The Two Passions of J.S. Bach - Catholic Insight

Holy Week is and has been a time of rest — physical and mental — but also of reflection. It is good to make a stop on the way, periodically, to think and keep in mind that the passion of Jesus Christ was not in vain. That an entire epoch arose from his martyrdom. The calendar was changed since then to place us at C. or D.C. (before or after Christ). What year would we be today? It would not be 2025. This corresponds to the Christian era. And it …

The Two Passions of J.S. Bach - Catholic Insight

As we begin Passiontide, and begin Holy Week, it is fitting to suggest some solemn music to fit the season, here the two settings of the ‘Passion’ put to music by Johann Sebastian Bach. According to sources, Bach wrote five ‘Passions’, orchestral chorales based on the final days in the life of Christ, but only two have come down to us: Saint John’s and Saint Matthew’s, both profound, musically rich and complex, whose depths can never really be f…