What was going on when I was born?

The vast edifice of Western music was built on the calendar of Christian observance, whose climax is now at hand. The images of Holy Week - Christ's triumphal entry, the shouting crowds, the weeping mother, the trial and Crucifixion - have for centuries resonated in the minds of composers. This weekend, and over the coming week, they will resonate through New York's churches and concert halls with the vibrancy that only a great musical city can offer. Holy Week has inspired music of the utmost seriousness and depth, and of all this music, Johann Sebastian Bach's great Passion settings stand as monuments. They are at once unique and supremely typical, landmarks in both musical and religious traditions and unmatched expressions of an individual genius. For concentrated greatness of musical and devotional utterance, there is nothing like them, and Carnegie Hall will be presenting both the ''St. John Passion'' and the ''St. Matthew Passion,'' along with the B-minor Mass that many consider the greatest of all Bach's works. This ''Choral Celebration'' promises to mark the highlight of the city's Easter music this year.

''They call it the 'code of silence' or 'the blue wall of conspiracy,' '' John Guido, the Police Department's Chief of Inspectional Services, said. ''There's a natural affinity of cops to stick with one another. But I don't see that as different from any other profession. Hey, it's not the American way to be a rat.'' ''It's a major problem wherever unions are involved and because of the closeness of the uniformed services,'' said Police Commissioner Benjamin Ward. ''It's less of a problem today than it was 15 years ago,'' he said, however, before the Knapp Commission's investigation of police corruption. The investigation into the hit-and-run death of a Manhattan pedestrian, who was struck by a police patrol car earlier this month, has revived debate over the accountability of police officers and the degree to which they protect colleagues suspected of wrongdoing. The accident March 15 on the Upper East Side outraged the public and most police officers, too.

The ferryboat glides into her dock at Governors Island as easily as an ice skater turning on a pond, but on her short trip through New York Harbor, she travels from one world to another. Five hundred yards from the concrete and glass southern tip of Manhattan and its towering skyline and bustling streets, there is a secluded preserve of green landscapes, trees about to bud, a campus framed by red brick buildings, and passers-by saluting one another. A military service is the occupying power on this tranquil strand of land surrounded by water. Governors Island, within sight of the Statue of Liberty, is given over entirely to the Coast Guard.

Secretary of State George P. Shultz said today that the United States was ready to meet the Soviet Union halfway in finding ''a mutually acceptable approach'' to the arms issues under negotiation in Geneva. In his first speech on arms control since the Geneva talks resumed two weeks ago, Mr. Shultz said that the United States would be flexible in the negotiations and prepared for ''trade- offs'' in reducing strategic nuclear missiles and bombers. But he offered no change in the Administration's determination to proceed with research into strategic defenses despite Soviet insistence that there can be no progress in nuclear arms reduction until curbs in the defensive program are agreed upon. Gorbachev Accuses U.S. Meanwhile, Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the new Soviet leader, said in a letter to a group of West Germans that American statements on the Geneva talks ''cannot but put one on guard.''

It's in the nature of New Yorkers to want to see things first, and then brag a little. And it's in the nature of the New Directors/New Films series to satisfy that urge. For 14 springs, this movie festival has been a rite of discovery of fresh talent: among those who made their debuts in New Directors are Steven Spielberg, John Sayles, Wim Wenders, Wayne Wang and Nestor Almendros. This year, all but one of the film makers are new to the series. Their works, never shown before in New York and chosen by the staffs of the sponsoring Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art's film department, begin screening tonight. Each movie will be shown twice. New Directors/New Films runs through April 14, at the Modern's Roy and Niuta Titus theaters at 11 West 53d Street.

FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 1985 International Accords on Spanish and Portuguese entry into the Common Market were announced in Brussels after nearly 16 hours of negotiations, ending more than six years of bargaining. Spain and Portugal are scheduled to become the 11th and 12th members of the European trading bloc next Jan. 1. (Page A1, Column 1.) U.S. flexibility in arms control talks was stressed by Secretary of State George P. Shultz. He said that Washington was ready to meet Moscow halfway in finding ''a mutually acceptable approach'' to the issues under negotiation in Geneva and was prepared for ''trade-offs'' in reducing missiles and bombers. (A1:2.)

Companies G.E. has been barred from future Pentagon contracts temporarily because of the indictment charging the company with falsifying $800,000 in claims and lying to the Government about work on a warhead system. It is the first such action against a major military contractor. The Air Force also requested $208 million from General Electric and Pratt & Whitney for making greater-than-expected profits from their supplying of aircraft engine spare parts. (Page A1.) The Pentagon crackdown began by slapping the wrists of small companies but has now escalated into more punitive measures against the largest weapon makers. (D4.) An Assistant Secretary of the Navy was interviewed for a job at General Dynamics while he was in office, according to Navy and company documents. (D5.) T. Boone Pickens said he might try to take over Unocal. The company's stock rose $1.875, to $49.50, and traders estimated it could go up to $60 or more. Mr. Pickens owns 13.6 percent of Unocal, which he bought for an average of less than $45 a share. Unocal is expected to fight Mr. Pickens tenaciously. (D1.)

A dispatch from Santa Cruz, Calif., on March 18, about that city's street people, misidentified the current holder of Santa Cruz's rotating mayoralty. She is Mardi Wormhoudt; John Laird, her predecessor, is a member of the City Council.

''National support for building military strength has been severely battered by public perception that we pay too much for the goods and services we acquire.'' - Verne Orr, Secretary of the Air Force. (A1:6.)

Because of an editing error, an article in Metropolitan Report on Saturday about a visit by Mayor Koch to Harlem incorrectly described the apartment house at 103-105 West 120th Street. The building includes the4,000th apartment rehabilitated by the city for the homeless.

The Bank of Boston Corporation, which pleaded guilty last month to Federal charges that it had failed to properly report $1.22 billion in international cash transactions, said today that it had found an additional $110 million in such deals that went unreported. Those international transfers - which it said were mostly with Canada and Haiti - were reported Wednesday to the Treasury Department, William L. Brown, the bank's chairman, said at the annual meeting today. Mr. Brown said the bank had found that about 800 cash transfers with Canadian banks, representing almost $20 million, had gone unreported previously. The transfers were made by Casco-Northern Bank, which is based in Maine and was acquired by Bank of Boston a year ago. Another $73 million in the cash transfers had been made between a Miami unit and the central bank of Haiti, he said.

Although he celebrated his 92d birthday last month, Andres Segovia is still eliciting magical sounds from his guitar, and will offer his only New York recital of the season tonight at Avery Fisher Hall. The Spanish-born guitarist will perform works by Luis de Narvaez, Fernando Sor, Alexandre Tansman, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Enrique Granados, Frederico Moreno Torroba and Haydn. The concert, which is part of the Great Performers at Lincoln Center series, will begin at 8 P.M. Tickets are $10, $15 and $20. The box office ticket and information number is 874-2424; CenterCharge, 874-6770. STEINBERG BACK ON STAGE He has been compared to Lenny Bruce and Woody Allen. He was the youngest celebrity ever to be guest host on Johnny Carson's ''Tonight Show,'' where he went on to become a regular. He has written, directed, produced and acted in film, television and theater. But despite the fact that he began his career as a comedian, and continues to perform in places like Atlantic City, one thing David Steinberg has not done in recent years is to do a stand-up act here. New Yorkers will get their chance to see Mr. Steinberg live this weekend, however; he is now appearing at Caroline's, at 332 Eighth Avenue, between 26th and 27th Streets. Performances are at 9 P.M. and 11:30 P.M. tonight and tomorrow night and 9 on Sunday. Cover charge is $15 plus a two-drink minimum for all shows. Information: 924-3499. ART FROM ALL CORNERS