St Matthew Passion
The words of Bach’s St Matthew Passion  are partly taken straight from the Bible (Matthew Chapters 26-27) and partly made up by the poet Picander. The words from the Bible are used to tell the basic story. They are sung to recitative (music in speech rhythm) by a tenor soloist who is known as the evangelist (Matthew was an “evangelist” because he preached the message of Jesus). The words spoken by Jesus are sung by a baritone or bass soloist. The evangelist is accompanied by the continuo (an organ and a cello, double bass or bassoon). Jesus is accompanied by the strings.