What offered Bach inspiration for his St John Passion?
Searching through hymnological publications and hymnbooks from the early 18th century provides an interesting new lead. A written-out musical Passion story based on the Gospel of John existed in Görlitz as early as 1720, incorporating 12 stanzas from various chorales. This passion story was even included in its entirety in the hymnal, as the congregation sang those strophes along on Good Friday. It was most probably written by David Heermann (1655-1720), who, like Bach, was part of the ‘Lieder-Freunde’ group.
Was this perhaps the earliest example, or do you know of any other Passions before 1724 with chorales incorporated?