Johann Sebastian Bach's St. Matthew Passion: Day 3

The content of these posts is drawn extensively from Markus Rathey’s Bach’s Major Vocal Works: Music, Drama, Liturgy (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016) and Michael Marissen’s translations in Bach’s Oratorios: The Parallel German-English Texts with Annotations (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008).

You can find a beautifully-filmed recording of the St. Matthew Passion by the Netherlands Bach Society here, including an English translation of the German text. NPR Classical also presents a “guided tour” through the St. Matthew Passion here.


The opening chorus of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion immediately presents the theme of Jesus’ human suffering and divine love as Jesus is described not only as the Bridegroom, a comparison used throughout Scripture, but also as a Lamb.

Kommt, ihr Tröchter, helft mir klagen, Sehet—Wen?—den Bräutigam, Seht ihn—Wie?—als wie ein Lamm!

Come, you Daughters [of Zion], help me lament; look—At whom?—at the Bridegroom; look at him—As how?—just like a lamb! (Marissen 29-30)

Christ’s divine love is evident as he is called the “Bridegroom”; who but a husband would suffer so much for his beloved? This divine “marriage” between Christ and the Church is a Scriptural comparison. As the chorus continues, it describes the Lamb as carrying his cross—an introduction to Jesus’ suffering. The Lamb himself is carrying his own sacrificial wood. The text here is a poetic introduction to the passion rather than the exact words of Scripture itself. At this point in the text—"just like a lamb!”—we find the first chorale: “Lamb of God, Pure and Holy” (LSB 434:1).

As we proceed to look at the chorales in the St. Matthew Passion, I will indicate the matching Lutheran Service Book (LSB) number and stanza, but I will use Marissen’s translation of the German text. The translators of these chorales for the hymnal had to create an English translation that fits the rhythm and meter of the familiar hymn tune correctly. Marissen, under no such restrictions, instead looks to stay as true to the German as possible.

Consider the first chorale as a congregational or communal response to the declaration of Christ, the Bridegroom, as a humble sacrificial Lamb:

O Lamm Gottes, unschuldig

Am Stamm des Kreuzes geschlachtet

Allzeit erfunden geduldig,

Wiewohl du warest verachtet.

All Sünd hast du getragen,

Sonst müßten wir verzagen.

Erbarm dich unser, o Jesu!

O Lamb of God,

slaughtered guiltless on the beam of the cross,

always found to be patient,

however much you were despised.

You have borne all sin;

otherwise, we would have to despair.

Have mercy on us, o Jesus! (Marissen 30)

Bach weaves the music of this text in between the text two other choirs are singing. As the first choirs start to sing about the lamb, Bach introduces the first line of the chorale. The we are told to “look at the patience” immediately before the chorale states “always to be found patient”. As the opening chorus closes, we end like we began—with an invitation to see the Bridegroom “just like a lamb!”. As you listen to this chorus, can you pick out the tune of the chorale among all the other voices?

Not until this opening chorus concludes do we hear the Passion account according to Matthew begin. Immediately, the Evangelist introduces Jesus who tells the disciples that he will be handed over and crucified. Following his statement, Bach inserts another communal response: “O Dearest Jesus, What Law Hast Thou Broken” (LSB 439:1).

Herzliebster Jesu, was hast du verbrochen,

Daß man ein solch scharf Urteil had gesprochen?

Was ist die Schuld, in was für Missetaten

Bist du geraten?

Most beloved Jesus, what wrong have you committed,

That such a severe judgement is pronounced?

What is the trespass; for what sort of misdeeds

have you been caught? (Marissen 31)

Notice how elegantly the text of this chorale responds to Jesus’ statement. We are asking, “Why? Why must Jesus be crucified? What wrong has he done?”.

Later at the Last Supper, Jesus says to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you: one among you will betray me”. The Evangelist notes that the disciples become distressed and begin to ask Jesus, “Am I the one?”. The whole chorus then sings: “Herr, bin ichs”? “Lord, am I the one?”. Bach composed the chorus to sing the parts of the whole group of disciples, but it is also as though the whole community of believers is asking this question. We are asking this question.

The following chorale answers it: Upon the Cross Extended (LSB 453:4).

Ich bins, ich sollte büßen,

An Händen und an Füßen

Gebunden in der Höll.

Die Geißeln und die Banden

Und was du ausgestanden,

Das hat verdienet meine Seel.

I am the one, I should atone:

bound, hand and foot,

in hell.

The scourges and the bonds and what you have endured—

my soul has merited that. (Marissen 35)

Bach’s message is clear in this response: we are the reason for Jesus’ suffering and death. It is due to our sins that he came as the sacrificial Lamb.

Later in the account, Jesus warns the disciples that they will be offended by him and quotes Zechariah 13:7: “I shall strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will scatter.” The response plays on the theme of Jesus as the Good Shepherd and we as the sheep in the following chorale: O Sacred Head, Now Wounded (LSB 450:4).

Erkenne mich, mein Hüter,

Mein Hirte, nimm mich an!

Von dir, Quell aller Güter,

Ist mir viel Guts getan.

Dein Mund hat mich gelabet

Mit Milch und süßer Kost,

Dein Geist hat mich begabet

Mit mancher Himmelslust.

Recognize me, my guardian,

my shepherd; accept me!

From you, source of all good things,

much good has come to me.

Your mouth has refreshed me

with milk and sweet fare;

your spirit has endowed me

with many a heavenly delight. (Marissen 38)

Imagine that you are an audience member listening to the St. Matthew Passion today. You don’t speak German, and you only vaguely know that you are going to listen to a musical rendering of Christ’s Passion. The music starts and the German flows forth, and you are immediately lost. But then you hear a tune you recognize, a hymn you sing in church every Lent. It could be “Lamb of God, Pure and Holy” or maybe “O Dearest Jesus”. Perhaps it is “Upon the Cross Extended” or “O Sacred Head Now Wounded”.

This is exactly what Bach intended. Although he had a German-speaking audience, he purposely inserted the chorales his congregation sang in church. Like you, they would recognize these as “their songs”. They knew the tune, knew the text. They would recognize it as their response to Christ’s Passion.

As you travel through the services of Holy Week, albeit remotely, recognize these as “your songs”. They were not written for the Pastor alone or the Cantor alone or the organist alone or your child’s Bach-studying, classical music-playing, hymn reflection-writing music teacher alone. These are meant for you, for all of us. They are our response to Christ’s saving work.  

Reading questions:

1.     What two things is Jesus compared to in the opening chorus?

2.     How does the opening chorus show the theme of this passion?

3.     Why are Marissen’s translations of the German chorales so much different than the translations in our hymnal?

4.     How do the chorales act in the passion? What is their purpose?

5.     Can you look through an English translation of the text of the rest of the passion (perhaps the one provided by the Netherlands Bach Society) and identify any more chorales that are hymns in our hymnal?