Michael Marissen, a music historian and writer, states in his book, Lutheranism, Anti-Judaism, and Bach’s St. John Passion, that during his time in Leipzig, “It was Bach’s job as Cantor at the St. Thomas School of Leipzig to be a musical preacher for the city’s main churches” (Marissen, 7). To deliver his spiritual messages in the clearest form, it was furthermore Bach’s duty to structure his music in such a way that allowed its message to also make a subconscious impact as well. However, it has been the subject of a longstanding debate as to what those subconscious messages were meant to be. One may argue that the same Passion previously analyzed, the St. John Passion, extends a negative view toward the Jewish population at the time. He proclaims
