Bach’s St. Matthew Passion as we know it today evidently had a long history dating back before 1727. It is unclear whether the work performed at the Thomaskirche on Good Friday 1729 was based on a still earlier version. Whatever the case, the surviving version of 1729 presents the work in a form strikingly different from its later incarnation.

For example, the opening section ends with the chorale “ Jesum lass ich nicht von mir ” which was replaced by the large-scale cantus firmus chorus “O M...