Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
Mass in B minor
(section)
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
== Movements and their origins == {{Main|Mass in B minor structure}} The work consists of 27 sections. Tempo and metrical information and [[Parody#Music|parodied]] cantata sources come from Christoph Wolff's 1997 critical urtext edition, and from George Stauffer's ''Bach: The Mass in B Minor''.<ref>Stauffer, ''Bach: The Mass in B Minor'', p. 294.</ref> except where noted. Regarding sources, Stauffer, summarizing current research as of 1997, states that "Specific models or fragments can be pinpointed for eleven of the work's twenty-seven movements" and that "two other movements [the "Domine Deus" and "Et resurrexit"] are most probably derived from specific, now lost sources."<ref>Stauffer, ''Bach: The Mass in B Minor'', pp. 48–49.</ref> But Stauffer adds "there is undoubtedly much more borrowing than this." Exceptions are the opening four bars of the first Kyrie,<ref>Butt, p. 44.</ref> the ''Et incarnatus est'' and ''Confiteor''.<ref>Butt, p. 56.</ref> Butt points out that "only with a musical aesthetic later than Bach's does the concept of parody (adapting existing vocal music to a new text) appear in an unfavourable light" while it was "almost unavoidable" in Bach's day.<ref>John Butt, ''Bach: Mass in B Minor'' (Cambridge Music Handbooks), Cambridge University Press, 1991, {{ISBN|978-0-521-38716-3}}, p. 42.</ref> He further notes that "by abstracting movements from what he evidently considered some of his finest vocal works, originally performed for specific occasions and Sundays within the Church's year, he was doubtless attempting to preserve the pieces within the more durable context of the Latin Ordinary."<ref>John Butt, "Mass in B Minor", from Oxford Composer Companions: J. S. Bach, ed. Malcolm Boyd and John Butt, Oxford University Press, 1999, p. 285</ref> Details of the parodied movements and their sources are given below. ===I. Kyrie and Gloria ("Missa")=== {{Redirect|Missa in B minor, BWV 232 I|another use of BWV 232 I|Bach's Missa of 1733}} # ''[[Mass in B minor structure#Kyrie I|Kyrie eleison]]'' (1st) ::Five-part chorus (Soprano I & II, Alto, Tenor, Bass) in B minor, marked Adagio (in the four-bar choral introduction) and then Largo in the main section with an autograph time signature of {{music|common-time}} or common time. ::[[Joshua Rifkin]] argues that, except for the opening four bars, the movement is based on a previous version in C minor, since examination of autograph sources reveals "a number of apparent transposition errors".<ref name="ReferenceA">Joshua Rifkin, "The B-Minor Mass and its Performance", liner notes to Rifkin's recording of the work, Nonesuch 79036-2, 1982</ref> [[John Butt (musician)|John Butt]] concurs: "Certainly, much of the movement—like many others with no known models—seems to have been copied from an earlier version."<ref>John Butt, "Mass in B Minor", in Oxford Composer Companions: J. S. Bach, ed. Malcolm Boyd and John Butt, Oxford University Press, 1999, p. 285</ref> Butt raises the possibility that the opening four bars were originally for instruments alone,<ref>John Butt, Bach: Mass in B Minor, p. 44</ref> but Gergely Fazekas details a case, based on manuscript, historical context, and musical structure, that "Bach might have composed the present introduction in a simpler form for the original C minor version" but "might have made the inner texture denser only for the 1733 B minor version."<ref>Gergely Fazekas, "Formal Deviations in the First Kyrie of the B minor mass," Understanding Bach, 3017, vol. 12, pp. 22-36, URL=http://bachnetwork.co.uk/ub12/ub12-fazekas.pdf</ref> #<li value=2> ''Christe eleison'' ::Duet (Soprano I & II) in [[D major]] with [[obbligato]] violins, no autograph tempo marking, time signature of {{music|common-time}}. #<li value=3> ''Kyrie eleison'' (2nd) ::Four-part chorus (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass) in [[F-sharp minor|F{{music|sharp}} minor]], marked [[alla breve]], and (in the 1748–50 score) "stromenti in unisono". Autograph time signature is {{music|cut-time}}. George Stauffer points out (p. 49) that "the four-part vocal writing ... points to a model conceived outside the context of a five-voice Mass." Note the nine (trinitarian, 3 × 3) movements that follow with a largely symmetrical structure, and the ''Domine Deus'' in the centre. #<li value=4>''Gloria in excelsis'' ::Five-part chorus (Soprano I & II, Alto, Tenor, Bass) in D major, marked Vivace in the 1733 first violin and cello parts, {{music|time|3|8}} time signature. In the mid-1740s, Bach reused this as the opening chorus of his cantata [[Gloria in excelsis Deo, BWV 191|''Gloria in excelsis Deo'', BWV 191]]. #<li value=5> ''Et in terra pax'' ::Five-part chorus (Soprano I & II, Alto, Tenor, Bass) in D major, no autograph tempo marking, time signature of {{music|common-time}}; in the autographs no double bar separates it from the preceding Gloria section. Again, Bach reused the music in the opening chorus of BWV 191. #<li value=6> ''Laudamus te'' ::[[Aria]] (Soprano II) in [[A major]] with violin obbligato, no autograph tempo marking, time signature of {{music|common-time}}. William H. Scheide argues that Bach based this movement on the opening aria of a lost wedding cantata of his (for which we now have only the text) [[Sein Segen fließt daher wie ein Strom, BWV Anh. 14|''Sein Segen fliesst daher wie ein Strom'', BWV Anh. I 14]]<ref>William H. Scheide, "BWV Anh. I 14: A source for parodied arias in the B-Minor Mass?" pp. 69-77 in ''About Bach,'' edited by Gregory G. Butler, George B. Stauffer and Mary Dalton Greer (University of Illinois Press, 2007), {{ISBN|978-0-252-03344-5}}</ref> #<li value=7>''Gratias agimus tibi'' ::Four-part chorus (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass) in D major, marked alla breve, time signature of {{music|cut-time}}. The music is a reworking of the second movement of Bach's 1731 Ratswechsel (Town Council Inauguration) cantata [[BWV 29|''Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir'', BWV 29]], in which the time signature is the number 2 with a slash through it. (Stauffer adds that both may have an earlier common source.) #<li value=8>''Domine Deus'' ::Duet (soprano I, tenor) in [[G major]] with flute obbligato and muted strings, no autograph tempo marking, time signature of {{music|common-time}}. The music appears as a duet in BWV 191. ::In the 1733 parts, Bach indicates a "Lombard rhythm" in the slurred two-note figures in the flute part; he does not indicate it in the final score or in BWV 191. Stauffer points out (p. 246) that this rhythm was popular in Dresden in 1733. It is possible that Bach added in the 1733 parts to appeal to tastes at the Dresden court and that he no longer wanted it used in the 1740s, or that he still preferred it but no longer felt it necessary to notate it. #<li value=9> ''Qui tollis peccata mundi'' ::Four-part chorus (Soprano II, Alto, Tenor, Bass) in B minor, marked adagio in the two violin 1 parts from 1733 and lente in the cello, continuo, and alto parts from 1733; {{music|time|3|4}} time signature. No double bar separates it from the preceding movement in the autograph. The chorus is a reworking of the first half of the opening movement of the 1723 cantata [[BWV 46|''Schauet doch und sehet, ob irgend ein Schmerz sei'', BWV 46]]. #<li value=10> ''Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris'' ::Aria (alto) in B minor with [[oboe d'amore]] obbligato, no autograph tempo marking, {{music|time|6|8}} time signature. #<li value=11> ''Quoniam tu solus sanctus'' ::Aria (bass) in D major with obbligato parts for solo [[corno da caccia]] (hunting horn or Waldhorn) and two bassoons, no autograph tempo marking, {{music|time|3|4}} time signature. ::Stauffer notes that the unusual scoring shows Bach writing specifically for the strengths of the orchestra in Dresden: while Bach wrote no music for two obbligato bassoons in his Leipzig cantatas, such scoring was common for works others composed in Dresden, "which boasted as many as five bassoonists",<ref>Stauffer, ''Bach: the Mass in B Minor'', p. 90</ref> and that Dresden was a noted center for horn playing. Peter Damm has argued that Bach designed the horn solo specifically for the Dresden horn soloist Johann Adam Schindler, whom Bach had almost certainly heard in Dresden in 1731.<ref>Peter Damm, "Zur Ausfuhrung des 'Corne da Caccia' im Quoniam der Missa h-Moll von J. S. Bach," Bach Jahrbuch 70 (1984), pp. 91–105</ref> ::Regarding lost original sources, Stauffer says, "A number of writers have viewed the clean appearance of the "Quoniam" and the finely detailed performance instructions in the autograph score as signs that this movement is also a [[Musical parody|parody]]."<ref name="Stauffer, p. 95">Stauffer, ''Bach: the Mass in B Minor'', p. 95</ref> Klaus Hafner<ref name="a">Klaus Hafner, "Uber die Herkunft von zwei Satzen der h-Moll-Messe," Bach-Jahrbuch 63 (1977): 55–74</ref> argues that the bassoon lines were, in the original, written for oboe, and that in this original a trumpet, not the horn, was the solo instrument. John Butt agrees, adding as evidence that Bach originally notated both bassoon parts with the wrong clefs, both indicating a range an octave higher than the final version, and then corrected the error, and adding that "oboe parts would almost certainly have been scored with trumpet rather than horn."<ref>John Butt, Bach: Mass in B Minor, p. 49</ref> William H. Scheide has argued in detail that it is a parody of the third movement of the lost wedding cantata ''Sein Segen fliesst daher wie ein Strom'', BWV Anh. I 14 <ref name="William H. Scheide pp. 69-77">William H. Scheide, "BWV Anh. I 14: A source for parodied arias in the B-Minor Mass?" pp. 69-77 in ''About Bach,'' edited by Gregory G. Butler, George B. Stauffer and Mary Dalton Greer (University of Illinois Press, 2007), {{ISBN|978-0-252-03344-5}},</ref> Stauffer, however, entertains the possibility that it may be new music.<ref name="Stauffer, p. 92">Stauffer, ''Bach: the Mass in B Minor'', p. 92</ref> #<li value=12> ''Cum Sancto Spiritu'' ::Five-part chorus (Soprano I & II, Alto, Tenor, Bass) in D major, marked Vivace, {{music|time|3|4}} time signature. ::Bach reused the music in modified form as the closing chorus of BWV 191. As to origins, [[Donald Francis Tovey]] argued that it is based on a lost choral movement from which Bach removed the opening instrumental [[ritornello]], saying "I am as sure as I can be of anything".<ref>Donald Francis Tovey, ''Essays in Musical Analysis'', Oxford University Press, 1935–39, vol. 5, pp. 34–35</ref> Hafner agrees, and like Tovey, has offered a reconstruction of the lost ritornello;<ref name="a" /> he also points to notational errors (again involving clefs) suggesting that the lost original was in four parts, and that Bach added the Soprano II line when converting the original into the ''Cum Sancto Spiritu'' chorus. Rifkin argues from the neat handwriting in the instrumental parts of the final score that the movement is based on a lost original, and he argues from the musical structure, which involves two fugues, that the original was probably a lost cantata from the middle or late 1720s, when Bach was especially interested in such structures.<ref name="ReferenceA" /> Stauffer is agnostic on the question.<ref name="Stauffer, p. 95" /> ===II. Credo ("Symbolum Nicenum")=== Note the nine movements with the symmetrical structure and the crucifixion at the centre. # ''Credo in unum Deum'' ::Five-part chorus (Soprano I & II, Alto, Tenor, Bass) in A [[mode (music)|Mixolydian]], no autograph tempo marking, {{music|cut-time}}. Stauffer identifies an earlier ''Credo in unum Deum'' chorus in G major, probably from 1748 to 1749. #<li value=2> ''Patrem omnipotentem'' ::Four-part chorus (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass) in D major, no autograph tempo marking, time signature of 2 with a slash through it in the autograph manuscript. The music is a reworking of the opening chorus of [[BWV 171|''Gott, wie dein Name, so ist auch dein Ruhm'', BWV 171]]. #<li value=3> ''Et in unum Dominum'' ::Duet (soprano I, alto) in G major, marked Andante, {{music|common-time}}. Stauffer derives it from a "lost duet, considered for [[Laßt uns sorgen, laßt uns wachen, BWV 213|"Ich bin deine", BWV 213/11]] (1733). Original version also included "Et incarnatus est"; the two movements were split when Bach put together the complete ''Missa'' in 1748–49. #<li value=4> ''[[Mass in B minor structure#Et incarnatus est|Et incarnatus est]]'' ::Five-part chorus (Soprano I & II, Alto, Tenor, Bass) in B minor, no autograph tempo marking, {{music|time|3|4}} time signature. Wolff among others argues that the "Et incarnatus est" movement was Bach's last significant composition.<ref name="Christoph Wolff p. 332"/> #<li value=5> ''[[Mass in B minor structure#Crucifixus|Crucifixus]]'' ::Four-part chorus (Soprano II, Alto, Tenor, Bass) in [[E minor]], no autograph tempo marking, {{music|time|3|2}} time signature. The music is a reworking of the first section of the first chorus of the 1714 cantata [[BWV 12|''Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen'', BWV 12]]. #<li value=6> ''Et resurrexit'' ::Five-part chorus (Soprano I & II, Alto, Tenor, Bass) in D major, no autograph tempo marking, {{music|time|3|4}} time signature, [[polonaise (dance)|polonaise]] rhythms. #<li value=7> ''Et in Spiritum Sanctum'' ::Aria (Bass) in A major with oboi d'amore obbligati, no autograph tempo marking, {{music|time|6|8}} time signature. William H. Scheide has argued that it is a parody of the sixth movement of the lost wedding cantata ''Sein Segen fließt daher wie ein Strom'', BWV Anh. I 14 (=[[BWV 1144]]).<ref name="William H. Scheide pp. 69-77"/> Stauffer, however, entertains the possibility that it may be new music.<ref name="Stauffer, p. 92"/> #<li value=8> ''Confiteor'' ::Five-part chorus (Soprano I & II, Alto, Tenor, Bass) in F{{music|sharp}} minor, no autograph tempo marking (until the transitional music in bar 121, which is marked "adagio"), {{music|cut-time}} time signature. ::John Butt notes that "the only positive evidence of Bach actually composing afresh within the entire score of the mass is in the 'Confiteor' section", by which he means, "composing the music directly into the autograph. Even the most unpracticed eye can see the difference between this and surrounding movements"; one part of the final transitional music is "still illegible ... and necessitates the conjectures of a judicious editor."<ref>Butt, Bach: Mass in B Minor, p. 56</ref> #<li value=9> ''Et expecto'' ::Five-part chorus (Soprano I & II, Alto, Tenor, Bass) in D major, marked Vivace ed allegro, implicitly in {{music|cut-time}} (as it is not set off with a double bar in the autograph from the Confiteor). The music is a reworking of the second movement of Bach's 1728 town council inauguration ({{lang|de|Ratswechsel}}) cantata [[BWV 120|''Gott, man lobet dich in der Stille'', BWV 120]] on the words ''Jauchzet, ihr erfreute Stimmen''. ===III. Sanctus=== #''Sanctus'' ::Six-part chorus (Soprano I & II, Alto I & II, Tenor, Bass) in D major, no autograph tempo marking, {{music|common-time}} time signature; leading immediately—without double bar in the sources—into the ''Pleni sunt coeli'', marked Vivace, {{music|time|3|8}} time signature. Derived from an earlier three soprano and one alto work written in 1724 and repeated and altered slightly on Easter 1727; in that 1724/1727 ''Sanctus'' the first section was marked in {{music|cut-time}}, perhaps suggesting a tempo faster than what Bach conceived of when he finally re-used it in the Mass. [[File:Benedictus-BWV232.jpg|thumb|Autograph score of the ''[[Sanctus|Benedictus]]'', aria for tenor and obbligato flute]] ===IV. Osanna, Benedictus, Agnus Dei and Dona Nobis Pacem=== {{listen|filename=Johann Sebastian Bach - Mass in B minor - Agnus Dei.ogg|title=Agnus Dei aria from Mass in B minor by Johann Sebastian Bach|description=Performed at Latin Cathedral in Lviv, Ukraine. Performed by Solomija Drozd (contralto), Petro Titiajev (violin), Ivan Ostapovych (organ). Run time is four minutes, 41 seconds|format=[[Ogg]]}} # ''Osanna'' ::Double chorus (both four parts) in D major, no autograph tempo marking, {{music|time|3|8}} time signature. A reworking of the A section of the chorus [[Es lebe der König, der Vater im Lande, BWV Anh. 11|''Es lebe der König'', BWV Anh. 11/1]] (1732) or [[Preise dein Glücke, gesegnetes Sachsen, BWV 215|''Preise dein Glücke'', BWV 215]] (1734). #<li value=2> ''Benedictus'' ::Aria for tenor with obbligato instrument (Flute or Violin) in B minor, no autograph tempo marking, {{music|time|3|4}} time signature. ::Butt writes that Bach "forgot to specify the instrument" for the obbligato;<ref>Butt, ''Bach: Mass in B Minor'', p. 58</ref> Stauffer adds the possibilities that Bach had not decided which instrument to use or that he was "indifferent" and left the choice open.<ref>Stauffer, ''Bach: The Mass in B Minor'', p. 159</ref> The [[Bach-Ausgabe]] edition assigned it to the violin, and Stauffer suggests this choice may have been influenced by Beethoven's use of the violin in the Benedictus of his ''[[Missa solemnis (Beethoven)|Missa solemnis]]''. Modern editors and performers have preferred the flute; as Butt notes, the part never uses the G-string of the violin, and modern commentators "consider the range and style to be more suitable for the [[transverse flute]]." ::William H. Scheide has argued that it is a parody of the fourth movement of the lost wedding cantata ''Sein Segen fliesst daber wie ein Strom'', BWV Anh. I 14, for which the text begins "Ein Mara weicht von dir" <ref name="William H. Scheide pp. 69-77" /> Stauffer, however, entertains the possibility that it may be new music.<ref name="Stauffer, p. 92" /> #<li value=3> ''Osanna (da capo)'' ::As above. #<li value=4> ''Agnus Dei'' ::Aria for alto in [[G minor]] with violin obbligato, no autograph tempo marking, {{music|common-time}} time signature. Parody of an aria, "Entfernet euch, ihr kalten Herzen" ("Withdraw, you cold hearts"), from a lost wedding serenade (1725). Bach also re-used the wedding aria for the alto aria, "Ach, bleibe doch", of his 1735 [[Ascension Oratorio]] [[BWV 11|''Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen'', BWV 11]]; Alfred Dürr has demonstrated that Bach adapted both "Ach, bleibe doch" and the Agnus dei directly from the lost serenade's aria, rather than from one to the next.<ref>Alfred Dürr, ""Enfernet euch, ihr kalten Herzen": Moglichkeiten und Grenzen der Rekonstruktionen einer Bach-Arie" Musikforschung 39 (1986): pp. 32–36</ref> #<li value=5> ''{{lang|la|[[Mass in B minor structure#Dona nobis pacem|Dona nobis pacem]]}}'' ::Four-part chorus in D major, no autograph tempo marking, {{music|cut-time}} time signature. The music is almost identical to "Gratias agimus tibi" from the ''Gloria''.
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)