Once every decade, the town of Oberammergau in Catholic southern Bavaria - near the Austrian border - presents its Passion Play, in which the town's populace reenacts the last hours of the life of Jesus.  It is a huge, elaborate project, taking several years to perfect.  The whole town is used as a stage. It is a great honor to be chosen to portray the main characters, especially, of course, the part of Jesus.  Vast crowds show up for this event, and are deeply moved, but those who are most affected are the "actors."  Many seem to take on the personality of the protagonists (so it is said),  and often one hears of lives being changed as a result of participating.

    A Bavarian immigrant to the U.S., Josef Meier (whose daughter Johanna became an opera star), founded the Black Hills, South Dakota Passion Play, which actually went on tour all over the country for many years.  I remember seeing it in Grand Rapids' vast Civic Auditorium. 

    But most of us don't get the chance to either act in, or to attend, Passion Plays.  That's where J.S.Bach comes in, with his Matthew's and John's re-enactments of the Passion story.  While productions of these musical Passion plays are certainly less showy, they make up for that in sheer musical genius.  Once we have sung, or heard, the Bach Passions, we remember the riveting events in musical terms. 

    In Protestant Germany, musical Passions were common well before Bach's masterpieces.  During Lent, many churches performed them to music often composed for the service by the Kantor-in-Residence.  Congregations were expected to participate, too.  Originally, a soloist chanted the words of the Gospel used in the service, and a few voices were later added as protagonists, and, eventually as today, choruses and arias.  Bach, thus, was by no means the first, but he was easily the best of the Passion composers.

    I find it interesting that each of the four Gospel writers tells the Passion story in two chapters.  Matthew's narrative is the longest, and John's the shortest:

        Matthew:  Chapters 26 and 27     (141 verses)

        Mark:       Chapters 14 and 15     (119 verses)

        Luke:       Chapters 22 and 23     (127 verses)

        John:       Chapters 18 and 19     ( 82 verses )

    Mark's account was put to music by several composers, including Bach himself, and by his predecessor at the Thomaskirche, Johann Kuhnau.  Luke's narrative has also been done often, most famously by the 20th Century Polish master Krzystoff Penderecki. 

Index

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9

Part 10