The St. John Passion (in German: Johannes-Passion),…

The St. John Passion (in German: Johannes-Passion), BWV 245, is a sacred oratorio of Johann Sebastian Bach from the Passions.

The original Latin title Passio secundum Johannem translates to "The Suffering According to John" and is rendered in English also as St. John Passion and in German as Johannespassion.

During the first winter that Bach is responsible for church music at the St. Thomas Church, Leipzig and the St. Nicholas Church, he composes the St. John Passion for the Good Friday Vespers service of 1724.

The St. John Passion is a dramatic representation of the Passion, as told in the Gospel of John, constructed of dramatically presented recitatives and choruses, commented by reflective chorales, ariosos, and arias, framed by an opening chorus and a final one, followed by a last chorale.

Compared with the St. Matthew Passion, the St. John Passion has been described as more extravagant, with an expressive immediacy, at times more unbridled and less "finished." (Steinberg, Michael. Choral Masterworks: A Listener’s Guide, 19. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005.)