Bach's settings of these crowd utterances are energetic and appropriate short choruses. These choruses reveal Bach's technical skill and imagination. He achieves this through a variety of techniques which Smallman says include linking recitatives and choruses, using inconclusive final cadences, expressing chromaticism and dissonance, meshing short, rhythmic vocal phrases, and using an independent orchestral accompaniment.
Two of these techniques are used in the crowd utterances of Bach's St. John Passion. The first way is the chromaticism that is seen with an ascending bassline through the notes A, B-flat, B, C, C-sharp, and D in the "Wäre dieser nicht ein Ubeltäter" (If this Man were not a malefactor, No. 23) chorus. This chromaticism dramatically portrays the fanaticism of the crowd at this point. Another technique that Bach uses in the St. John Passion is that of independent orchestral accompaniment which paints a picture with a wide range of timbre. This use of timbre is seen at the beginning of the Passion when the angry crowd comes to arrest Jesus . They reply twice to his question "Whom seek ye?" with the words "Jesus of Nazareth" (Nos. 2-5). These two replies are accompanied by a quick violent figure played in the high tessituras of the flute and violins that represents the hostility of the crowd. This accompanimental figure returns for the same effect at three other places throughout the remainder of the Passion. Through these techniques, Bach makes the crowd come alive and tests the limit of theatrics during his time.
Following the Oratorio tradition, the Passion is divided into two parts. The first ends after Peter's Denial. This section contains three solo arias and four chorales. It is weak dramatically and significantly shorter than the second part. Even though Bach is dramatic in his portrayal of the crowd, there is a lack of utterances in the first section which throws off the musical balance.