Editing Mass in B minor (section)

== Chronology ==
[[File:Bwv232-credo.jpg|thumb|Autograph of the first page of ''[[Nicene Creed|Symbolum Nicenum]]'', beginning with the [[Gregorian chant]] ''[[Credo]]'' in the tenor]]
The chronology of the Mass in B minor has attracted extensive scholarly attention. Recent literature suggests:

* In 1724, Bach composed a [[Sanctus for six vocal parts (Bach)|Sanctus for six vocal parts]] for use in the Christmas service. Bach revised it when he reused it in the Mass, changing its initial meter from {{music|cut-time}} to {{music|common-time}}, and its vocal scoring from SSSATB to SSAATB.<ref>Christoph Wolff, Bach: The Learned Musician, W.W. Norton, 2000, p. 265, {{ISBN|0-393-04825-X}}</ref>
* As noted above, in 1733 Bach composed the Missa (Kyrie and Gloria) during the five-month period of mourning following the February 1st death of Elector Augustus II and before July 27, when Bach presented the successor, [[Augustus III of Poland]], with the Missa as a set of instrumental and vocal parts. It is possible that the Kyrie was meant as mourning music for Augustus II, and the Gloria as celebratory of the accession of Augustus III.
* In the mid-1740s (c. 1743–46).<ref name="Peter Williams 2007, pp. 259">Peter Williams, ''J.S. Bach: A Life in Music'', Cambridge University Press, 2007, pp. 259, {{ISBN|978-0-521-87074-0}}</ref> Bach re-used all three movements from the Gloria in a cantata for Christmas Day ([[Gloria in excelsis Deo, BWV 191|''Gloria in excelsis Deo'', BWV 191]]) with minor changes of notes as well as the texts. Gregory Butler argues that at the same service (which he dates to Christmas 1745, to celebrate the [[Treaty of Dresden|Peace of Dresden]]), Bach also used the 1724 Sanctus,<ref name="Gregory Butler 1992 pp. 65">Gregory Butler, "Johann Sebastian Bachs Gloria in excelsis Deo BWV 191: Musik für ein Leipziger Dankfest", ''Bach Jahrbuch'' 78 (1992), pp. 65–71</ref> and that this revisiting of the 1733 Missa suggested further development to the composer.
* In the "last three years or so" of his life,<ref name="Peter Williams 2007, pp. 259"/> Bach wrote/assembled the Symbolum Nicenum and the remainder of the work; many scholars, including [[Christoph Wolff]], believe he did so in 1748–49. This dating in part reflects the scholarship of Yoshitake Kobayashi, who dates the Symbolum Nicenum section to August–October 1748 based on Bach's increasingly stiff and labored handwriting.<ref>Yoshitake Kobayashi, "Zur Chronologie der Spätwerke Johann Sebastian Bachs, Kompositions- und Aufführungstätigket vom 1736 bis 1750" ''[[Bach-Jahrbuch]]'' 74 (1988): 7–72</ref> Wolff among others argues that the "Et incarnatus est" movement was Bach's last significant composition.<ref name="Christoph Wolff p. 332">Christoph Wolff, ''Bach: Essays on his Life and Music'', Harvard University Press,, 1991: p. 332</ref> The words had been included in the preceding duet, but then Bach decided to treat them as a separate movement for the choir, giving the words extra weight and improving the symmetry of the Credo.<ref>[[Christoph Wolff]], ''[http://www.berliner-philharmoniker.de/forum/programmhefte/details/heft/bachs-h-moll-messe/Bachs h-Moll-Messe]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}'', [[Berlin Philharmonic]] 12 October 2006</ref> [[John Butt (musician)|John Butt]] argues that a definite final date of August 25, 1749, can be given, in that on this date [[Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach|C. P. E. Bach]] completed a [[Magnificat (C. P. E. Bach)|setting of the Magnificat]] with an "Amen" chorus that "shows distinct similarities" to the 'Gratias' from the ''Missa'' and the 'Et expecto' from the ''Symbolum Nicenum''."<ref>John Butt, ''Bach: Mass in B Minor'' (Cambridge Music Handbooks), Cambridge University Press, 1991, {{ISBN|978-0-521-38716-3}}, pp. 20–21.</ref> C. P. E. Bach later reported that he performed this Magnificat (Wq 215) in 1749 in Leipzig "at a Marian festival&nbsp;... during the lifetime of his now-deceased father".<ref>"an einem Marienfeste ... noch zu den Lebzeiten des nunmehro seligen Herrn Vaters." ''Bach-Dokumente'' III, 703.</ref>