The St Matthew Passion was written in two parts: Part One unfolds Christ’s betrayal, the Last Supper, his prayers and his subsequent arrest. Part Two traverses through the Crucifixion to death and burial of Christ.

Throughout the work the performance from the soloists feature more than the chorus. One of hundreds of sacred pieces Bach wrote during his long tenure as director of church music at Thomaskirche school, the story of the St Matthew Passion was taken mostly from the Gospel According to Matthew, but the verses that Bach set to music were provided by a number of contemporary poets. His principal contributor was Christian Friedrich Henrici, a poet who wrote under the name of Picander.