Mass in B minor
On the 1st of February 1733, Augustus II the Strong died and left a five-month period of mourning in Saxony. Public music-making ceased during this time while Johann Sebastian Bach worked on a new composition. He intended to dedicate this work to the new sovereign, Augustus III, who had converted to Catholicism. Bach hoped this gesture would secure him the title of Electoral Saxon Court Composer. By the 27th of July 1733, he presented a copy of the Kyrie-Gloria Mass BWV 232 I to the king along with a formal petition. The inscription on the wrapper complained that he had suffered injuries in Leipzig without cause. The petition did not succeed immediately but eventually led to his appointment as court composer in 1736.
Bach composed a Sanctus for six vocal parts in 1724 for use in a Christmas service. He revised this piece when reusing it later by changing its initial meter from C major to D major. In 1733 he created the Missa section during the mourning period following the death of Elector Augustus II. Scholars suggest the Kyrie might have served as mourning music for Augustus II while the Gloria celebrated the accession of Augustus III. During the mid-1740s Bach reused all three movements from the Gloria in a cantata for Christmas Day known as BWV 191. In the last three years of his life he wrote or assembled the Symbolum Nicenum and the remainder of the work between 1748 and 1749. Christoph Wolff argues that the Et incarnatus est movement was Bach's final significant composition before his death in July 1750.
The Mass is scored for two flutes, two oboes d'amore doubling on standard oboes, and two bassoons. It includes one natural horn in D and three natural trumpets also in D alongside timpani. The string section comprises violins I and II, violas, and basso continuo including cellos, basses, organ, and harpsichord. A third oboe is required specifically for the Sanctus movement. The total performance time extends to around two hours with five soloists and a choir divided into five parts in many sections. Only five of the twenty-seven movements are actually in B minor despite the title. Twelve movements including the final ones of each major section are written in D major which serves as the relative major key. The opening Kyrie begins in B minor but moves through Christe Eleison in D major and a second Kyrie in F-sharp minor.
No public performances of the complete work occurred during Bach's lifetime though scholars debate whether private readings took place late in his life. The first documented public performance of the Symbolum Nicenum section happened 36 years after Bach's death in Spring 1786. Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach led this concert at a benefit event for the Medical Institute for the Poor in Hamburg. Joseph Haydn owned a copy of the work along with The Well Tempered Clavier. In 1811 Carl Friedrich Zelter led read-throughs of the entire Great Mass by the Berlin Singakademie. The first full public performance of the complete Mass took place in Leipzig in 1859 under Karl Riedel. The UK premiere followed in 1876 when The Bach Choir performed it in St James's Hall London. As of 2022 over 350 complete recordings exist covering diverse forces and styles from large orchestras to period instrument ensembles.
Two autograph sources survive including parts for the Kyrie and Gloria deposited in Dresden in 1733 and a score compiled between 1748 and 1750. This later score was inherited by C.P.E. Bach who made additions for an 1786 performance. He replaced obsolete oboe d'amore instruments with clarinets or violins and added a 28-bar introduction. C.P.E. also wrote solutions to passages rendered nearly illegible by his father's late-life handwriting problems. The Bach Gesellschaft edition published in 1856 lacked direct access to the autograph and required revision the following year. Uwe Wolf used x-ray spectrograph technology in 2010 to differentiate J.S. Bach's handwriting from later additions. In 2015 the personal handwritten manuscript held by the Berlin State Library entered UNESCO's Memory of the World International Register. Modern editors like Christoph Wolff and Joshua Rifkin struggle to reconstruct original readings amidst conflicting source material.
The work consists of twenty-seven sections derived from earlier compositions or newly written material. Specific models can be pinpointed for eleven movements while two others likely stem from now lost sources. The opening Kyrie eleison appears based on a previous version in C minor according to Joshua Rifkin's examination of autographs. The Laudamus te aria is thought to originate from a lost wedding cantata titled Sein Segen fliesst daher wie ein Strom BWV Anh I 14. The Quoniam tu solus sanctus movement may parody a third movement from that same lost wedding cantata. The Crucifixus chorus reworks the first section of the 1714 cantata Weinen Klagen Sorgen Zagen BWV 12. The Benedictus aria exists as a parody of the fourth movement from the lost wedding serenade Entwurfet euch ihr kalten Herzen. John Butt notes that only the Confiteor section shows positive evidence of Bach composing directly into the autograph score without prior adaptation.
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Common questions
When did Johann Sebastian Bach compose the Mass in B minor?
Johann Sebastian Bach composed the Mass in B minor between 1748 and 1749. He assembled the Symbolum Nicenum and the remainder of the work during these final years before his death in July 1750.
Why did Johann Sebastian Bach dedicate a portion of the Mass in B minor to Augustus III?
Johann Sebastian Bach dedicated the Kyrie-Gloria Mass BWV 232 I to Augustus III to secure the title of Electoral Saxon Court Composer. He presented this copy along with a formal petition on the 27th of July 1733 after Augustus II died on the 1st of February 1733.
How many movements are actually written in B minor in the Mass in B minor by Johann Sebastian Bach?
Only five of the twenty-seven movements in the Mass in B minor by Johann Sebastian Bach are written in B minor. Twelve movements including the final ones of each major section are written in D major which serves as the relative major key.
Who performed the first full public performance of the complete Mass in B minor by Johann Sebastian Bach?
Karl Riedel led the first full public performance of the complete Mass in B minor in Leipzig in 1859. Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach had previously conducted a documented public performance of the Symbolum Nicenum section in Spring 1786 at a benefit event for the Medical Institute for the Poor in Hamburg.
What autograph sources exist for the Mass in B minor composed by Johann Sebastian Bach?
Two autograph sources survive including parts for the Kyrie and Gloria deposited in Dresden in 1733 and a score compiled between 1748 and 1750. The personal handwritten manuscript held by the Berlin State Library entered UNESCO's Memory of the World International Register in 2015.