Editing Mass in B minor (section)

===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''.