Passion Sunday
While Passion music in Catholic countries had to compete with other devotions such as the Stations of the Cross, the "Improperia" and Tenebrae, in Protestant Germany settings of the Gospels became a focal point of Passiontide services, with Passion cantatas (and later Passions in oratorio format) performed on Passion Sunday, Palm Sunday and Good Friday. Its best known examples, the Bach Passions, date from the first half of the 18th century.