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Mass in B minor: the story on HearLore | HearLore
Mass in B minor
On the 1st of February 1733, the death of Augustus II the Strong, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, triggered a five-month period of mourning that suspended all public music-making in the region. Johann Sebastian Bach seized this quiet interval to compose a Missa, a portion of the Latin liturgy shared by both Lutheran and Catholic rites, with a singular political objective. He intended to present this work to the new sovereign, Augustus III, a convert to Catholicism, as a petition for the prestigious title of Electoral Saxon Court Composer. Bach traveled to Dresden in July 1733 to deliver the manuscript, which contained only the Kyrie and Gloria, alongside a letter in which he complained of having innocently suffered injury or another in Leipzig. The petition did not succeed immediately, but Bach persisted, eventually securing the title in 1736. This initial composition, known today as Part I of the Mass in B minor, was not merely an artistic endeavor but a calculated diplomatic maneuver born from the death of a king and the rise of a new one.
The Parody of a Lifetime
The Mass in B minor is a monumental collage of Bach's own past, constructed from the finest vocal music he had written over decades. Scholars have identified specific models for eleven of the work's twenty-seven movements, revealing that Bach recycled his own compositions to create a new whole. For instance, the opening chorus of the Gloria, the Et in terra pax, and the Cum Sancto Spiritu were all reworked from his Christmas cantata BWV 191, composed in the mid-1740s. The Crucifixus movement is a direct reworking of the first chorus of the 1714 cantata Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen, while the Agnus Dei draws from a lost wedding serenade from 1725. This technique, known as parody, was standard practice in Bach's day, allowing him to abstract movements from specific church occasions and preserve them within the more durable context of the Latin Ordinary. The result is a work that synthesizes every stylistic and technical contribution the Cantor of Leipzig made to music, effectively serving as a summary of his writing for voice.
The Last Significant Composition
In the final three years of his life, between 1748 and 1749, Bach assembled the remaining sections of the Mass, including the Credo and the Sanctus, while his eyesight was failing and his handwriting had become increasingly stiff and labored. The movement Et incarnatus est, which describes the incarnation of Christ, is widely considered by scholars to be Bach's last significant composition. It was originally part of a preceding duet, but Bach decided to treat it as a separate movement for the choir, giving the words extra weight and improving the symmetry of the Credo. The autograph score from this period contains passages that are nearly illegible, requiring the conjectures of modern editors to decipher. The final date of the 25th of August 1749, is often cited as the completion point, marked by the distinct similarities between the Gratias from the Mass and the Et expecto from the Symbolum Nicenum, which his son Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach later performed in a Magnificat setting during a Marian festival while his father was still alive.
When did Johann Sebastian Bach compose the Mass in B minor?
Johann Sebastian Bach composed the Mass in B minor between 1733 and 1749. He began the work on the 1st of February 1733 and completed the final sections by the 25th of August 1749.
Why did Johann Sebastian Bach write the Mass in B minor?
Johann Sebastian Bach wrote the Mass in B minor to petition Augustus III for the title of Electoral Saxon Court Composer. He composed the initial portion as a diplomatic maneuver following the death of Augustus II the Strong.
How many movements does the Mass in B minor contain?
The Mass in B minor contains twenty-seven movements. Scholars have identified specific models for eleven of these movements, revealing that Bach recycled his own compositions to create the work.
When was the Mass in B minor first performed in its entirety?
The Mass in B minor was first performed in its entirety in 1859 in Leipzig. Karl Riedel and the Riedel-Verein brought the work to the stage 109 years after Bach's death.
What instruments are used in the Mass in B minor?
The Mass in B minor features two flutes, two oboes d'amore, two bassoons, one natural horn in D, three natural trumpets in D, timpani, and a full string section with continuo. The work also utilizes a third oboe for the Sanctus and includes an extended winds section.
Where is the Mass in B minor manuscript located?
Bach's personal handwritten manuscript of the Mass in B minor is held by the Berlin State Library. This manuscript was included in the UNESCO's Memory of the World International Register in 2015.
Despite its grandeur, the Mass in B minor was likely never performed in its entirety during Bach's lifetime. The work was probably compiled for a specific purpose, perhaps the dedication of the new Hofkirche in Dresden, a Catholic cathedral dedicated to the Holy Trinity, which was nearing completion by the late 1740s. However, the building was not finished until 1751, and Bach's death in July 1750 prevented his Mass from being submitted for use at the dedication. Instead, Johann Adolph Hasse's Mass in D minor was performed, a work with many similarities to Bach's Mass. The first public performance of the Symbolum Nicenum section did not occur until 1786, led by Bach's son Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach at a benefit concert in Hamburg. The first attested public performance of the Mass in its entirety took place in 1859 in Leipzig, a full 109 years after Bach's death, when Karl Riedel and the Riedel-Verein brought the work to the stage.
The Great Catholic Mass
Bach never gave the Mass in B minor a single title, organizing the 1748, 49 manuscript instead into four folders with different names: Missa, Symbolum Nicenum, Sanctus, and a final folder containing the Osanna, Benedictus, Agnus Dei, and Dona nobis pacem. The first overall title given to the work appeared in the 1790 estate of C.P.E. Bach, who inherited the score, where it was called Die Grosse Catholische Messe, or the Great Catholic Mass. This epithet reflects an oral tradition within the Bach family and refers to the fact that all parts of the Catholic mass are set to music, a rarity for a Lutheran composer. The title High Mass in B Minor, used in the first publication by Hans Georg Nägeli in 1845, was strongly influenced by the monumental impact of Beethoven's Missa solemnis, though the adjective High soon fell from common usage. The work is scored for five soloists, a choir that is five-part in many sections and divided in the Osanna, and a Baroque ensemble including brass and wind instruments, creating a total performance time of around two hours.
The Mystery of the Instrumentation
The orchestration of the Mass in B minor is as exceptional as its scale, featuring two flutes, two oboes d'amore, two bassoons, one natural horn in D, three natural trumpets in D, timpani, and a full string section with continuo. The key of B minor is rather exceptional for a composition featuring natural trumpets in D, as these instruments could not play the necessary notes in that key without extensive modification. The work includes a third oboe for the Sanctus and utilizes a scoring that consists of two groups of SATB singers and an orchestra featuring an extended winds section. The Quoniam tu solus sanctus movement was designed specifically for the strengths of the orchestra in Dresden, boasting as many as five bassoonists, and the horn solo was likely written for the Dresden horn soloist Johann Adam Schindler. The Benedictus aria presents a unique mystery, as Bach forgot to specify the obbligato instrument, leaving modern editors to debate whether it should be played on the flute or the violin, with the range and style now generally considered more suitable for the transverse flute.
The Editing of a Legacy
The Mass in B minor poses a considerable challenge to prospective editors due to the existence of two autograph sources and the alterations made by C.P.E. Bach. For his 1786 public performance of the Symbolum Nicenum, C.P.E. Bach added a 28-bar introduction, replaced the obsolete oboe d'amore with newer instruments like clarinets and violins, and made other changes in instrumentation for his own aesthetic reasons. He also wrote in his own solutions to reading some passages made nearly illegible by his father's late-life handwriting problems. The Bach Gesellschaft edition, published in 1856, was based on several sources but without direct access to the autograph, and subsequent editions, including the 1857 version, were recognized to be less accurate due to the inadvertent incorporation of C.P.E. Bach's alterations. Modern editions, such as those by Christoph Wolff and Joshua Rifkin, seek to remove these emendations and recover Bach's original readings, with Uwe Wolf's 2010 edition utilizing x-ray spectrograph technology to differentiate J.S. Bach's handwriting from the additions made by others.
The Consecration of a Life
The Mass in B minor is widely regarded as one of the supreme achievements of classical music, described by 19th-century scholar Nägeli as The Announcement of the Greatest Musical Work of All Times and All People. It represents a synthesis of every stylistic and technical contribution Bach made to music, serving as a summary of his writing for voice and a high level of technical polish. The work is a spiritual encounter between the worlds of Catholic glorification and the Lutheran cult of the cross, consecrating a whole life that began in 1733 for diplomatic reasons and was finished in the very last years of Bach's life when he had already gone blind. As of 2022, a database lists over 350 complete recordings, with the first complete recording made in 1929 by Albert Coates. The work has played a central role in the historical performance movement, with Nikolaus Harnoncourt making the first recording with period instruments in 1968 and Joshua Rifkin's 1982 recording winning a Gramophone Award for its one-voice-per-part vocal scoring. In 2015, Bach's personal handwritten manuscript of the mass held by the Berlin State Library was included in the UNESCO's Memory of the World International Register, ensuring its preservation for future generations.