Editing Mass in B minor (section)

== Performance history ==

=== In Bach's lifetime ===
Bach conducted the Sanctus, in its first version, at the 1724 Christmas service in Leipzig, and re-used it in Christmas services in the mid-1740s.<ref name="Gregory Butler 1992 pp. 65"/> Scholars differ on whether he ever performed the 1733 Missa. [[Arnold Schering]] (in 1936) asserted that it was performed in Leipzig on April 26, 1733, when Augustus III of Poland visited the town, but modern scholars reject his argument for several reasons:

# the proposed date fell during an official period of mourning "when concerted music was forbidden in Saxon churches";<ref>George F. Stauffer, ''Bach, the Mass in B Minor: The Great Catholic Mass'', Yale University Press, 2003, {{ISBN|978-0-300-09966-9}}, p. 34.</ref>
# the extant parts (on which Schering based his hypothesis) are written on a paper found only in documents in Dresden, so were probably copied in Dresden when Bach went there in July;<ref>Stauffer, ''Bach: The Mass in B Minor'', pp. 34.</ref> and
# the copyists were not Bach's usual ones, but Bach and immediate family members who traveled with him to Dresden: his wife [[Anna Magdalena Bach|Anna Magdalena]], and sons [[Wilhelm Friedemann Bach|Wilhelm Friedemann]] and [[Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach|Carl Philipp Emanuel]]. It also appears that the Bach family employed a copyist in Dresden to assist them.<ref>Stauffer, ''Bach, the Mass in B Minor: The Great Catholic Mass'' p. 34.</ref><ref>John Butt, ''Bach: Mass in B Minor'' (Cambridge Music Handbooks), Cambridge University Press, 1991, {{ISBN|978-0-521-38716-3}}, pp. 10–11.</ref>

Scholars differ, however, on whether the Missa was performed in July in Dresden. Christoph Wolff argues that on July 26, 1733, at the [[Sophienkirche]] in Dresden, where Wilhelm Friedemann Bach had been organist since June, it "was definitely performed ... as evidenced by the extant Dresden performing parts and by the inscription on the title wrapper" given to the king the next day.<ref>Christoph Wolff, ''Bach: The Learned Musician'', W.W. Norton, 2000, pp. 368–370, {{ISBN|0-393-04825-X}}</ref> [[Hans-Joachim Schulze]] made this case by pointing to the use of the past tense in the wrapper's inscription: "To his royal majesty was shown with the enclosed Missa ... the humble devotion of the author J. S. Bach."<ref>"Gegen /S..Koniglichen Hoheit und/ ChurFurstlichen Durchlaucht zu/ Sachssen/ besizgte mit inliegener/ Missa ... Seine unterthanigste Devotion der Autor J. S. Bach"; translation John Butt, ''Bach: Mass in B Minor'' pp. 11–12.</ref> However, Joshua Rifkin rejects the argument, pointing out that the past-tense wording was typical of formal address often not related to performance.<ref>Joshua Rifkin, Review of facsimile editions of Bach's Mass in B Minor, Notes 44 (1988), pp. 787–98</ref> Also skeptical is [[Peter Williams (musicologist)|Peter Williams]], who notes that "there is no record of performers being assembled for such an event, and in August 1731 Friedemann reported that the Sophienkirche organ was badly out of tune."<ref>Peter Williams, ''J.S. Bach: A Life in Music'', Cambridge University Press, 2007, pp. 219–20, {{ISBN|978-0-521-87074-0}}</ref> However, there is evidence of an [[Organ (music)|organ]] recital by Bach at the Sophienkirche on 14 September 1731, and Friedemann Bach was only chosen as Organist for the institution on 23 June 1733. He would again perform a 2-hour Organ recital on 1 December 1736 at the [[Frauenkirche Dresden]] to inaugurate the new [[Gottfried Silbermann]] organ.

Scholars agree that no other public performances took place in Bach's lifetime, although Butt raises the possibility that there may have been a private performance or read-through of the Symbolum Nicenum late in Bach's life.<ref>John Butt, ''Bach: Mass in B Minor'', pp. 20–21.</ref>

=== Later 18th century ===
The first public performance of the Symbolum Nicenum section (under the title "Credo or Nicene Creed") took place 36 years after Bach's death, in Spring of 1786, led by his son Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach at a benefit concert for the Medical Institute for the Poor in [[Hamburg]].<ref>Stauffer, ''Bach: The Mass in B Minor'', pp. 182–83.</ref> One of Bach’s admirers, [[Joseph Haydn]], had a copy of the work along with ''[[The Well Tempered Clavier]]''.

=== 19th century ===
As recounted by George Stauffer,<ref>Stauffer, ''Bach: The Mass in B Minor'', pp. 187–98.</ref> the next documented performance (not public) in the nineteenth century was when [[Carl Friedrich Zelter]]—a key figure in the 19th-century Bach revival—led the Berlin Singakademie in read-throughs of the "Great Mass" in 1811, covering the Kyrie; in 1813 he led read-throughs of the entire work. The first public performance in the century—of just the Credo section—took place in Frankfurt in March, 1828, with over 200 performers and many instrumental additions. In the same year in Berlin, [[Gaspare Spontini]] led the Credo section, adding 15 new choral parts and numerous instruments. A number of performances of sections of the Mass took place in the following decades in Europe, but the first attested public performance of the Mass in its entirety took place in 1859 in Leipzig, with Karl Riedel and the Riedel-Verein.  The first performance of the Mass in the UK was given by [[The Bach Choir]], newly formed for this purpose by conductor [[Otto Goldschmidt]], in 1876 in St James's Hall, London.

=== 20th century ===
[[The Bach Choir of Bethlehem]] performed the American premiere of the complete Mass on March 27, 1900, in [[Bethlehem, Pennsylvania]], though there is evidence that parts of the Mass had been performed in the United States as early as 1870.<ref>Butt, p. 31.</ref>

From early in the century, authors such as [[Albert Schweitzer]], Arnold Schering, and Frederick Smend called for smaller performance forces, and experiments with (relatively) smaller groups began in the late 1920s.<ref>Stauffer, ''Bach: The Mass in B Minor'', pp. 198–203.</ref>

The first complete recording of the work was made in 1929, with a large choir and the [[London Symphony Orchestra]] led by [[Albert Coates (musician)|Albert Coates]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Articles/MBM-TNT.htm|title=Mass in B Minor, BWV 232 (by Teri Noel Towe)}}</ref> As of 2022, a database lists over 350 complete recordings with many different types of forces and performance styles.<ref name="Y1900" /> The work has played a central role in the 'historical performance movement' : [[Nikolaus Harnoncourt]] made the first recording with "period instruments" in 1968, his second Bach choral recording. [[Joshua Rifkin]]'s first recording using the one-voice-per-part vocal scoring he proposes was made in 1982,<ref>Nonesuch 79036-2, 1982</ref> and won a 1983 [[Gramophone Award]].