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| BWV 245 | |
|---|---|
| Title | St John Passion |
| Composer | Johann Sebastian Bach |
| Catalogue | BWV 245 |
| Genre | Passion oratorio |
| Key | D minor |
| Occasion | Good Friday |
| Composed | 1724 |
| First performance | 1724, Leipzig |
| Movements | 2 (two parts) with choruses, arias, recitatives, chorales |
| Scoring | soloists, choir, orchestra, organ, violin, cello |
BWV 245 is the catalogue number for Johann Sebastian Bach's St John Passion, a sacred oratorio composed for liturgical performance in Leipzig in 1724. The work sets a Passion narrative with Evangelist recitative, solo roles, chorales, choruses, and arias to combine theological drama with Baroque concerted writing. It occupies a central place in studies of Johann Sebastian Bach's sacred output, historiography of the Passion genre, and performance practice debates involving ensembles such as the Thomanerchor and conductors like Felix Mendelssohn and Nikolaus Harnoncourt.
Bach presented the St John Passion in the first year of his tenure as Thomaskantor in Leipzig during the Good Friday Vespers of 1724, within the liturgical calendar of the Lutheran St Thomas Church. Primary sources include autograph scores and multiple revision manuscripts preserved in archives associated with the Bach Gesellschaft and the Bach-Archiv Leipzig. The composition reflects influences from earlier Passion traditions exemplified by works of Heinrich Schütz, Orlando di Lasso, and the Evangelist narratives of Gospel of John as used in liturgical settings. Subsequent performances and revivals—most notably the 19th-century revival movement led by Felix Mendelssohn—produced editorial interventions that shaped modern editions by institutions such as the Bach Gesellschaft, the Neue Bach-Ausgabe, and publishers connected to scholars like Philipp Spitta and Albert Schweitzer.
The Passion is cast in two parts framed around the Last Supper and the burial narrative, scored for Evangelist, narrative and Christus roles, soloists, and mixed choir. Movements alternate between recitative secco, recitative accompagnato, arias with obbligato instruments, chorales harmonized for congregational or choir use, and large-scale turba choruses representing the crowd. The opening chorus juxtaposes fugal and homophonic textures; interior arias feature obbligato lines for oboe da caccia, violin, and flute; the closing chorales provide liturgical conclusiveness reflecting Martin Luther's hymnody and the chorale tradition exemplified by Paul Gerhardt and Johann Heermann.
The libretto synthesizes Gospel text principally from the Gospel of John interspersed with poetic interpolations by an anonymous librettist working within Leipzig's liturgical conventions. Scriptural narration is presented through the Evangelist role, with direct speech assigned to characters such as Jesus, Pilate, and Judas. Interpolated arias and chorales incorporate texts reflecting penitential and theological commentary, drawing on hymn texts by Martin Luther, Philipp Nicolai, and Paul Gerhardt. The juxtaposition of bilingual theological idioms—scriptural German translations common in the Luther Bible—and contemporary poetic meditation creates layers of exegesis that resonated with congregations and later scholars such as Christoph Wolff and Joshua Rifkin.
Bach's dramatic pacing employs rhetorical devices from the Baroque tradition: secco recitative for narration, accompanied recitative to heighten affect, and aria forms for reflection. Harmonic language centers on minor-mode tonality with chromatic inflections, sequences, and expressive suspensions to depict suffering and pathos; counterpoint features complex fugues and vocal imitation in the turba choruses. Instrumental writing uses timbral symbolism—e.g., oboes and strings to support vocal lines, continuo realization for theological grounding—seen in analyses by Arnold Schoenberg's disciples and modern theorists like Alfred Dürr. Motifs such as the descending line of lament recur across arias and chorales, while formal structures range from da capo to through-composed pieces, integrating chorale melodies into larger contrapuntal frameworks akin to Bach's techniques in the St Matthew Passion and the Mass in B minor.
Historically informed performances debate forces—one-voice-per-part champions like Joshua Rifkin and Andrew Parrott argue for chamber-scaled choirs, whereas traditional ensembles such as the Gewandhausorchester practice larger choral forces. Instrumentation evolved: original parts include strings, woodwinds (oboe, oboe da caccia, flute), basso continuo (organ, harpsichord, cello, violone), and occasionally brass. Conductors like Helmuth Rilling, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, and John Eliot Gardiner have shaped divergent tempi, articulation, and pitch standards drawing on research into Baroque pitch, gut strings, and tuning systems such as well temperament versus equal temperament. Liturgical placement in Good Friday services influences decisions about staging, spatial separation of choirs, and the involvement of congregational singing of chorales.
The work influenced Passion composition practice and inspired 19th- and 20th-century revivals that cemented Bach's centrality in Western art music; figures like Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann, and Johannes Brahms engaged with Bachian models in their sacred and instrumental works. Musicologists including Philipp Spitta, Albert Schweitzer, and Christoph Wolff advanced scholarly understanding, while performers from Karl Richter to Gustav Leonhardt expanded interpretive choices. The Passion continues to inform contemporary liturgical programming, academic curricula at institutions like the Royal College of Music and the Juilliard School, and recordings across labels associated with ensembles such as the Monteverdi Choir and the Academy of Ancient Music.
Category:Compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach Category:Passion settings