Musical settings of the Passion story have a history going back to mediaeval times. The idea of chanting rather than speaking the story seems to have arisen because the singing voice carries better in a large resonant building than the speaking voice. In the earliest settings, the relevant Gospel chapters were sung to plainsong in Latin, at Holy Week services, by a tenor (as narrator or Evangelist, a bass (as Christ) and an alto (for all the other parts).

By the sixteenth century, composed settings were appearing in which the parts of the crowd, high priests, etc. were given to an unaccompanied chorus (instruments were not normally permitted in Holy Week). Such Passions in the Roman tradition were composed by Vittoria and Byrd among others, and after the Reformation, Lutheran equivalents soon appeared in Germany. This type of setting, known as the Dramatic or Liturgical Passion and based strictly on texts, flourished until the 1660s (Schütz's 'St Matthew Passion' is the last known example). Another less dramatic, fully choral type known as the Motet Passion was also popular at this time.

However, the seventeenth century also saw a further evolution of the form, with the introduction of instruments, the use of well-known hymns to provide a link with music understood and participated in by the people, and the interpolation of non-biblical texts reflecting on the unfolding of events. This type was known as the Oratorio Passion, and Bach's Passions are the culmination of it. A particularly strong influence on Bach seems
to have been the Passions composed in Hamburg around the turn of the eighteenth century, based on the sacred operas which were popular in that city. Another powerful influence was the religious movement known as Pietism. Leipzig, curiously, seems to have had little tradition of performing Passions and to the congregations there Bach's Passions must have come as a considerable surprise.

The St Matthew Passion is the larger of Bach's two surviving Passions and is generally acknowledged to be one of the most profound of all religious works. (Bach is said to have composed five passions in all, but besides the complete St Matthew and the St John, only the libretto and portions of the music of the St Mark Passion have come down to us.) The St Matthew Passion was traditionally first performed at St Thomas's Church, Leipzig,
under the direction of the composer on Good Friday 1729, although some recent research suggests 1727.

The Passion was planned by Bach in two parts, each divided into a number of scenes and each beginning and ending with a great chorus. The narrative is told by the Evangelist (tenor) with keyboard accompaniment, in contrast to the words of Jesus (bass) which are always accompanied by strings, as though, to quote Schweitzer, "we seem to see a halo round the head of the Saviour". Reflections and commentaries on the story are provided by arias for solo voices, by chorales (a staple element of Lutheran church music) and by the chorus which gives dramatic effect to the words shouted by the mob.

Bach employs two choirs, each with its own orchestra, a ripieno choir, organ and harpsichord. At the first performance the usual St Thomas's choir of around eighteen would have been roughly doubled, as would Bach's normal orchestra of about a dozen players.