Bach’s two great surviving Passions – St Matthew and St John – conclude at the tomb. There is no Resurrection music. Bach knows, of course, that his listeners understand that the end of the Passions is not the end of the story. The unheard music of the Resurrection is all the more powerful for being awaited.
But this absence raises an interesting question: what kind of music could adequately express the fact of the empty tomb? Much great music is conflicted, even tragic. But music that might decently represent the joy of the Risen Christ is hard to envisage.
