Mass in B minor BWV 232
General Discussions - Part 19

Continue from Part 18

Discussions in the Week of June 3, 2018 (4^th round)

William L. Hoffman wrote (June 2, 2018):
[BachCantatas] B-Minor Mass: Contexts: Sources, Modern Perspective

Bach's "Great Mass in B Minor," considered his finest work, has since its inception three centuries ago remained obscured in it basic purpose as part of Bach's calling of a "well-regulated church music." The motive for its composition — the answer to the question "Why?" — remains hidden behind its monumental setting of the Mass Ordinary with its palindrome (mirror) rhetorical symmetry and its unconditional reception as a form of engaging music of joy and sorrow while being a synthesis of Lutheran and Catholic confessions. Its five sections initially were considered within their original liturgical sorrow and joy contexts: the opening, tri-partite litany Greek supplication, "Kyrie eleison" (Lord have mercy); the succeeding "Gloria," canticle hymn of praise in imitation of the psalms; the "Credo" (I believe), trinitarian profession of faith; the communal "Sanctus" symbolic elevation of the host fusing the Hebrew vision of God (Isaiah 6:30), and Christian acclamation of Jesus Christ's sovereignty (Matthew 21:9) in the added "Osanna" and "Benedictus"; and the closing "Agnus Dei" (Lamb of God) succinct supplication at the breaking of the bread and the closing petition, "Dona nobis pacem" (Grant us peace).

In the context of its time, Bach scholars have accepted the initial "Kyrie-Gloria" Missa Brevis in its concerted settings, BWV 233-236, as part of main and vesper services on feast days, as well as the "Sanctus" alone but are ambivalent about the service use of the central "Credo" and closing "Agnus Dei." "The whole work probably was never given by Bach in a Leipzig service; but it is certain that he performed the separate sections," says Albert Schweitzer a century ago in his popular Bach biography.¹ "He would presumably give the Credo on Trinity Sunday, the Kyrie he could use at the principle services" during the closed periods of Advent and Lent," and the Gloria adaptation, BWV 191, was given in the 1740s for the "Festo nativitatis Christi," he finds. "The sublime and the intimate [27 choruses and arias] do not interpenetrate; they co-exist side by side; they are inseparable from each other like the objective and the subjective in Bach's piety; and the B Minor Mass is at once Catholic and Protestant, and in addition as enigmatic and unfathomable as the religious consciousness of its creator," Schweitzer summarizes.

Bach scholars in the past half century have increasingly explored the theological and liturgical elements in Bach's sacred works, particularly within the contexts of contemporary Christology and eschatology, although these concepts were not systematically pursued in Bach's time. The well-regulated church music was divided into categories in Bach's Obituary: the cycles of church-year pieces (otherwise called "cantatas"), the feast-day oratorios (or great cantatas) and Latin Church music of Masses, Magnificats, and Sanctus (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Ref/IndexRef-BC-E.htm); extended oratorio Passions for the Good Friday vespers, and the motets. Interestingly, Bach considered all his music to have socio-religious import and did not distinguish between works composed for designated sacred services and celebratory pieces composed for profane occasions, although their poetic texts increasingly differentiated between biblical and profane allusions Apart from the sacred service cantatas, the major sacred works along with profane cantatas were listed together in son Carl Philipp Emmanuel's well-ordered Estate Catalogue of 1790. By this time, the Enlightenment had replaced the specialized church, court, and civic environments with public concert halls built to serve a growing "public" class. In terms of reception history, Bach's music gained increasing acceptance, devoid of the religious environment in which his sacred music was created, during the 19th century emphasis on originality, individualism, literalism, freedom and other precepts of Romanticism.

In the previous century, Bach enjoyed mixing styles and moods of music in his works, a characteristic now recognized and valued. Music composed for the first half of the church year, particularly the feast day oratorios, featured trumpets (or horns) and drums. The most distinct music of sorrow, the Passions, lacked ceremonial brass, using instead plaintive oboes, poignant recorders and flutes, as well as the special, antique sound of gambas and lutes, notably in the St. Mark Passion. At the same time, the great closing "rest-in-the grave" choruses offered mixed music of poignant texts set to triple-meter dances, recalling and conflating Ecclesiastes' precept of "a time to mourn and a time dance" (3:4), in John a minuet, in Matthew a sarabande, and in Mark a gigue. In the Mass, Bach set each movement with contrasting affect, in keeping with Baroque tradition. In the B Minor Mass Bach contrasted the old, archaic church motet style and the contemporary opera form of love duet and dance. "Bach wrote confidently in both idioms," observes George B. Stauffer in his definitive study of the Mass.² "As we shall see, Bach achieves a balance between the two approaches [styles] in the B Minor-Mass," he says (Ibid.).

In an effort to bring more order and understanding to what Bach meant by a "well-regulated church music," first beginning in the late 1950s was the scholarly establishment of a sound chronology of Bach's compositions, the actual dating and opportunity in the Lutheran services, followed with an understanding of Bach's method (process) of composition, including the art of recycling existing, usually occasional works through new text underlay in the same German language or contrafaction with fixed Latin adapted from poetic German texts. One of the hallmarks of Bach's mature major works, besides the variety of substantial music old and new, was his use of parody as an integral part of a creative, transformative process. Having composed a substantial body of occasional music of homage in joy and sorrow in the 1720s, Bach would be apply it in the 1730s in a sacred context involving a new framework of oratorios for Christological feast days of Christmas, Easter, Ascension, and possibly Pentecost, with oratorio Passions on Good Friday, as well as Latin Church music that addresses in the Mass Ordinary the trinitarian fusion of Father and Son in the Gloria and in the central Credo exploring the two as well as the Holy Spirit.

The one form lacking in Bach's Latin Church Music settings was the recitative of narrative or proclamation. Yet here, sections of the Mass Ordinary could begin with a chant intonation, notably in the services in the closed periods of Advent and Lent with the "Credo" and "Agnus Dei" substituted for Martin Luther's chorale settings of his vernacular German Mass chorale settings (Deutsche Messe, see http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Topics/Luther-Deutsche-Mass.htm), as Stauffer points out (Ibid.: 145f), where in "Leipzig, Luther's vision of a polyglot liturgy remained strong." Further, Bach was able to use the Latin cantus as a trope "pattern of invention" in his Mass Ordinary setting, selectively and diversely in the paraphrased "Kyrie I", straightforward in the "Credo" while straightforward and canonic in the Confiteor, points out Peter Williams in his posthumous Bach biography,³ the three movements probably not based on literal, musical borrowing but on compositional models, possibly from other composers.

The feast days in Leipzig gave Bach the opportunity to add additional, Latin church music to both the morning vernacular main service and the afternoon vespers. The morning services of the word and communion enabled Bach to begin with a concerted setting of the "Kyrie-Gloria" as well as the simple Sanctus preceding the elevation of the host at the beginof communion. For the afternoon service of the word with the sacraments Bach after the sermon presented a concerted Magnificat, observes Robin A. Leaver.⁴ While Bach was working on the Missa: Kyrie-Gloria, BWV 232a in the first half of 1733, he also probably produced his definitive version of his Magnificat in D Major, BWV 243, says Leaver (Ibid.: 110f).

Although Bach did not compose a unified, systematic setting of the Deutsche Messe, as he had with the Latin Mass Ordinary in his B Minor Mass, he wrote chorale four-part vocal settings and organ preludes for the Mass sections, perhaps as the liturgical forerunner of a Latin Mass. The vocal settings are: “Kyrie Gott Vater in Ewigkeit,” BWV 371 (http://www.bach-chorales.com/BWV0371.htm); “Allein Gott in der Höh' sei Ehr’,” BWV 260 (http://www.bach-chorales.com/BWV0260.htm); “Wir glauben all an einem Gott,” BWV 437 (http://www.bach-chorales.com/BWV0437.htm); Sanctus, “Heilig, Heilig” (Holy, Holy), BWV 325 (http://www.bach-chorales.com/BWV0325.htm); and Agnus Dei, “O Lamb Gottes unschuldig,” BWV 401 (http://www.bach-chorales.com/BWV0401.htm). Bach composed settings of three of these (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo) in the Clavierübung III but used the modern Sanctus in place of the organ chorale, Luther’s “Jesaja, dem Propheten, das geschah,” In addition is Luther’s Mass-closing "Grant us Peace" setting, “Verlieh uns Frieden,” which Bach harmonized in BWV 126/6 (http://www.bach-chorales.com/BWV0126_6.htm).

Completed in his final months, Bach's "High Mass" was a summation of his art as well as "satisfying his creative urge and widening his horizons beyond Leipzig," says Williams (Ibid.). "What a substantial Mass could offer to the Dresden Court — if that was one of his purposes — was a rich survey of choral writing (some 70 percent of the music is for chorus), plus appropriate opportunities to use liturgical chant and a large instrumentarium fit for a King." Although not source-documented, the two-hour work could have been copied and performed for a special St. Cecilia's Day Mass on 22 November or for the new Catholic Court Church under construction in Dresden although "there is no reliable link between Bach's Mass and any patron in Dresden, Prague, Vienna or anywhere else," he comments (Ibid.: 449). The term "Great Catholic Mass" in Emmanuel's estate catalogue may refer more to a Trinitarian concept or "Catholic" as "Universal."

The genesis of the B-Minor Mass began when Bach first explored settings of individual Mass Ordinary sections, beginning with the Kyrie, and early on presenting music of Dresden composers found in the Saxe-Weissenfels library, followed by music in the Dresden Court library in 1719 when Bach first visited the city. His interest in Latin church music was two-fold: finding Mass Ordinary sections to perform as part of a "well-regulated church music" and mastering the art of composition, particularly the primary practice stile antico. Bach's first original setting was the Kyrie in F Major, BWV 233a, using an ingenious trope of the German Agnus Dei chorale, "Christe du Lamm Gottes" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BwPSI6P_zs), possibly for a Good Friday Service of Confession at Mühlhausen, 6 April 1708.

1733 Kyrie Composed

A quarter century later, Bach in early 1733 began composing his Mass, starting with an extended tri-partite "Kyrie" with three varied settings of music already available. Initially, Bach was motivated by a desire "to establish his rights in a series of disputes with Leipzig officialdom concerning his duties in the city," says Leaver (Ibid.: 112). The initial "Kyrie" establishes and shows "distinctive Lutheran influences" from the 1526 Deutsche Messe, starting with the Adagio "majestic four-bar announcement," the soprano motif derived from Luther's Kyrie, "as is the theme of the following fugue," Largo fuga gravis (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mw856M3T2Ao). The four-measure Introduction is original Bach, as a composing score, says Robert L. Marshall,⁵ that Bach decided to open just before copying out his extended "Kyrie" setting beginning with its 24-measure instrumental introduction ritornello, modeled after the Johann Hugo von Wilderer (1670-1724) Mass in G Minor (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJcb2avvvn8).

This new beginning "was ultimately dictated and justified" by Bach's "own artistic intuition" that he was embarking on a unique work, says Marshall (Ibid.: 178), another 17 years in the making. At the same time, the rest of the work, with the exception of the "Credo" and "Confiteor" models, are contrafactions with new texts from earlier music of joy and sorrow. In the 19th century, one-third of the 27 movements were found in previously composed, individual German-texted, mostly sacred cantatas. In the case of original da-capo repeat arias, Bach only parodied the A section. Another third are presumably based on now-lost music, text only surviving, possibly from key occasional homage works with various direct or loose connections to the Saxon court, composed primarily between 1725 and 1733. The remainder are new or reworked compositions, often based on models or established techniques.

Although still debated, the two remaining movements of the "Kyrie" are illustrative of possible sources. The "Christe eleison" Neopolitan opera-style love duet possibly originated in the 1727 birthday serenade for Augustus "the Strong," BWV Anh. 9, 'Entfernet euch, ihr heitern Sterne' [Disperse yourselves, ye stars serenely], the duet (No. 8), “Seyd zu tausend mahl willkommen" (For a thousand times be welcome). "The secular “text begins as a dialogue, with the voices entering separately” and the da-capo form “would have required considerable reworking to produce the ‘Christe’,” observes Stauffer (Ibid.: 61). (Recording, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWSmtLoGs0Q). The second "Kyrie," could possibly have originated as a choral setting of the funeral sermon dictum for Prince Leopold of Köthen, Psalm 68 setting (No. 8, repeated No. 14), "Wir haben einen Gott, der da hilft" (We have one God of salvation), a Palestrina-like motet setting (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGLPgUAw1LA) in the 1729 Köthener Trauermusik, "Klagt, Kinder, klagt es aller Welt" (Toll, children, toll to all the world), BWV 244a. It is the only original setting in a parody of Picander from movements in the existing St. Matthew Passion and Funeral Ode, BWV 198. The Kyrie II source may be "a well worked out compositional draft," suggests Stauffer, while the borrowing would reinforce the Psalm 68 facets of Father and Son, says Raphaël Pichon in "The central Dictum: a puzzle solved?" (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Pichon.htm#C1: 20).

Gloria: Symmetry, Diversity

The six-movement "Gloria" which completes Bach's 1733 submission to secure a Saxon Court Kapellmeister title is in Bach's plan a modified symmetry, with the aria No. 8, "Domine Deus" (Lord God), as the center. Following the opening angel's canticle Greater Doxology, "Gloria in excelsis Deo," the remainder of the “Gloria” section of the Mass Ordinary (the second longest text in the Mass Ordinary) is a triune prayer of thematic repetition (anticipating the succeeding “Credo” central, longest portion), focusing on God the Father and then the Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is described as “Only-Begotten Son, Lord God (Domine Deus), Lamb of God, Son of the Father.” He is the symbolic sacrificial lamb addressed in the litany refrain, “havemercy on us,” which also is expressed in the opening “Kyrie eleison” (Lord have mercy) and the closing “Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis” (Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,” have mercy on us). In the Gloria as well as the “Agnus Dei,” the plea to Jesus Christ for mercy is repeated twice. The Son is further described as “sitting at the right hand of the Father,” and further addressed as “Holy One,” “alone the Lord,” “alone the Most High” (Altissimus), echoing the Angels’ words opening the “Gloria in excelsis Deo.” The Gloria ends addressing Jesus Christ, “cum Sancto Spiritu” (with the Holy Spirit in the glory of God the Father. Amen.”

Virtually all the "Gloria" movements are adaptations of previously existing music although only two actual sources were identified: the joyous "Gratias agimus tibi" (We give thee thanks) which is the opening chorus in Renaissance style canon, opening the 1731 Town Council Cantata 29, "Wir danken dir, Gott" (We thank thee, God), as well as the sorrowful Lento ¾, prelude & fugue, "Qui tollis peccate mundi" from the 1723 Trinity 10 Sunday Cantata 46, "Schauet doch und sehet, ob irgend ein Schmerz sei" (Behold and see, if there be any sorrow, Jeremiah 1:12), both with strong affect. The proximity of Cantata 29, composed two years before Bach's Missa: Kyrie-Gloria, strongly suggests that Bach composed this chorus with the Missa setting in mind, similar to the Kyrie II borrowing from 1729. The remaining movements in the "Gloria" appear to be parodies of lost originals where no musical source has been found, including the framing opening "Gloria" and closing "Cum Sanctio Spiritu), as well as the detailed, calligraphic internal, intimate arias and duets, Marshall observes (Ibid.: 180).

The music of the opening “Gloria” 3/8 vivace gigue with ritornello and the closing “Cum sancto spiritu” ¾ vivace fugue, may have originated as polyphonic instrumental concerto movements, possibly composed in Köthen where a large number presumably do not survive. A source for the “Gloria” may be traced to the lost 1718 sacred serenade, BWV Anh. 5 (text only), “Lobet den Herrn, alle seine Heerscharen” (Praise ye the Lord, all ye of his great armies, Psalm 119:1; http://www.uvm.edu/~classics/faculty/bach/XIII.html), a biblical form which Bach imitated in the opening fugal choruses of several Leipzig cantatas composed in the first cycle, 1723-24, for example, celebratory New Year’s Cantata 190, “Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied!” (Sing to the Lord a new song, Psalm 149; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SO2qmc1axqY.

With only original texts surviving today, the usually progressive-style arias and duets in the "Gloria" are now assumed to have come from slightly earlier, occasional homage cantatas with similar affect, rather than sacred sources. Proceeding in the Mass Ordinary order, the plan included several occasional cantatas that would furnish multiple movements in similar form and affect, a group of so-called "proto-cantatas, that having fulfilled their original intention, could be recast to serve other, permanent functions in a cycle of major works. Following the format of the 1733 Missa: Kyrie-Gloria, Bach's later works, most notably the 1734-35 Christmas Oratorio and the more concise Missae: Kyrie-Gloria, BWV 233-236 of the later 1730s, would be rendered from materials found in select cantatas providing multiple movements to be parodied in select places. Most available was Bach's first sacred (proto) wedding Cantata BWV Anh. 14 “Sein Segen fließt daher wie ein Strom” (His blessing flows like a stream, Ecclesiasticus/Sirach 39:22), with A sections from four arias set to Old Testament texts (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Texts/BWVAnh14-Ger5.htm), suggests Bach scholar William Scheide.⁶ They are the opening aria, "His blessings flow" (Ecclesiasticus/Sirach 39:22), as No. 5, "Laudamus Te" for soprano and violin; BWV Anh. 14/3, aria "Happy are you" (Ezekiel 47:1,4), as No. 10, "Quoniam," for bass and horn; Arioso No. 4, "Bitterness withdraws from you" (Exodus 18:25) as No. 22, "Benedictus qui venit," for soprano and flute; and Aria No. 6, "So step into paradise" (Genesis 2:11), as No. 18, "Et in Spiritum Sanctum" for bass and oboe d'amore.

The central "Domine Deus" Neopolitan opera duet (pastorale) in the "Gloria" probably is derived from the Cantata BWV 193a, "Ihr Häuser des Himmels, ihr scheinenden Lichter" (Ye houses of heaven, ye radiant torches), a serenade for the name day of August II, on 3 August 1727. The Fame und Providence duet (No. 5) "Ich will/Du solt ruehmen" (I will/Thou shalt boast now) was altered with syncopated grace notes in Lombard rhythm (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12gZOHhRxuo; See "Homage Cantata BWV 193a," http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Vocal/BWV232-Gen18.htm). The entire "Gloria" has a biblical hymn, "Gloria in excelsis Deo" and "Et in terra pax," followed by the liturgical hymn, "Laudamus te" and ending with the "Cum sancto spiritu" chorus, all in palindrome form, Leaver points out (Ibid.: 113), with the chorus "Qui tollis pecca mundi" as the central movement. A concise version of the "Gloria" in five movements is the structure of the Missae: Kyrie-Gloria, BWV 233-236, created in the late 1730s, available for feast day services. The music in the 1725 Reformation Cantata 79, "Gott der Herr ist Sonn und Schild" (God the Lord is sun and shield, Psalm 84:11) is parodied and thematically related, in the Missa in G Major, BWV 236, both of which Bach may have presented in the same Reformation Day service, Leaver suggests (Ibid.: 114).

The final three movements of the Mass "Gloria," are still debated. The succeeding "Qui sedes ad dexterum patris" (Thou who sits at the right hand of the Father), a 6/8 gigue, may have originated in proto Cantata BWV Anh. 9, "Entfernet euch, ihr heitern" (Disperse yourselves, ye stars serenely), 12 May 1727, for a visit to the Leipzig Spring Fair, text only surviving. The source could have been the Harmony aria (no. 12), “Soll des Landes Seegen wachsen” (If the land's good luck shall increase). While the original "does conjure up the same sort of mood," says Stauffer (Ibid.: 87ff), "the poetry does not line up with the 'Qui sedes" music as well it might." The various possible sources for the next movement, "Quoniam tu solus sanctus" (For thou alone art holy), 3/4 time bass aria with horn obbligato and two bassoons, are discussed at length in the Wikipedia BMM study (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_in_B_minor, "Movements and their origins," No. 11), as various scholars have weighed in with their observations and perspectives.

Likewise the closing Vivace double-fugue chorus, "Cum sancto spiritu," elicits various perspectives. Stauffer (Ibid.: 95) cites Joshua Rifkin, the author of the still-controversial OVPP (one-voice-per-part) chorus concept, suggesting that it (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fARgmI4zIw) may be from a missing movement in the second half of the 1720s. If so, then a possibility is the lost 1730 Town Council Cantata BWV Anh. 3 (text only), "Gott, gieb Dein Gerichte dem Könige” (Psalm 72:1-2): (God, give the king Thy judgment, Psalm 72:1; http://www.uvm.edu/~classics/faculty/bach/XI.html). Two other Council cantatas from the same time provided music: Cantata 29 in the "Gratias agimus tibi" and return closing "Dona nobis pacem," and 1728/29 Cantata 120, "Et expecto resurrectionem mortuorum" (And I expect the resurrection of the dead), closing the Credo.

Before finally turning to the last three section of the Mass Ordinary in the later 1740s, Bach created a so-called "Missa Cantata,” listed as Latin Music for the first Christmas Fe(Christ's Nativity), dated 1743-46. The work may have been presented on Christmas Day 1745 to celebrate the Peace of Dresden at the conclusion of the 2nd Silesian War (during which Leipzig had been occupied by the Prussian troops of Leopold of Anhalt-Dessau). The special academic thanksgiving service was presented in the Leipzig University Church. As part of a “well-regulated (-appointed, -ordered) church music,” the “Gloria in excelsis Deo” is repeated as the beginning of Bach’s Latin Christmas Cantata, BWV 191, followed by the setting of the liturgical Triune Lesser Doxology, “Gloria Patri . . .” (Glory [be] to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQ5vI0kzSZ0), and the “Sicut erat in principio . . .” (As it was in the beginning, and now, and always, and into the ages of ages. Amen”). All are taken from the “Gloria” of the B-Minor Mass,” with the last two phrases as contrafaction, respectively from the “Domine Deus” and the closing “Cum Sancto Spiritu" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpwB8vWGdqs).

Trinitarian Credo in 1740s

The central and longest section of the Mass Ordinary, the trinitarian "Credo," is also the most problematic regarding its original sources, although it probably includes the most original (and last) of Bach's compositions as well as his addition of a movement in the final, second version giving it the full palindrome structure. The changes and corrections in the "Credo" to bolster its large-scale formal design in the autograph score "is unique for Bach," says Marshall (Ibid.: 185), "affecting the number, genre, succession, and interconnection of movements. They are proof of Bach's concern for "cyclical unity in multimovement compositions," the same challenges in his final "Goldberg Variations," the Musical Offering, and the Art of Fugue.

The "Credo" genesis in the later 1740s is studied at length in Leaver's essay (Ibid.: 116-118), where he notes Bach's study and performance of the Missa tota works of Palestrina and Giovanni Battista Bassani. "Thus it would seem that during the 1730s and early 1740s concerted settings of the Nicene Creed were perhaps becoming more frequent in the Leipzig liturgy," says Leaver. "As with the four Lutheran Missae, the Symbolum Nicenum is largely the product of parodied movements," says Leaver (Ibid.). The nine movements (https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00001048, Nos. 10(1) ff), can be categorized from actual musical sources and probably original music (although subject to earlier models or influences) to suggestions through collateral evidence as to lost musical sources where only the original text in contrafaction is extant. The four movements and actual sources are: 11. "Patrem omnipotentem"; 2/2 fugal motet, A Major; SATB tutti; BWV 171/1 “Gott wie dein Nahme” (New Year, 1729; 12. "Et in unum Dominum"; 4/4 G Major, SA Neopolitan duet; ?BWV 213/11 “Ich bin deine” (Court 9/5/33, AT violas 3/8 Lombard; 14. "Crucifixus"; 3/2 ground bass Lamento, e minor; flutes strings; BWV 12/1, “Weinen, klagen” Jubilate 1714; and 21. Chorus SSATB, Et expecto resurrectionem mortuorum (And I expect the resurrection of the dead), 2/2, mixed style (alle breve with bouree-like music), BWV 120/2, "Jauchzet, ihr erfreuten Stimmen" (Rejoice, you joyful voices).

The original music is presumed to be the No. 10 opening "Credo," a stile antico "masterpiece of contrapuntal engineering," says Leaver (Ibid.: 119), and the No. 20, double fugue "Confiteor unum baptisma (I confess one baptism), which "has many links with the opening 'Credo'," again with the associated Gregorian melody. The newly composed and inserted No. 16, mixed-style SSATB chorus "Et in carnatus est" (And he was incarnate), may be modeled after music in Dresden Masses, possibly of Jan Dismas Zelenka (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LB8RH4W5Vnw), says Stauffer (Ibid.: 119), Vivaldi's Gloria, RV 588 or 589 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_in_B_minor, Credo No. 4), perhaps the "Qui tollis pecatta mundi" with its chromaticism, or Johann Adolf Hasse's Salve Regina.

This leaves two possible contrafactions with sources surviving as texts only (no music): No. 15, "Et resurrexit" (And he arose), chorus ¾ rejouissance dance (polonaise style), from BWV Anh. 9/1, and No. 16. "Et in Spiritum Sanctum" (And in the Holy Spirit); 6/8 pastorale, from BWV Anh. 14/6. The resurrection SSATB chorus may be traced to the opening chorus of Cantata BWV Anh. 9, “Entfernet euch, ihr heitern Sterne!” (Disperse yourselves, ye stars, serenely!). “The unambiguous da capo form of the movement,” says Stauffer (Ibid.: 128), “points more strongly to vocal music and a cantata model,” citing Klaus Häfner, “Über die Herkunft.” ⁷ “Häfner‘s main arguments are convincing,” says George Stauffer (Ibid.: 81). The Holy Spirit aria possible source from the wedding Cantata BWV Anh. 14, “Sein Segen fließt daher wie ein Strom,” No. 6, "So step into paradise" (Genesis 2:11), for bass and oboe d'amore, although still debatable.

To the "Credo" that Bach revised last in his Great Mass, is the separate, six-voice (SSAATB) prelude and fugue, "Sanctus" and "Pleni sunt coeli," originally composed for Christmas festival 1724, followed by the "Sanctus" Ordinary section "Osannna in excelsis," 3/8 passapied for eight voices (SSAATTBB), a reworking of the A section of the chorus "Es lebe der König" (BWV Anh. 11/1 from 1732) or of "Preise dein Glücke" (BWV 215) from 1734 which is repeated after the succeeding "Benedictus qui venit" (Blessed is he who comes), sensitive style soprano aria. Scholars are divided over the "Benedictus," whether it is parody or original. Scheide (Ibid.: 73, 75) suggests wedding Cantata BWV Anh. 14, Arioso No. 4, "Ein Mara weicht von dir" (Bitterness withdraws from you, Exodus 18:25).

Agnus Dei, Double Parody; Conclusion

In late 1725, Bach produced his first secular wedding serenade for Leipzig notables, BWV Anh. 196, “Auf! süß-entzückende Gewalt” (Up! Sweet charming authority). The original bass Nature aria, No. 3, “Entfernet euch, ihr kalten Hertzen” (Remove yourselves, ye frigid spirits, was parodied in the 1735 Ascension Oratorio and eventually was adapted by Bach in the late 1740s as the three-fold alto litany aria with unison strings and continuo, "Agnus Dei, qui tollis pecca mundi, Miserere nobis" (Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us). Although the original music is lost, it has the same “poetic structure, the rhyme scheme, and the general Affekt,” says Stauffer (Ibid.: 164).

For the closing "Dona nobis pacem," which is the response to the litany, "Miserere nobis" (Have mercy on us) and was tacked on to the Mass Ordinary by church fathers as a medieval placating afterthought, Bach resorts to the "return" principle found in various Mass settings, most notably in Vivaldi's popular "Gloria," RV 589, where the triumphal chorus music with trumpets and drums in the opening "Gloria" is repeated at the closing, "Cum sancto spiritu." Now, Bach simply uses the same setting of the "Gratias agimus tibi," to the new, concise petition, "Grant us peace." Interestingly, because Bach added four staves at the chorus entrance (p. 183, https://www.bach-digital.de/rsc/viewer/BachDigitalSource_derivate_00026712/187.jpg), it is possible that Bach "may originally have intended some completely different music for the 'Dona nobic pacem," suggests Marshall (Ibid.: 188). Instead, concludes Marshall: Bach "had found a decisive way of assuring that posterity would understand that his last and greatest church composition, despite its protracted and sporadic gestation over a full quarter-century (virtually the entirety of his career in Leipzig), was indeed an emphaticalunified whole: a single, profoundly monumental, yet integral masterpiece." Like his other mature vocal works, says Leaver (Ibid.: 122), Bach's B-Minor Mass, "is a composite entity with much of the music having been written at an earlier time for other contexts," works which involve "two fundamental Christian doctrines: incarnation in the Christmas Oratorio, Atonement in the [Matthew and Mark] Passions, and both doctrines together in the profound B minor Mass."

Postscript: As a Trinitarian document, Bach's final work also can be considered the culmination/completion of a Christological cycle of major works dominated by feast-day oratorios and Good-Friday oratorio Passion settings, as well as incarnation/annunciation settings such as the Latin setting Magnificat anima mea (My soul doth magnify the Lord), and the four Kyrie-Gloria Missae, BWV 233 to BWV 236. The other vernacular Luther German Magnificat settings include "Meine Seele erhebt den Herrn," and another canticle, the Nunc dimittis as “Mit Fried’ und Freud’ ich fahr dahin” (With peace and joy I go out), chorale Cantata 125 Also imbued with Christology are the other Marian feast cantatas of Bach, as shaped by Luther — Purification, Annunciation, and Visitation, and John the Baptist, chorale Cantata 7. In addition, most of the free-standing chorales, BWV 253-438, possibly composed c.1728-36, much later collected and published by Emmanuel Bach, are not from lost cantatas but are for liturgical purposes such as Psalm settings, Catechism prayers and sacrifices, with newer, pietist-oriented hymns for the church year and thematic teaching purposes.

B-Minor Mass: Contemporary Perspective

From a contemporary perspective, the most informative view of Bach's Mass in B Minor could be achieved by encountering its musical substance and varied styles in a more intimate performance setting as historically informed, rather than from the 19th-century perspective of a massed-worked that sanctifies Bach as the Fifth Evangelist, recently suggests Bach scholar Daniel R. Melamed.⁸ Its reception history, colored by public concerts far from church settings and later obscured by the German history concept (Geschichte) embodied in Lutheran tradition, has hidden its musical substance as a perfunctory hearing rather than an informed listening experience. The "conceptual gulf between the eighteenth century and our time," he suggests, can thwart an active, conscious listening experience. Consequently, obsessive concerns over the parody origins and musical genesis of Bach's Mass and the Christmas Oratorio, which extensively use borrowed materials, as well as other accumulative barnacles of history, have suppressed the experience of the two distinct old and new musical styles in the Mass so "that their reconciliation is the musical topic of the piece," he says (Ibid.: xiv).

The modern reception of Bach's masterpiece, whether in person or on recordings, has often been influenced by previous "ideological" (philosophical) principles engendered by scholars rigorously examining, for example, the genesis of the "Credo" movement, and theologians such as Friedrich Smend who found that the work is not a Catholic Mass in any sense of the word but is four independent rituals as a Lutheran expression of the Doctrine of Justification and the Theology of the Cross. Twentieth century recording technology has placed Bach at the pinnacle of hearing experience for classical music lovers while conveying the ideology behind each recorded version, beginning with amateur performers and manufacturers in what often was a Crystal Place or Barnum and Bailey gargantuan experience, that now has a professional perspective producing a diverse legacy and plethora of interpretive experiences, says Melamed in Chapter 1, "Performing the Mass in the Age of Choices."

Behind these reproductive experiences are some ideological strategies that are fundamentally flawed, says Melamed in Chapter 2, "Listening to Parody in the Mass." Most paramount is the "intentional fallacy," of simplistically presuming to know the creator's (composer's) intention, based on a dogmatic, simplistic explanation of the mind and intention of the composer. One recent example is the recreation and reimagining of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" as an Ode to Freedom when the Soviet Wall came down in East German in 1990, Melamed points out. "The other principal fallacy of interpretation that affects music is the so-called "genetic fallacy, the idea that we can discern a work's meaning by knowing the process by which it was created," he says (Ibid.: 24). Beginning with a composer's sketches, drafts and revisions, with Beethoven as "the starting point for scholarship of this kind," has lead to a misunderstanding that pieces can "sound their compositional history" and "sing their composer's intent." This can be exemplified by selection or conflation of the original, borrowed parody sources, but "the uses of this knowledge are limited. "We do not hear parody; we hear pieces."

The study of parody sources is most beneficial when focusing on their "stylistic features that may have an interpretive significance," says Melamed (Ibid.: 25). Most obvious is the "Crucifixus" (He was crucified) in the
"Credo" movement (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6tjdsydu_A, which is taken from the opening of Bach's Cantata 12, "Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen" (Weeping, lamentation, worry, apprehension, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpenVJXCkQI). Bach's setting of lamenting text to music is an exemplary "infusing a text with affect," he says. "This descending bass was a conventional sign of lamenting." Composed for Jubilate Sunday in Weimar in 1714, the opening chorus establishes the Johannine concept that this Sunday after Easter moves from sorrow to joy. Later in Leipzig, this Sunday opened the annual Spring Fair when Saxon Elector Augustus "The Great" often visited the city.

A more subtle and transformational example is the "Credo" chorus "Et in unum Dominum" (And is one God, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8q4JWHvSmMI), an intimate duet canon for soprano and alto, which influenced Bach from the love duet (No. 11) "Ich bin deine, / Du bist meine" (I am your / You are mine, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOVg6lHToM0), of the congratulatory 1733 Cantata 213, "Laßt uns sorgen, lasst uns wachen" (Let us take care, let us keep watch). "The history of the movement, particularly the likelihood that the music served as a love duet at some point, can help us hear the characteristic features in the Mass version." Three other chorus movements are organized from older music that began with opening ritornellos but have been eliminated by Bach in the Mass setting: the eight-voice "Osanna in excelsis," "Qui tollis peccata mundi," and "Et expecto resurrectionem"; yet others have instrumental openings or anticipations for which the model music is lost: "Et resurrexit," "Et in terra pax," and "Cum sancto spirtu." "We do not need the comparison to understand this element" of reinforcing the text, whether biblical or poetic, while the parody may help understand the movement's musical construction, Melamed observes (Ibid.: 30, 33).

"Parody might also explain oddities of scoring in the Mass," says Melamed (Ibid.: 35). One example is the passage "Et iterum venturus es" (and he shall come again) in the "Et resurrexit" chorus," where the chorus is reduced to bass voice only. The original source in the opening chorus of the lost homage Cantata BWV Anh. 9, "Entfernet euch, ihr heitern" (Disperse yourselves, ye stars serenely), for Augustus' Easter Fair visit in 1727, is just the text passage (no music survives): Die Gluth des Himmel-reinsten Flammen" (The flames of heaven's purest ardor, Z. Philip Ambrose trans.), where the bass voice representing Mars probably sang this poetic text, says Melamed (Ibid.: 35). One of the places in the Mass, which violates "well-established conventions" isin the "Domine Deus/Domini fili" (God the Father/God the Son) duet with the sudden, unexpected appearance of the chorus "Qui tollis peccata mundi." "We do not really need the parody origin of the two movements to notice and appreciate the gesture," he says (Ibid.: 39). Parody "appears to be overrated as a starting point for appreciating the Mass. We are probably better off beginning with what we can hear as we try to understand this music."

Finally, in Chapter 3, "The Musical Topic of the Mass in B Minor," Melamed asks: "Can a musical work be about something?" He begins with the 19th century Romantic "collective obsession" that music should have extramusical meaning, instead of being pure music, but be programmatic, descriptive music of human emotions and actions, as in opera. Even in the 20th century return to music objectively, taking itself at face value, as in the mid-20th century New Criticism movement (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Criticism, with no historical-biographical trappings, subjective interests continue to exist and persist. Although Bach's Mass is based on the long-established text of the Mass Ordinary, with uncountable musical settings, this generic text is usually set as an objective statement of Christian doctrine, says Melamed (Ibid.: 41), rather than treated like a Gospel dramatic narrative of an event and teaching in the life of Jesus Christ. In the early 19th century, audiences readily accepted the settings of Bach's Passions, a narrative history that dates back to medieval harmony stagings with music, as well as the biblical oratorios of Handel, while Latin church music such as the Mass took longer to be introduced and accepted by audiences.

Today, Bach's B-Minor Mass, whether live or in recordings, is music with integral, conventional substantial ingredients cast as a multimovement concerted work, with an established doctrinal text, manifested in a structure of comparative and contrasting musical forms as well as innovative, mixed styles, says Melamed (Ibid.: 42ff). It is the summation of traditional common practice techniques wrought for almost two hundred years, with idiomatic instrumental and vocal passages blended skillfully and seamlessly. Singling out the "Confiteor" in the "Credo" section, the result is an infusion of old style contrapuntal technique in which various voices complement rather than conflict with each other, with staggered entrances, independent of each other yet interconnected and using the same materials, he shows. To these, Bach selectively adds the oldest form of musical expression, the cantus firmus chant, within the elaborate, contrapuntal texture. While Bach in his chorale settings pervasively emphasized the meaning of individual words and phrases, in this Mass, "the focus is rather on musical artifice, counterpoint, and constructive techniques as affect-neutral, not aimed at moving the emotional states of the listener," Melamed emphasizes (Ibid.: 46f).

At the same time within the "Confiteor" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwda71H3VE4), Bach employs the latest techniques in the basso continuo foundation with an active, responsive walking bass, while exploring newer fugal interplay techniques as well as a striking, indelible harmonic language. All these elements also are found in the second Kyrie, which shares many features with the "Confiteor," as well as having modern features where "notes from outside the principle scale" give it a "slinky character." Most significant is Bach's "exploration of all the contrapuntal possibilities," using "one musical idea throughout," says Melamed (Ibid.: 49). The various movement styles are found in Table 3.1, from Old Style to Modern to Others. (Google Books).

One of the pieces in modern style is the "Laudamus te" solo, an idiomatically instrumental operatic ritornello piece with a "stereotyped pattern — opening idea, a spinning out, and a cadence," he shows (Ibid.: 51). While the opera source, the A section of a da-capo aria in progressive Lombard rhythm, is still not found and accepted (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vm5QRgJNR-8), it has a "modern" feel of sense and sensibility with its thematic return and repeats within a sense of dialogue between solo instrument (violin) and vocalist (soprano).

The other solo movements in modern style and construction are the "Qui sedes," "Et in Spiritum Sanctum," "Benedictus," and Agnus Dei" and the duets are "Domine Deus," "Quoniam tu solus sanctus," "Christe eleison," and "Et in unum Dominum."

The choruses in modern style ritornello form (Ibid.,: 53ff), whether with or without the opening ritornello, and classified as "Other," are: "Patrem ominpotentum," "Et incarnatus est," "Crucifixus," and "Sanctus." The last two begin without the opening instrumental ritornello, probably because Bach simply "wanted to begin these movement with voices," says Melamed (Ibid.: 54). Choruses in modern style imitation are: "Kyrie eleison I," "Et in terra pax," "Cum sancto spiritu," and "Pleni sunt coeli." Two movements with markers of old style in the direction of new are the "Kyrie II," and the original "Credo in unum Deum." Fully integrating old and new are the "Gratias agimus tibi," closing as "Dona nobis pacem" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffrsc3wdBt4), especially their stunning entrances of voices and trumpets, with the "Dona nobis pacem" being "the perfect compliment" to the "Kyrie eleison I," he concludes (Ibid.: 62).

In his "Epilogue, How to Listen to Bach," Melamed says there is no one way. Instead, Bach's music can be best approached recognizing its 18th century sensibilities from out modern listening in a long performance tradition, noticing the markers or conventions in which its was composed and with a "sensitivity to style and musical construction" (Ibid.: 126), rejecting the "what" was the composer's motive and "how" the music was conceived and developed from its source origins and genesis. This is a theme Melamed established in his previous book, Hearing Bach's Passions (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Books/B0214.htm).

FOOTNOTES

¹ Albert Schweitzer, Chapter XXXIII: "The Masses," J. S. Bach, trans. Ernest Newman (London: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1911: 313).
² George B. Stauffer, Bach: the mass in b minor, "The Great Catholic Mass," Yale Music Masterworks Series (New Haven CN: Yale University Press: 2003: 13).
³ Peter Williams, Chapter 7, "Leipzig, the final years: a concentration on the language of music," in Bach: A Musical Biography (Cambridge University Press, 2016), 447).
⁴ Robin A. Leaver, "The mature vocal works and their theological and liturgical contexts," in The Cambridge Companion to Bach, ed. John Butt (Cambridge University Press, 1997: 89)
⁵ Robert L. Marshall, Chapter 10, "The Mass in B Minor: The Autography score and the Composing Process," in The Music of Johann Sebastian Bach: The Sources, the Style, the Significance (New York: Schirmer Books, 1989: 176f)
⁶ William Scheide, "Sein Segen fließt daher wie ein Strom, BWV Anh. I 14: A Source for Parodied Arias in the B-Minior Mass?," in About Bach, eds. Gregory G. Butler, George B. Stauffer, Mary Dalton Greer; Christoph Wolff festschrift, American Bach Society (Urbana & Chicago, Univ. of Illinois Press, 2008: 69-77).
⁷ Klaus Häfner, “Über die Herkunft von zwei Sätzen der h-Moll-Messe,” Bach-Jahrbuch (Leipzig) Verlag-Anst., Vol. 63 (1977): S. 65-74).
8 Daniel R. Melamed, Listening to Bach: the Mass in B Minor and the Christmas Oratorio (Oxford University Press, 2018: xviiif).

—————

To Come: Bach's fifth cycle of music of joy and sorrow, frweddings to funerals, from celebratory secular cantatas to sacred motets, in liturgical and non-liturgical textual settings. See: Occasional Joy-Sorrow Cantata Cycle [General Topics]

B Minor Mass project

Linda Gingrich wrote (February 5, 2019):
I'm pondering a project and I'd like some feedback from the list if possible. I conduct a community chorus and have long wanted to do the B Minor Mass, but it would be very difficult for my group of amateur singers, although quite good and experienced, to tackle it in one season, so I'm considering turning it into a three-year project. It divides rather nicely into thirds, so we would perform the Kyrie and Gloria the first year, the Symbolum Nicenum in the second, then the entire Mass in the third year. Have any of you, as either performers or audience members, participated in or experienced such a project, whether the B Minor Mass, another Bach work, or the work of some other composer? If so, was it successful? And why or why not?

Henrich Schwerk wrote (February 6, 2019):
[To Linda Gingrich] By practising and performing parodied cantatas which have been the original like BWV 29, 12 or BWV 191 we have been well prepared to perform the whole mass. The h-moll Messe is such a big work, it was a good idea to prepare it not just as one project, even, if would be technically possible.

Linda Gingrich wrote (February 6, 2019):
[To Henrich Schwerk] That's an interesting idea, Henner, and one I hadn't thought of. Thanks!

Alan Dera wrote (February 7, 2019):
[To Linda Gingrich] I think your first idea would make sense too; maybe if you perform the original Dresden version of the mass the first year (that is only Kyrie and Gloria but with some slight differences), then the C. P. E. Bach version of the Credo he performed in 1786, and finally doing the whole mass in the definitive complete form on the third year. The C. P. E. Bach version has possibly the advantage that the voices are doubled by instruments in the a cappella numbers of the Credo (first Credo and Confiteor), so the choir has a little more orchestral support on your first performance.

Of course, the idea with the parody cantatas is also a good one.

William L. Hoffman wrote (February 7, 2019):
A few years ago I participated in the University of New Mexico Chorus performance of the B-Minor Mass. This is a community group and to assist us, we had members of the student UNM Concert Choir join us in rehearsals that semester. It was a real boost although the middle section of the Cum sancto spiritu (mm 164-238) was sung by them. It's also found in Cantata 191 as the contrafaction, Sucat erat in principio.

Linda Gingrich wrote (February 8, 2019):
[To William L. Hoffman] Thank you, Alan and Will. Very interesting ideas, especially Alan's about the C.P.E. version. I don't have access to students, we're too far from any colleges, but I will probably have the soloists sing with the choir, which is in line with Bach's practice, and will help. And there may be a few music majors who live in the area and would be willing to help as well.

Covid performance of the B minor Mass in Leipzig.

Kim Patrick Clow wrote (November 22, 2020-):
John Pike was kind enough to send me an email about this....

"I am finding this absolutely extraordinary - Bach beats Corona - how to make a great virtue out of necessity; a socially distanced performance of Bach’s great masterpiece, the B minor mass. It’s mainly performed one voice and one player per part (OVPP/OPPP) from St Nicholas’ Church, Leipzig. The clarity is quite stunning and it is easy to use it as an intimate act of worship. At times, singers from other choirs in separate places are blended in, and I found the introduction of singers standing around Bach’s grave in St Thomas’ Church for the Gratias agimus Tibi spine-tingling. There’s considerable evidence from extant parts that Bach wanted his music performed OVPP/OPPP and listening to this it’s not hard to see why. I have reservations about some of the individual performers but the overall effect is way more than some of its parts.

Why did Bach largely compile it by recycling earlier material? Did he ever hear it performed? I don’t think scholars know the answers to those questions, although I did see a suggestion a few years ago that it was commissioned by St Stephen’s Cathedral Vienna. What’s the latest scholarship on these questions?"

Have a great Sunday!

https://youtu.be/-gCdPQkpZJE

Zachary Uram wrote (November 23, 2020-):
[To Kim Patrick Clow] thanks

Aryeh Oron wrote (November 23, 2020-):
[To Kim Patrick Clow] All the video recordings of Bachfest Leipzig from Corona days 2020 are presented on the BCW at: https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Leipzig-Bachfest-Rec2.htm
You can found there many memorable performances.

Sneffels wrote (November 23, 2020-):
[To Kim Patrick Clow] Splendid performance! Thanks for bringing our attention to it.

Two points:

1) The evidence that's claimed to show Bach wanted his music performed 1 to a part is flatly contradicted by various lists of expenses and personnel for Bach's performing groups. Several lists show payments in every case to multiple players and singers. There's also a 1730 letter by Bach to the Leipzig town council, bitterly complaining about not having enough musicians and listing as an absolute minimum 2-3 string players and singers per part, and forcefully emphasizing that this was just barely a functional complement and that many more musicians would be needed for adequate performance. Drawing a conclusion only from the scant and fragmentary (Bach would likely have said eisegetic, and laughed) 1-to-a-part evidence is cherrypicking, and taken out of context. 1-to-a-part makes no sense unless one also recalls that churches everywhere have always had a hard time getting enough musicians to sing and play. The only explanation I'm aware of that is consistent with ALL the evidence is that Bach -- like most church musicians -- was often forced to compromise with too few musicians and had to make do with what was available, even though he explicitly considered it far from ideal. (So in a very real sense, the video performance is genuinely authentic! -- just not in the way some scholars believe.)

2) Why do the videographers feel the need to frantically cut every second or two? Do they think we'll be bored? We never get a chance to watch anything attentively, before it's ripped away to show us something else, nearly always yet another extreme closeup of just one or two players, or even the bassist's hair or the lutenist's knuckles. There's no sense at all of the musicians communicating with each other as an ensemble. And the absurd jump-cut from the end of the Et expecto abruptly to the Pleni, where a bunch more musicians suddenly and mysteriously appear in the balcony! And a different organist and another conductor magically appear! And the camera placement is amateurish and clearly unaware of the music, such as at the start of the Osanna where the timpanist is shot in very extreme closeup with the camera evidently looking over the conductor's shoulder, so when the timpanist looks at the conductor, he necessarily appears to be looking right at the camera -- very much a no-no, as every beginning film student knows. I hope someone here knows the videographers and can instruct them in the basics of making a video that flows naturally, gives a real sense of the music and the musicians, and does justice to their performance and to Bach's wonderful work.

3) But again, many thanks for this vivid performance!

William L. Hoffman wrote (November 23, 2020):
[To Aryeh Oron] Thank you, Aryeh, for the video recordings fro the Bachfest Leipzig Marathon 2020, especially with the music in liturgical context using a variety of other composers -- cantors, Bach Family, etc. -- a fine tradition! Bach's use of earlier materials in the BBM is a tradition dating to the Medieval period, particularly the parody Mass with a summatof the composer's work. The BMM sources are found at BCW while the possible Vienna performance is discussed in Michael Maul's "'The Great Catholic Mass': Bach, Count Questeberg and the Musicalische Congregation in Vienna," in Exploring Bach's B-minor Mass (Cambridge University Press: paperback 2020: 84ff), Amazon.com: "Look inside." Where the first performance of the BMM is still speculation, perhaps it was the dedication of the Dresden Cathedral or for the feast of St. Cecelia. As for OVPP, Bach adapted performances to the resources and venue available, in Cöthen from the austere serenades to the mammoth 1729 memorial concert for Prince Leopold, BCW.

Mass in B Minor

Zachary Uram wrote (February 10, 2021, 2020-):
YouTube

Marc Genevey wrote (February 10, 2021, 2020-):
[To Zachary Uram] This one goes instantly among the very best performances of this masterpiece I have ever heard...Thank you very much Zachary !

Zachary Uram wrote (February 10, 2021, 2020-):
[To Marc Genevey] Welcome! It is a fantastic performance!

An Examination of the B Minor Mass on Record - Uri Golomb PhD dissertation

William L. Hoffman wrote (January 29, 2022):
Uri's Academia.edu abstract page lists articles of his and others on various Bach vocal works, particularly the B-Minor Mass. In a coming Bach Mailing List Discussion, I will focus on the unique Exploring Bach's B-minor Mass essay collection, Amazon.com

More on the meaning of Bach's music for today

Miguel Prohaska wrote (May 4, 2022):
In J.E. Gardiner, Music in the Castle of Heaven, Penguin, 2014. I read that Bach experienced war in 1745 when Prussian troops occupied Leipzig, and devastated its surroundings at the end of the Second Silesian War. For the service to celebrate peace "five of the eventual twenty-seven movements of the B minor Mass (were) performed together." (Pages 499-500).

William L. Hoffman wrote (May 5, 2022):
[To Miguel Prohaska] Details: Greater Latin Doxology Cantata BWV 191, “Gloria in excelsis Deo,” Bach's so-called "Missa Cantata” is listed as Latin Music for the first Christmas Festival (Christ's Nativity) and its composition is dated 1743-46 (YouTube). The work may have been presented on Christmas Day 1745, along with the “Sanctus in D Major, BWV 232 (YouTube), to celebrate the Peace of Dresden at the conclusion of the 2nd Silesian War (during which Leipzig had been occupied by the Prussian troops of Leopold of Anhalt-Dessau). The special academic thanksgiving service was held in the Leipzig University Paulinerkirche and this music may have instituted the completion of the B-Minor Mass. Two weeks later a community service of thanksgiving was held on Sunday, January 9, the First Sunday after Epiphany, in the Nikolai Church.
(source: BCW

Miguel Prohaska wrote (May 4, 2022):
[To William L. Hoffman] Thank you very much for this. Greatly appreciated.

B Minor Mass: question about first performance of Kyrie

Miguel Prohaska wrote (May 8, 2022):
I would like to know the answer to this question, and if anyone knows it and/or can find it out, would you be prepared to share the information?

On pages 483 and 484 in Music in the Castle of Heaven (Penguin, 2014) J.E. Gardiner writes "was the opening Kyrie first performed on 21 April 1733 when the new Prince-Elector visited Leipzig for the Oath of Fealty?"

Question: in the Lutheran Church Year, where does that date, 21 April 1733 fall? if it was a weekday, then between what Sundays?

Thank you.

Jeffrey Solow wrote (May 8, 2022):
[To Miguel Prohaska] This may help:

April 21, 1733: Day of the Week

April 21, 1733 was the 111th day of the year 1733 in the Gregorian calendar. There were 254 days remaining until the end of the year. The day of the week was Tuesday.

Miguel Prohaska wrote (May 8, 2022):
[To Jeffrey Solow] Thank you very much for the quick reply. Very much appreciated:

If anyone knows/can find out between which Sundays in the Lutheran Church Year was Tuesday 21 April 1733 I would greatly appreciate knowing that.

Thanks again,

Aryeh Oron wrote (May 9, 2022):
[To Miguel Prohaska] Please take a look at the page:
https://www.bach-cantatas.com/LCY/1731.htm

In the LCY section on the BCW:
https://www.bach-cantatas.com/LCY/index.htm
you can find the events in the LCY for each year in the lifetime of J.S. Bach arranged by event and by year.

Miguel Prohaska wrote (May 9, 2022):
[To Dear Aryeh Oron] Thank you very much for the email. Greatly appreciated.

The reason I am curious about this matter is that in order to listen to all Bach's vocal sacred music, I have to give them a time to listen to, and therefore I decided to listen to them close to the occasion they were written for. The B Minor Mass was not written for any particular occasion, so I wanted to place the work some where on the calendar and thought of placing it when it might have been first performed.

In The Learned Musician, page 367, C. Wolff wrote "A performance of the Kyrie-Gloria Mass, BWV 232-1, may actually have taken place...when the new elector paid a visit to Leipzig on April 20-21, 1733..." and then more details follow.

Evan Cortens wrote (May 9, 2022):
[To Miguel Prohaska] As it happens, the Bach Cantatas website has a super handy calendar of all Sundays and Holidays in Bach's lifetime.

Here's 1733: https://bach-cantatas.com/LCY/1733.htm

And here are the Sundays on either side of April 21:
1733-04-19 So Misericordias Dom.
1733-04-26 So Jubilate

Miguel Prohaska wrote (May 9, 2022):
[To Hi Evan Cortens] Thank you very much for the detailed information. Greatly appreciated.

Off Topic: Arrangements of B minor Dona Nobis Pacem for orchestra?

Bruce Simonson wrote (May 14, 2022):
It’s been a while since I participated in discussions and the like; my apologies.

Our orchestra and chorus are considering performing Mozart’s version of Part 1 of Handel’s Messiah in December. And the Hallelujah Chorus, of course.

I would like to also include the Dona Nobis Pacem from the B Minor Mass on the program.

Can anyone suggest an arrangement for this, before I dive and try to do my own?

I think this is Mozart’s Messiah orchestra:

2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons
2 trumpets, 2 horns, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani
strings and continuo

Granted, this is odd and strange, but the general idea is to bring several amateur performing groups back, after covid, in a grand community way. Covid permitting, of course.

Suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

John Garside wrote (May 14, 2022):
[To Bruce Simonson] From examining the score at the IMSLP web site, it looks like you are correct about the instruments for the Mozart "Der Messias".
The complete score can be downloaded in many versions from there.

If you have a look in the "Arrangements" section having found the B minor Mass at IMSLP, you'll find someone has contributed a complete version arranged for Flute, Oboe, Cor Anglais, Bassoon, String quartet & Double bass.
Any help?

Bruce Simonson wrote (May 14, 2022):
[To John Garside] Yes, thanks. Don’t know why I missed this when I checked on IMSLP.

It looks like thiarrangement on IMSLP doesn’t have trumpets or timpani. It’s hard to imagine Bach’s Dona Nobis Pacem without those glorious trumpet parts at the end. So maybe just adding Bach’s trumpet parts, and adding trombones and horn parts colla parte with the chorus parts is something to consider, to augment this arrangement.

Perhaps taking a look at Sir Eugene Goossen’s arrangement of Messiah for ideas. But crash cymbals, triangle, and harp?! Whooo boy … What am I thinking??

Hallelujah Chorus (Goossen orchestration)

William Hoffman wrote (May 14, 2022):
Where's the kitchen sink? Listen to Sir Thomas Beecham's recording, YouTube

Zachary Uram wrote (May 15, 2022):
[To William L. Hoffman] To my ears, there is no finer recording of Handel's Messiah than that of Christopher Hogwood: YouTube

Bruce Simonson wrote (May 15, 2022):
[To Zachary Uram] I so agree. Emma Kirkby’s Refiner’s Fire on the Hogwood recording is awesome. First time I heard this with a soprano soloist, and it’s never been better.

Who can abide: YouTube?t=13m26s
Refiner’s Fire: YouTube?t=14m56s
(Listening to the link you provided, I don’t remember the reverb being so pronounced on the CD recordings. It might be an artifact of the youtube upload. But never mind, it’s great to be reminded of this — thanks so much).

Zachary Uram wrote (May 15, 2022):
[To Bruce Simonson] Oh love that!

Beautiful sound: Dona nobis pacem by Bach Collegium Japan

Miguel Prohaska wrote (May 16, 2022):
Watched it a couple of times
3 minutes
YouTube

Bruce Simonson wrote (May 16, 2022):
[To Miguel Prohaska] Beautiful.

Aryeh Oron wrote (May 16, 2022):
[To Bruce Simonson] And so is Gardiner:
YouTube

Miguel Prohaska wrote (May 19, 2022):
Different way of interpreting "Grant us Peace" and also very meaningful, especially these last few months.

B-Minor Mass to be performed within a High Mass in Einsiedeln, Switzerland on 27 May

Miguel Prohaska wrote (May 26, 2022):
Johann Sebastian Bach's "B minor Mass" in the Pontifical Mass with Symposium

05/19/2022

On June 19, 1950, the B minor Mass by Johann Sebastian Bach was performed in our monastery church during a pontifical mass celebrated by Abbot Benno Gut. It is quite possible that this was the first performance of the legendary work within a Catholic liturgy.

It will undoubtedly be an impressive event when the entire B minor Mass is heard again in a pontifical mass for the first time in over 70 years. On Friday, May 27, 2022, Abbot Urban Federer will preside over the Eucharistic celebration and Father Martin Werlen will preach the sermon. Beginning at 6:15 p.m. The Zürcher Sing-Akademie sings, accompanied by the Orchestra La Scintilla, conducted by Florian Helgath.

Our monastery maintains a festive liturgy that has grown over 1000 years. The Latin language is still cultivated here today. The weight of the music shouldn't be underestimated either. In contrast to a concert performance, the composition of Johann Sebastian Bach can receive its truest, deepest statement in this context. In addition, the baroque splendor of our monastery church goes perfectly with the baroque music.

Symposium on the B minor Mass

In the morning and in the afternoon, the interested audience will be given the opportunity to prepare for the work in the immediate run-up to the pontifical mass at a symposium with presentations by established and competent specialists on the theological and musicological context. The symposium is aimed at interested laypeople and professionals. The speakers go into the work in a clear way and also with musical examples and give the opportunity to enter into a dialogue. The symposium will take place in the music hall of the Einsiedeln Abbey School (“Gymnasium” entrance).

The work

Johann Sebastian Bach's Mass in B minor BWV 232 is the largest and most ambitious of his sacred vocal works. It occupied the composer for almost three decades. The first parts were written as early as 1724, other parts are arrangements of earlier compositions, but Johann Sebastian Bach only completed the work in the last creative period of his life. It thus offers an essence of his compositional skills and an enormous wealth of forms. This makes the Mass in B minor one of the most demanding and brilliant choral-symphonic works ever. The Mass in B minor sets the entire Catholic mass text to music and goes far beyond Bach's Lutheran-Protestant masses in scope. The manuscript of this exceptional work of Western music history is part of the UNESCO World Document Heritage.

The original German text of above paragraphs can be found at: Kloster Einsieldel
which also gives details of times ; the pdf Flyer on the bottom of that page has details about the various persons and groups participating that day.

High Mass with performance of Bach B-Minor Mass

Miguel Prohaska wrote (May 28, 2022):
We heard it live from Einsiedeln, Switzerland.

Freitag, 27. Mai 2022 – Pontifikalamt mit Auffuehrung von Bachs h-Moll-Messe
YouTube [2.54.00]

There is only one camera always showing the altar. Only four instrumentalists can be seen, as well as the soloists when they perform.

We found it very interesting to see the Mass within a liturgy. Bach in Latin, liturgy in German.

We liked how the musicians performed.

Melissa Raven wrote (May 28, 2022):
[To Miguel Prohaska] Thanks Miguel

I am listening to the Laudamus Te right now (satisfyingly gutsy).

Here is a DeepL translation of the blurb:

Friday, May 27, 2022 - Pontifical Mass with performance of Bach's Mass in B Minor

Einsiedeln Monastery/Abbey

Even after all Corona protection measures have been lifted, we monks of Einsiedeln Monastery want to make it possible for as many people as possible to join in the celebration of our services via livestream. We have especially those people in mind who cannot come to Einsiedeln in person to celebrate a service, especially because of their age, their occupation or their place of residence.

The following services are currently being transmitted:

09:30 a.m. Conventual Mass (Holy Mass of the monastic community) on Sundays and holidays.
11.15 a.m. Convent Office (Holy Mass of the monastic community) on weekdays
12.05 noon prayer (only on weekdays)
16.30 h Latin Vespers (evening praise) and "Salve Regina
20.00 hrs. Compline (Night Prayer), Attention: On the 1st Sunday of the month already at 19.00 hrs!
We would be delighted if you would join us in celebrating our services not only via livestream, but also - if possible - together with us on site.

Active celebration of the choir prayer via livestream:

Since we Einsiedeln monks - unlike many Benedictine monasteries - do not celebrate our choir prayer according to the "monastic" system, but according to the "Roman" system, you can easily pray along with us using the Book of Hours https://stundenbuch.katholisch.de.

You can also pray the Latin texts of Vespers in the original language: http://www.ibreviary.com/m2/breviario... .

By the way, the Book of Hours is also available as a free app Apple. !

In the Conventual Office the Gregorian Chant is sung in the tradition as it has been sung by us Einsiedeln Benedictines for over 1000 years. The songs in German are taken from the "Katholisches Gesangbuch der deutschsprachigen Schweiz".

You can read the scripture readings in the Eucharistic celebration on our page "God's Word" https://www.kloster-einsiedeln.ch/got... or read along.

We ask for your support and understanding:

a result of limited technical, personnel and financial resources, we cannot offer you the quality of a professional television service. We thank you for your understanding and support. Help in funding our online broadcast is greatly appreciated via www.kloster-einsiedeln.ch.

The monks of the Einsiedeln Monastery
YouTube

Miguel Prohaska wrote (May 28, 2022):
[To Melissa Raven] Thank you very much for the information.

Mass in B minor BWV 232: Details
Complete Recordings: 1900-1949 | 1950-1959 | 1960-1969 | 1970-1979 | 1980-1989 | 1990-1999 | 2000-2009 | 2010-2019 | 2020-2029
Recordings of Individual Movements: 1900-1949 | 1950-1959 | 1960-1969 | 1970-1979 | 1980-1989 | 1990-1999 | 2000-2009 | 2010-2019 | 2020-2029
General Discussions: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19
Systematic Discussions: Part 1: Kyrie | Part 2: Gloria | Part 3: Credo | Part 4: Sanctus | Part 5: Agnus Dei | Part 6: Early Recordings | Part 7: Summary
Individual Recordings: BWV 232 - C. Abbado | BWV 232 - Anonymous | BWV 232 - G.C. Biller | BWV 232 - F. Brüggen | BWV 232 - J. Butt | BWV 232 - S. Celibidache | BWV 232 - M. Corboz | BWV 232 - A. Eby | BWV 232 - G. Enescu | BWV 232 - E. Ericson | BWV 232 - D. Fasolis | BWV 232 - J.E. Gardiner | BWV 232 - C.M. Giulini | BWV 232 - N. Harnoncourt | BWV 232 - T. Hengelbrock | BWV 232 - P. Herreweghe | BWV 232 - R. Hickox | BWV 232 - R. Jacobs | BWV 232 - E. Jochum | BWV 232 - Ifor Jones | BWV 232 - K. Junghänel & Cantus Cölln | BWV 232 - H.v. Karajan | BWV 232 - R. King | BWV 232 - O. Klemperer | BWV 232 - S. Kuijken | BWV 232 - G. Leonhardt | BWV 232 - P. McCreesh | BWV 232 - M. Minkowski | BWV 232 - H. Müller-Bruhl | BWV 232 - S. Ozawa | BWV 232 - M. Pearlman | BWV 232 - K. Richter | BWV 232 - J. Rifkin | BWV 232 - H. Rilling | BWV 232 - H. Scherchen | BWV 232 - P. Schreier | BWV 232 - R. Shaw | BWV 232 - G. Solti | BWV 232 - M. Suzuki | BWV 232 - J. Thomas & ABS | BWV 232 - K. Thomas | BWV 232 - J.v. Veldhoven
Articles: Mass in B Minor, BWV 232 [T. Noel Towe] | Bach’s B minor Mass on Period Instruments [D. Satz] | Like Father, Like Son [B. Pehrson]