Religious Fervor, Unfathomable Genius

Bach's St. Matthew Passion is his own pilgrimmage to the Cross as well as his crowning achievement. Bach alludes to the conjoining of of religious fervor and unfathomable genius when, at the end of his composition, he inscribes: Soli Deo Gloria, to God Alone the Glory. Examining Bach's hurried, scrawling manuscripts, we believe Bach when he tells us that the music "from heaven above" was fired to him so rapidly he scarcely had time to get the notes down on paper.