Editing Mass in B minor (section)

== Title ==
Bach did not give the Mass in B minor a title. Instead, he organized the 1748–49 manuscript into four folders, each with a different title. That containing the Kyrie and Gloria he called "1. [[Mass (music)|Missa]]"; that containing the Credo he titled "2. [[Nicene Creed|Symbolum Nicenum]]"; the third folder, containing the Sanctus, he called "3. [[Sanctus]]"; and the remainder, in a fourth folder he titled "4. [[Hosanna|Osanna]] | Benedictus | [[Agnus Dei (music)|Agnus Dei]] et | [[Dona nobis pacem]]". [[John Butt (musician)|John Butt]] writes, "The format seems purposely designed so that each of the four sections could be used separately."<ref>John Butt, "Mass in B Minor", in ''Oxford Composer Companions: J. S. Bach'', ed. Malcolm Boyd and [[John Butt (musician)|John Butt]], [[Oxford University Press]], 1999, p. 284</ref> On the other hand, the parts in the manuscript are numbered from 1 to 4, and Bach's usual closing formula (S.D.G = [[Soli Deo Gloria]]) is only found at the end of the ''Dona Nobis Pacem''. Further, Butt writes, "What is most remarkable about the overall shape of the Mass in B Minor is that Bach managed to shape a coherent sequence of movements from diverse material."<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. 286</ref> Butt<ref name="John Butt 1991, pp. 92">John Butt, Bach: Mass in B Minor, Cambridge University Press, 1991, pp. 92–101</ref> and George Stauffer<ref>George B. Stauffer, ''Bach: The Mass in B Minor'', Schirmer Books, 1997, pp. 250–55</ref> detail the ways in which Bach gave overall musical unity to the work.

The first overall title given to the work was in the 1790 estate of the recently deceased C.P.E. Bach, who inherited the score. There, it is called "Die Grosse Catholische Messe" (the "Great Catholic Mass"). It is called that as well in the estate of his last heir in 1805, suggesting to Stauffer that "the epithet reflects an oral tradition within the Bach family".<ref>George Stauffer, ''Bach: The Mass in B Minor'', p. 180</ref> The first publication of the Kyrie and Gloria, in 1833 by the Swiss collector [[Hans Georg Nägeli]] with [[Simrock]], refers to it as "Messe"<ref name="Rathey" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.zb.uzh.ch/ausstellungen/exponat/006071/|title=Bach: h-Moll-Messe I|publisher=Zentralbibliothek Zürich }}</ref> Finally, Nageli and Simrock produced the first publication in 1845, calling it the "High Mass in B Minor" (''Hohe Messe in h-moll'').<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.artfact.com/auction-lot/bach,-johann-sebastian.-3-c-buujhcs55e|title=Bach, Johann Sebastain|work=Invaluable.com}}</ref> The adjective "high", Butt argues, was "strongly influenced by the monumental impact of Beethoven's [[Missa solemnis (Beethoven)|Missa solemnis]]."<ref name="John Butt 1991, pp. 92"/> It soon fell from common usage, but the prepositional phrase "in B Minor" survives, even though it is in some ways misleading: only five of the work's 27 movements are in B minor, while twelve, including the final ones of each of the four major sections, are in D major (the [[Relative key|relative major]] of B minor). The opening Kyrie, however, is in B minor, with the Christe Eleison in D major, and the second Kyrie in F-sharp minor; as Butt points out, these tonalities outline a B minor chord.<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. 287</ref>