A Listener's Guide to the St Matthew Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach (Grand Rapids, MI: Calvin College, 2003)
This 64-page booklet provides a movement-by-movement listening guide to J.S. Bach's St. Matthew Passion, complete with the full text and translation (by Nancy Van Baak and Martin Werner) of the libretto. For each of the 68 movements of the work, the guide lists the text source, the musical form, the approximate performing length, a summary of the significance of the movement, and an introduction to the styles and techniques Bach uses to bring each movement to life. In addition to the translation of the work as a whole, the chorale movements are additionally translated into modern, rhyming, metrical English, so that modern listeners can at least imagine singing along with these movements which are meant to speak with the collective voice of the Christian congregation.