The Passion According to St. Matthew, J.S. Bach Choral Works, G. Schirmer

The tradition of setting the crucifixion story ("passion") as recorded in the Gospels to music is a very old one. By the early Middle Ages, special recitation tones were developed for reciting the passion, and beginning in the 13th century, it became common to divide the text among three singers. In the 15th century, polyphonic settings of some or all passages for the crowd (turba) or individuals began to appear. This practice resulted in the responsorial, or "choral" passion, where monophonic sections (one or more singers on a single musical line) alternated with polyphonic ones. This type of passion was widespread in 16th-century Italy. A second common type of passion is the through-composed, or "motet" passion, where the complete text, including the Evangelist's part, is set polyphonically. Neither of these types of passion includes instruments.