doubtless was imbued with the spirit of offsetting the grandeur of the Roman Mass with the combination of simple and complex forms in which the congregation could take part in the well-known chorales interspersed so artistically. Arthur Mees[78] speaks of Bach’s Passions as ‘the expression of the religious devotion of his own individual self as representative of his fellow-believers. Even the dramatic portions are not the utterances of actors in a drama, but those of the Christian congregation which is carried away in its contemplation of the events to the point of identifying itself with the actual participants in the scene.’ Between the two parts of the Passion it was customary in Bach’s time to have the sermon, as in the days of St. Philip Neri at Rome. As the performance of the Passion consumed more than two hours and the sermon lasted at least two hours, the Good Friday service was a most serious and weighty church event. The first part of the ‘Matthew Passion’ is divided into three principal sections--Jesus with his disciples and the institution of the Last Supper, Jesus at Gethsemane, and the seizure of Jesus. The second part is divided into four sections--Jesus before the High Priest, Jesus before Pilate, the Crucifixion, and the last, consisting of madrigal-like elaborations of Bible texts. This part contains the famous bass aria, _Am Abend als es kühle ward_, which with its refined instrumentation is one of the most beautiful in the entire work, almost romantic in atmosphere and remarkably lyric. Among the many notable characteristics of this work is the accompanying of the words of Jesus by the orchestra in place of the usual _continuo_. The Daughter of Zion, whose words were given by other composers to a definite voice, no longer appears as an individual, but her words are sung in turn by alto, soprano, tenor and bass solos, in duets and in choral form. While a large part of the text (from chapters XXVI and XXVII of Matthew’s Gospel) was doubtless compiled by Bach himself, he had able assistance from the poet Picander (whose real name was Friedrich Henrici), who wrote many of the hymns and who has already been referred to as the poet of the lost Passion, considered of little value because of the inadequacy of the text.