A Passion cantata is a cantata

Cantata

A cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir....

 that takes as its theme the Passion

Passion (Christianity)

The Passion is the Christian theological term used for the events and suffering – physical, spiritual, and mental – of Jesus in the hours before and including his trial and execution by crucifixion...

 of Jesus Christ, i.e. the hours, days, or weeks leading up to and including his crucifixion

Crucifixion

Crucifixion is an ancient method of painful execution in which the condemned person is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross and left to hang until dead...

. Some of the larger cantatas have been referred to as oratorio

Oratorio

An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...

s.

English

In the English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 repertoire, the two classics are The Crucifixion

The Crucifixion (Stainer)

The Crucifixion: A Meditation on the Sacred Passion of the Holy Redeemer is an oratorio composed by John Stainer in 1887. It is scored for a SATB choir and organ, and features solos for bass and tenor....

(1887) by Sir John Stainer

John Stainer

Sir John Stainer was an English composer and organist whose music, though not generally much performed today , was very popular during his lifetime...

 and Olivet to Calvary (1904) by John Henry Maunder. Other works include Sir Arthur Somervell

Arthur Somervell

Sir Arthur Somervell was an English composer, and after Hubert Parry one of the most successful and influential writers of art song in the English music renaissance of the 1890s-1900s....

's The Passion of Christ (1914), Charles Wood

Charles Wood

Charles Wood may refer to:*Charles Wood, 2nd Earl of Halifax , British politician and peer*Charles Wood, 3rd Earl of Halifax , British peer*Charles Wood, 1st Viscount Halifax , English politician...

's St. Mark Passion

St. Mark Passion (Wood)

The St. Mark Passion of Charles Wood is a musical composition written in 1920. The work calls for solo tenor , solo baritone , chorus and organ, as well as minor roles for five solo basses , a solo treble , and a solo treble or alto...

(1921) and Eric Thiman

Eric Thiman

Eric Harding Thiman was an English composer and organist.Thiman was born in Ashford, Kent. Largely self-taught, he was awarded an FRCO in 1921. From 1930 he was Professor of Harmony at the Royal Academy of Music and later, from 1956 to 1962, was Dean of the Faculty of Music at the University of...

's The Last Supper (1930).

German

The most famous Passion cantatas are probably the two composed by Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...

: the St John Passion (1724) and the St Matthew Passion (1727). A St Luke Passion (1730) was also formerly attributed to him, but it is now thought that Bach simply arranged an earlier composition.
The above are actually Passion Oratorios, not Passion Cantatas. The best examples of Passion Cantatas are two: the famous work Der Tod Jesu

Der Tod Jesu

Der Tod Jesu is an oratorio libretto by Karl Wilhelm Ramler. In its setting by C. H. Graun it was the most often performed oratorio of the 18th Century in Germany.The poem is part of the Empfindsamkeit movement of the 1750s...

(1755), with text by Karl Wilhelm Ramler

Karl Wilhelm Ramler

Karl Wilhelm Ramler was a German poet.Ramler was born in Kolberg. After graduating from the University of Halle, he went to Berlin, where, in 1748, he was appointed professor of logic and literature at the cadet school...

 and music by Carl Heinrich Graun

Carl Heinrich Graun

Carl Heinrich Graun was a German composer and tenor singer. Along with Johann Adolf Hasse, he is considered to be the most important German composer of Italian opera of his time.-Biography:...

 , and the Passion Cantata Die letzten Leiden des Erlösers (1770), with text by various people and music by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

right|250pxCarl Philipp Emanuel Bach was a German Classical period musician and composer, the fifth child and second son of Johann Sebastian Bach and Maria Barbara Bach...

(taken largely from his St Matthew Passion of 1769.

Latin

One notable work in Latin is Arvo Pärt

Arvo Pärt

Arvo Pärt is an Estonian classical composer and one of the most prominent living composers of sacred music. Since the late 1970s, Pärt has worked in a minimalist style that employs his self-made compositional technique, tintinnabuli. His music also finds its inspiration and influence from...

's Passio Domini Nostri Jesu Christi secundum Joannem

Passio Domini Nostri Jesu Christi secundum Joannem

Passio Domini Nostri Jesu Christi secundum Joannem is a passion cantata by Arvo Pärt for solo baritone , solo tenor , solo vocal quartet , choir, violin, oboe, cello, bassoon and organ...

(The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to John) of 1982.