Highly accessible to the non-specialist, the book assumes no technical musical knowledge and does not rely on printed musical examples. Based on the most recent scholarship and using lucid prose, the book opens up the debates surrounding this repertory to music lovers, choral singers, church musicians, and students of Bach's music.

Johann Sebastian Bach's two surviving passions--St. John and St. Matthew--are an essential part of the modern repertory, performed regularly both by professional ensembles and amateur groups. These large, complex pieces are well loved, but due to our distance from the original context in which they were performed, questions and problems emerge.

In this book Bach scholar Daniel Melamed examines the issues we encounter when we hear the passions performed today, and offers unique insight into Bach's passion settings. Rather than providing a movement-by-movement analysis, Melamed uses the Bach repertory to introduce readers to some of the intriguing issues in the study and performance of older music, and explores what it means to listen to this music today.

Melamed takes on these issues, exploring everything from the sources that transmit Bach's passion settings today to the issues surrounding performance practice (including the question of the size of Bach's ensemble).

Contents
Preface
List of Tables
Introduction: Hearing Passions in Bach’s Time and Ours
Part I: Performing Forces and Their Significance
1. Vocal Forces in Bach’s Passions
2. Singers and Roles in Bach’s Passions
Part II: Passions in Performance
3. The Double Chorus in the St. Matthew Passion BWV 244
4. Which St. John Passion BWV 245?
5. A St. Mark Passion Makes the Rounds
Part III: Phantom Passions
6. Parody and Reconstruction: The St. Mark Passion BWV 247
7. Bach/Not Bach: The Anonymous St. Luke Passion BWV 246
Epilogue: Listening to Bach’s Passions Today
Appendix: Tables
Suggestions for Further Reading and Listening
Index

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