St John Passion - Congregational Use

Congregational Use

While writing the St John Passion, Bach intended to retain the congregational spirit of the worship service. The text for the body of the work is taken from the Gospel of John chapters 18 and 19. To augment these chapters, which he summarized in the music, Bach used an elaborate body of commentary consisting of hymns, which were often called chorales, and arias. He used Martin Luther's translation of the Bible with only slight modifications.

Bach proved that the sacred opera as a musical genre did not have to become shallow in liturgical use by remaining loyal to the cantus firmus and the scriptural word. He did not want the Passion taken as a lesser sacred concert. The text for the opening prayer, "Herr, unser Herrscher, dessen Ruhm", as well as the arias, chorales and the penultimate chorus "Ruht wohl, ihr heiligen Gebeine", come from various other sources. The first part of the score, which makes up about one-third of the entire piece, dramatically takes us through Peter's walk and his betrayal of Jesus. It is interesting to note also that the two recitative passages, dealing with Peter's crying after his betrayal and the temple veil's ripping during the crucifixion, do not appear in the Gospel of John, but the Gospel of Matthew. In the Passion, one hears Peter deny Jesus three times, and at the third time, John tells us that the cock crew immediately.

There is a recent historical example for the congregational character of St John Passion. In the early 1950s in Hungary (then under Communist rule), congregational musicians were allowed to play church music only in the frame of liturgy. However, the St John Passion is an almost complete liturgy from the Lutheran point of view, since the focus is exactly on the evangelium (Bach was a devout Lutheran). Hence, the solution was to insert the four missing features of a Lutheran liturgy. Congregational musicians could then perform the whole Passion, as if it were part of the liturgy.

• (1) Each year the concert begins with "In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.", announced by the priest; this is the start of a Lutheran liturgy.

• (2) Between the first and second part of the Passion, the priest gives a very short sermon, intended to be understood even by non-believers.

• (3) The congregation prays the Pater noster together, a chief prayer of Christianity, between the "Es ist vollbracht!" aria with the short "Und neiget das Haupt und verschied." recitative, and the "Mein teurer Heiland, lass dich fragen" chorale.
• (4) At the end, the Aaron blessing is given by the priest: "The LORD bless you, and keep you; the LORD make His face shine on you, and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up His countenance on you, and give you peace." (Numbers 6:24-26).

There is no applause, either at the beginning or at the end. The Passion contains quite a few choruses that are in regular use in worship. The congregation and the audience are to remain silent, as no one is supposed to sing along with the professionals.