Bach’s “St. John Passion”

If you went to the Good Friday Vespers service at St. Nicholas Church in Leipzig 300 years ago, the choir, led by your cantor J. S. Bach, would have performed a little number, the St. John Passion, that would have doubtless moved you greatly as a meditation on the atoning death of Jesus Christ.

We were able to attend a performance of that musical and devotional masterpiece–in the context of a Holy Week vespers service–put on by The American Kantorei, conducted by Concordia Chicago professor Maurice Boyer, in the chapel of Concordia Seminary in St. Louis.

This is the 300th anniversary of the first performance of the St. John Passion in 1724. I had been curious how Bach’s church music could be integrated into a worship service. I knew that it was written in two parts, with a break for a sermon. But wouldn’t the music overwhelm the worship?

Congregations from past centuries were used to long worship services, so the two hours that it takes to perform Bach’s Passion wouldn’t seem as daunting as it is to us, accustomed as we are to taking our music in 3-minute doses.

I needn’t have worried. The work consists simply of the passion narrative from the Gospel of John, chapters 18 and 19, straight from Luther’s translation of the Bible. The text is sung by a soloist, the “evangelist,” with other soloists singing the parts of Jesus, Peter, Pilate, and other persons who speak in the Biblical passages. The chorus plays the part of the soldiers and the crowds (“crucify him!”).

The Biblical narrative is punctuated by solo arias–which are both theological commentary and empassioned responses to what is going on–plus chorales, which are stanzas of hymns, most of which we still sing today.

This form turns the musical performance into a kind of drama–in fact, the effect of the sung narrative with interacting characters is that of an opera–only without sets and stage business. Those of us who attended were given a program that gave both the German text and an English translation, so it was easy to follow. So the two-hour production, like so much of Bach’s music, moved quickly.

In this performance at the Chapel of St. Timothy and St. Titus at the seminary, the choir and the orchestra were in the transept, the sections at a right angle to the main sanctuary that give the floor plan in a Gothic-style church the shape of a cross. So the focus was on the altar and the pulpit, like any regular service.

We began with the opening versicles of Vespers. The music began, but since it was basically a sung reading of Scripture plus familiar hymns, it seemed quite churchly. At the conclusion of the first part, we had a sermon, just as Bach designed. Dean of the Chapel Jon Vieker read one of Johann Gerhard’s Sacred Meditations: “Meditation Seven: The Fruit of the Passion of the Lord.” (Find it at the link for a vivid, heart-moving Good Friday devotion.)

And the magnificent, sublime music served to heighten, not distract from, the Word of God that is its substance and message. The music brings out the pathos, the intensity, the sorrow, and the joy that comes from Christ’s redeeming sacrifice. The Gospel–that Christ’s death frees us from our sins, that He died for you, the listener–comes out loud and clear.

Let me give you a sampling, from an English translation:

EVANGELIST
And standing next to the cross of Jesus
was his mother and his mother’s sister
Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
Now when Jesus saw his mother
and the disciple whom he loved standing next to her
he said to his mother:

JESUS
Woman, behold, this is your son!

EVANGELIST
And then he said to the disciple:

JESUS
Behold, this is your mother!

CHORALE

He took everything well into account
in his final hour,
attending even to his mother,
designating a provider for her.
O human, put all in order,
love God and humanity,
die thereafter without any worries
and be not dismayed! (“Jesus, I Will Ponder Now,” LSB 440 [this stanza not in LSB])

EVANGELIST
And from that hour on the disciple took her in.
Following this, since Jesus knew
that all was now complete
for the scriptures to be fulfilled, he said:

JESUS
I thirst!

EVANGELIST
Standing nearby was a jar filled with sour wine.
So they soaked a sponge in the sour wine
and placed it on a hyssop branch
and held it up to his mouth.
Then once Jesus had received
the sour wine, he said:

JESUS
It is finished!

ARIA (Alto)

It’s finished!
O comfort unto afflicted souls!
The night of grief
now allows the final hour to be tallied.
The champion of Judea triumphs with might
and concludes the battle.
It’s finished!

EVANGELIST
and he bowed his head and passed away.

ARIA (bass and chorus)

(chorale is shown in bold text )
My precious Savior, let me ask you,
Jesus, you who were dead,
as you have now been slain on the cross
and yourself proclaimed: It is finished,
now you live without end,
am I made free from dying?
In the final throes of death
with nowhere for me to turn
Do I through your pain and dying
inherit the kingdom of heaven?
Is redemption here for the entire world?
except unto you, who atones for me,
O you dear Lord!
In your pain you of course
cannot speak;
Grant me only what you deserve,
you just bow your head
and silently say: Yes.
I can request nothing greater! (This combines and intertwines an aria with the last stanza of the hymn “Jesus, I Will Ponder Now,” LSB 440.)

And for the whole experience, here is a rendition of Bach’s St. John Passion by the English Baroque Soloists & the Monteverdi Choir with Sir John Eliot Gardiner conducting, with English subtitles! Sample it, or, if you can devote two hours for a wonderful Good Friday meditation, play it all.