence, though he can be interpreted as either a sympathetic figure or a smooth, crafty operator.
Notes on the John Passion always feature the ingenious, palindromic structure of the piece. The work is flanked by two massive choruses, the opening “Herr, unser Herrscher,” a complex and compelling invocation, and the ending “Ruht wohl,” a sweet and lingering graveside parting. Within this framework Bach transcends mere sequence of individual numbers by arranging musically similar choruses symmetrically around a central chorale. Nine choral movements, the last four mirroring the first four, revolve around the pivot point in the drama, the height of the psycho-emotional conflict, when Pilate searches for a way to release Jesus while the high priests scream for Jesus to die.
Here and throughout the work, Bach pairs off choral movements that share similar texts or sentiments. The music with which the soldiers mockingly hail the King of the Jews reappears when the priests demand that Pilate "write not that he is King of the Jews." A more ironic pairing is Bach's choice of the same chorale tune to contemplate first Peter's thoughtlessly denying his master and then Jesus's thoughtfully providing for his mother. On an even larger scale, Bach takes the grating chromatic notes (a sequence of notes known as the “sign of the cross” motif) with which the oboes pierce the dark turbulence of the opening chorus and repeats this harsh, sinister theme in the choral cries of "crucify him" and in the frenetic, agitated orchestral accompaniments of five other angry-mob choruses.
The evangelist, who relates the very dry narrative, has the opportunity to emote on many pictorial words; the scourging of Jesus is particularly striking as the narrator drops the recitativo style for a vivid description of that horror.
The chorales, though based on familiar hymn tunes, are characterized by exceptionally rich harmonies—poignant, sinister, or glorious—which highlight significant words or phrases. The listener is constantly reminded that the real cause of the suffering they are witnessing is the listener, arising from the essential sinful nature of man (a fundamental Lutheran teaching). The complexity of the settings makes it obvious that they were not meant to be sung by a congregation.
After an introductory symphonia, the opening chorus, “Herr, unser Herrscher” (Lord, our ruler), is a hymn of praise and also a request for comfort and reassurance that Jesus will survive the darkest hours. The music is restless and anxious, with the oboes foreshadowing the Crucifixion with the “sign of the cross” motif mentioned earlier.
Solo arias are characterized by their intricacy in form and wealth of imagery. The alto's “Von den Stricken” (From the tangle of my transgression) is an elaborate weaving of vocal and instrumental lines. In the tenor aria “Erwäge” (Consider) the words for "waves of water" are sung in undulating phrases and the word for "rainbow" is one long rhapsodic arch. “Ich folge dir” (I will follow thee) has a flute line that "follows" after the soprano line. The bass aria “Eilt” (Hasten ye) is a compelling "running" line of eighth notes (with the chorus repeatedly asking “Where?” and the bass replying “To Golgotha”).
One of the most poignant arias in this work is “Es ist vollbracht” (The end has come), Jesus’s last words. The recitative that precedes the aria describes Jesus’s final moments with understated simplicity, ending with the text “Es ist vollbracht” on a descending motif. A viola da gamba, an instrument associated with death during Bach’s time, picks up this motif to introduce the alto aria. The motif is an integral part of the aria and is woven continually into the melodic structure
The chorus that forms the close of the work, “Ruht wohl” (Rest well)—often described as a lullaby—is gentle and restful, but full of feeling. The Passion concludes with the chorale “Ach Herr, lass dein lieb Engelein” (Ah Lord, let your dear little angel).
The work is gloomy, full of stress and anxiety, highly emotional, and powerfully meditative. Its depth comes from its subtlety. There is no noble hero or mustache-twirling villain. Yet a sense of spiritual elevation can be experienced as the story unfolds, since the underlying belief is that there was a purpose and intent to these events. As difficult as it was to work within the confines of John's text, Bach was able to create a moving work with musical, spiritual, and psychological unity of form.
Sources:
Wikipedia
Bay Choral Guild Program Notes by Audrey Wong and Norm Proctor
CBS 2010 Program Notes
For a further discussion of the St. John Passion, which explores the difficulties of the St. John gospel and Bach’s transformative treatment of this harsh text, please visit our blog at: https://www.calbach.org/blog/2022/4/7/translation-and-transmutation.