Amongst all the wonderful musical works composed down the centuries, only a small proportion are universally acclaimed as great masterpieces. A prime example of such a work is Bach’s majestic Mass in B minor, a pillar of Western music, described by Hubert Parry as ‘the mightiest choral work ever written’. It comes as something of a surprise, then, to learn that it is in fact a compilation of many pieces composed over a period of some thirty-five years, put together by the composer shortly before his death, and that his purpose in producing this Mass remains a matter of some conjecture.

Bach wrote several Lutheran masses, but the B minor is his only Missa Tota – that is, a setting comprising all five parts of the Ordinary of the Catholic mass: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus & Benedictus, and Agnus Dei. It was never performed in its entirety during the composer’s lifetime (the first complete performance was not until 1859), and in 18th century Germany there would have been no opportunity to do so, since Lutheran practice was to sing only the Kyrie and Gloria, known simply as the Missa. In any case, both in length and grandeur the work is too immense for any church service. Why then did Bach, a devout Lutheran, compose this monumental Catholic setting which he must have known would never be performed in the foreseeable future? We simply don’t know for certain. However, during his final years he was preoccupied with the completion of several major projects – the Goldberg Variations, the Musical Offering and the comprehensive Art of Fugue. Each of these is a retrospective-cum-compendium of a particular aspect of his art, and the Mass in B minor appears to be in much the same mould. It incorporates a comprehensive range of techniques and styles from a very wide spectrum of his career; the earliest section, the Crucifixus, dates from 1714, and the last, the Symbolum Nicenum (Credo) from about 1749, the year before he died. Bach can have had no practical purpose in mind for the Mass in B minor;rather, his intention seems to have been nothing less than the summation of his life’s work as a composer of sacred music.

For some hundred years after its completion the work remained virtually unknown, and it was not until 1845 that Hans Nägeli produced the first published edition. Bach himself never called it ‘Mass in B minor’. That name was given to it by Nägeli, probably as a marketing ploy to align it with Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis of1824. In Bach’s autographed manuscript there is no main title page, only the names of the four component parts: 1. Missa (i.e. Kyrie and Gloria) 2. Symbolum Nicenum (Credo) 3. Sanctus 4. Osanna, Benedictus, Agnus Dei et Dona Nobis Pacem.

By 1733 Bach had been in Leipzig for ten years. The post of Kantor (Director of Music for the town) was hugely demanding, requiring him to teach at the Thomasschule, play the organ, train the choir and compose the music for the city’s two principal churches – Thomaskirche and Nikolaikirche – and supervise the musicians at two others. Despite this enormous workload Bach’s time at Leipzig was incredibly productive; he composed the Magnificat, some 300 cantatas, the St John and St Matthew passions, the Christmas Oratorio and much else besides. The death early in 1733 of Augustus the Strong, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, brought an extended period of national mourning during which all public music-making was suspended. Bach used this welcome respite to work on the composition of a Missa (Kyrie and Gloria only) in order to petition the new sovereign, Augustus III, for the prestigious title of court composer at Dresden.

Towards the end of his life Bach decided to incorporate this Dresden Missa, together with a six-part Sanctus which he had written for the 1724 Christmas Day celebrations at Leipzig, into a Missa Tota. This meant that he needed to compose the remaining sections: the Credo, Osanna, Benedictus and Agnus Dei. For these he wrote some entirely new music, but mostly he used material borrowed from various sacred and secular cantatas he had composed over the years, adapting and refining the music for its new context, just as he had done for parts of the 1733 Missa and other works such as the Christmas Oratorio. This procedure, known as parodying, was common practice during the Baroque era. The term ‘parody’ does not refer to humour or satire, as in the modern sense of the word, but to the processof taking pre-existing material and re-working it into a new piece.

One of the most striking features of the Mass is the sheer variety of old and new musical styles – the stile antico of Palestrina and his contemporaries, Baroque dance forms, operatic techniques, complex counterpoint – all fashioned with consummate skill into a single, remarkably coherent whole that belies the work’s piecemeal origins. More than 250 years have passed since the Mass in B minor was completed, yet its status as one of the supreme icons of Western music remains undiminished, and it continues to speak to people of many cultures and faiths.

Kyrie
The Massbegins with an imposing adagio introduction, which soon leads into an extended fugue. In contrast, the Christe eleison duet is simple and direct. The second Kyrie is another fugue, notable for its intensity. It is one of several movements written in stile antico:a more austere idiom derived from the late Renaissance style of Palestrina and others, with the instruments doubling the voices and with little or no ornamentation. 
  Chorus
       Kyrie eleison                                                                                                                                      
Lord, have mercy upon us
  Soprano duet
       Christe eleison                                 
Christ, have mercy upon us
  Chorus
       Kyrie eleison                                                                                                                                      
Lord, have mercy upon us

Gloria
The Gloria bursts into life in a joyous D major (the predominant key of the work in fact, rather than the titular B minor), with trumpets blazing and timpani thundering. Here is Bach at his most exuberant. A complete contrast follows with the pastoral Laudamus te, a beautiful aria for soprano, with violin obbligato. Bach provides further variety of mood and colour in the ensuing movements, notably in the Domine Deo, a duet for soprano and tenor accompanied by flute and strings; Qui sedes, in which the alto soloist is partnered by the similarly pitched oboe d’amore; and Quoniam tu solus sanctus, a bass aria with bassoon duet and horn obbligato. The jubilant Cum Sancto Spiritu concludes with an exhilarating fugue.   
  Chorus
       Gloria in excelsis Deo, et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis.                                                           
       Glory be to God on high, and on earth peace, goodwill towards men.
Soprano aria                                                                                                                                               
       Laudamus te, benedicimus te, adoramus te, glorificamus te.                                                                     
       We praise thee, we bless thee, we worship thee, we glorify thee,
Chorus
       Gratias agimus tibi propter magnam gloriam tuam.
       We give thanks to thee for thy great glory.
Soprano & tenor duet
       Domine Deus, rex coelestis, Deus Pater omnipotens. Domine Fili unigenite,
       Jesu Christe altissime. Domine Deus, Agnus Dei, Filius Patris.                                                                 
       Lord God, heavenly king, God the Father almighty. O Lord, the only-begotten
       son, Jesu Christ. Most high Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father.

Chorus
       Qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.
       Qui tollis peccata mundi, suscipe deprecationem nostrum.                                                                       
       Thou that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.
       Thou that takest away the sins of the world, receive our prayer.

Alto aria           
       Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris, miserere nobis.
Thou that sittest at the right hand of the Father, have mercy upon us.
  Bass aria          
       Quoniam tu solus sanctus, tu solus Dominus, tu solus altissimus, Jesu Christe.                                           
For thou only art holy, thou only art the Lord,thou only art most High, Jesu Christ.
  Chorus             
       Cum Sancto Spiritu in gloria Dei Patris. Amen.                                                                                      
With the Holy Ghost in the glory of God the Father. Amen.

Credo
The opening movement of the Credo features a steady, ‘walking’ bass line, with the traditional plainsong Credo intonation used as a cantus firmus – a melody in long notes sung by one or other voice part, around which the other voices and instruments weave intricate decorative lines. The nine movements of the Credo are carefully organised in a symmetrical arch structure; the first two choral sections are followed by an aria, and this is balanced by a similar pattern in reverse. Between these two groups stand three momentous choral movements that affirm the central theological tenets of the Credo: Christ’s incarnation, crucifixion and resurrection.
 

Chorus                                                                        
       Credo in unum Deum.                                                                                                                          
       I believe in one God.
       Patrem omnipotentem, factorem coeli et terrae,
       visibilium omnium et invisibilium.
       The Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth,
       and of all things visible and invisible.
Soprano & alto duet                                                                                                                                 
       Et in unum Dominum Jesum Christum, filium Dei unigenitum, et ex Patre natum
       ante omnia saecula. Deum de Deo, lumen de lumine, Deum verum de Deo vero,
       genitum non factum consubstantialem Patri, per quem omnia facta sunt.
       Qui propter nos homines et propter nostram salutem descendit de coelis.
       And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the
       Father before all worlds. God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God,
       begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things
       were made. Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven.
Chorus
         Et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria virgine, et homo factus est.
       And was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man.
       Crucifixus etiam pro nobis sub Pontio Pilato, passus et sepultus est.
       And was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, he suffered and was buried.
       Et resurrexit tertia die secundum scripturas. Et ascendit in coelum, sedet ad
       dexteram Dei Patris. Et iterum venturus est cum gloria judicare vivos et
       mortuos, cuius regni non erit finis.
And the third day he rose again according to the scriptures. And ascended into
       heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father. And he shall come again with
       glory, to judge both the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.
  Bass solo
       Et in Spiritum Sanctum, Dominum et vivificantem, qui ex Patre Filioque
       procedit; qui cum Patre et Filio simul adoratur et conglorificatur, qui locutus
       est per prophetas. Et unam sanctam catholicam et apostolicam ecclesiam.
And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the
       Father and the Son, who with the Father and Son together is worshipped and
       glorified, who spoke through the prophets. And I believe in one holy, catholic
       and apostolic church.
  Chorus
       Confiteor unum baptisma in remissionem peccatorum.
       I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins.
       Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum et vitam venturi saeculi. Amen.
       And I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.
       Amen.

Sanctus
This magnificent music was originally written for Christmas Day, 1724, a year after Bach moved to Leipzig. The choir is here divided into six parts, and into eight for the double-choir Osanna.                                                                  
Chorus                                                                                                                                                    
       Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth. Pleni sunt coeli et terra
       gloria eius. Osanna in excelsis.
       Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of hosts. Heaven and earth are full of thy glory.
       Hosanna in the highest.

Benedictus
Flute and tenor soloist elegantly blend together in this gentle and meditative movement.
  Tenor aria
       Benedictus, qui venit in nomine Domini.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
  Chorus
       Osanna in excelsis.
Hosanna in the highest.

Agnus Dei
The yearning phrases of the alto soloist are set against an equally plangent melody for unison violins. The final chorus is a reprise of the Gratias music from the Gloria, and it brings this momentous work to a triumphant close.
   Alto aria
       Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.
 O Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.
Chorus
       Dona nobis pacem.
Grant us thy peace.

programme notes © John Bawden 2023

To those using these notes
You are more than welcome to use all or part of these notes for your choral society or church programme, or for educational purposes. If you do, please would you be kind enough to advise me by e-mail - bawden37@sky.com - and would you also acknowledge my authorship. I’m happy to be simply © John Bawden, but if you wish to add my degree, it’s MMus (University of Surrey, UK). If you are thinking of using these notes for commercial reproduction, e.g. a CD or DVD liner, please contact me. Thank you.