Music of the Baroque

Although the Mass in B Minor is one of Johann Sebastian Bach’s most well-known works, its genesis has presented scholars with an almost sphinx-like riddle: why was it written? While practical demands motivated most church music of its time, the Mass transcends the boundaries and resources of any ordinary church service. Indeed, there is no evidence that it was ever performed as a unified work before the early nineteenth century. And for what practical purpose would Bach, a Lutheran composer, have composed music for the Mass—a Catholic ritual? The latter issue can be resolved fairly easily. First, the Mass itself was not incompatible with the Lutheran service; all of its movements were subsumed in Martin Luther’s proposed revision of the Catholic rite for Protestant use. Second, at least part of the Mass may have been written for a Catholic patron. Presented to the court at Dresden during a time when Bach was searching for employment, the Kyrie and Gloria display clear links to their performance tradition. Practical use and desire for patronage cannot explain why Bach assembled the complete work in the final years of his life, however. Compiled during the period of abstract exercises such as The Art of the Fugue, the Mass in B Minor can also be heard as a grand synthesis of musical styles, genres and religions in the interest of textual expression—what one writer has termed a “Universal Christian Artwork.”

In 1723, the town council of Leipzig was faced with filling the position of the Kantor at the Thomasschule. Traditionally, the Kantor was primarily a schoolteacher responsible for practical music in the school and its associated churches. On this particular occasion, however, the city decided that a well-known composer, rather than a pedagogue, might better enhance its cultural reputation. After offering the position to Telemann (who refused), the council turned to Bach. From the start, the composer had difficulty reconciling his artistic aims with the day-to-day demands of the position and blatantly neglected many of its more mundane duties. By 1730, Bach’s disillusionment had grown to such an extent that he had essentially ceased writing church music, explaining in a letter to the town council that “a well-appointed church music requires vocalists and instrumentalists,” and “the fact that so many poorly equipped boys, and boys not at all talented for music have been accepted into the school [to date] has necessarily caused the music to decline and deteriorate.” Equally dissatisfied with Bach, the town council took action. Complaining that “not only did the Cantor do nothing, but he was not even willing to give an explanation of that fact,” they voted to restrict his income as a result of his “incorrigible indifference to his job.” His job situation was precarious—and in what was most likely an effort to secure another position, Bach presented the court at Dresden with a work entitled Missa—now known as the Kyrie and Gloria of the Mass in B Minor—in 1733. The Symbolum Nicenum [Credo], Sanctus/Benedictus and Agnus Dei, on the other hand, were composed later in Bach’s career. Although the exact dates of composition are uncertain, the sections were probably written between August 1748 and October 1749. In its complete form, Bach divided the work into four parts: 1. Missa [Kyrie/Gloria] 2. Symbolum Nicenum [Credo] 3. Sanctus 4. Osanna, Benedictus, Agnus Dei et Dona nobis pacem.

Taken as a whole, the Mass in B Minor is an almost bewilderingly complex mosaic of musical styles, idioms and devices. Binding together the disparate surface, however, is a profound sensitivity to text expression. While the texts of each portion of the Mass remain intact, the musical treatment of individual phrases and concepts within each movement varies radically. Ultimately, the music itself functions almost as textual exegesis, enhancing and interpreting the well-known service in a way that is markedly new. From the start of the Kyrie, diversity of style is an obvious focus. After the dense, somber and contrapuntal Kyrie I, the “Christe eleison” displays all the trappings of an operatic love duet: parallel thirds and sixths, diatonic melodic lines and straightforward harmonies. (Several historians have noted its similarity to the duet “Ich bin deine/Du bist meine” from the secular “Hercules” Cantata, “Laßt uns sorgen, laßt uns wachen,” BWV 213 of September 1733.) The two voices in the same range and unison violins generate a sense of intimacy that evokes one of the central concepts of the Lutheran tradition: the close connection between Christ and humankind. (As an approachable emissary rather than a formidable authority, Christ was always addressed in Lutheran cantata texts using the familiar “du,” whereas the Catholic tradition employed the more formal “Sie.”) As in the Kyrie I, counterpoint predominates in the Kyrie II, throwing the melody-dominated texture of the “Christe” into greater relief.

The use of myriad musical styles to express the text is even more apparent in the extremely complex Gloria and Credo portions of the Mass, in which numerous choral sections, solos, and duets strikingly highlight the mood of individual phrases and concepts. In the Gloria, the chorus frequently expresses the text dealing with the praise of God: “Gloria in excelsis Deo/Et in terra pax...” and “Cum sancto spiritu...,” as well as the words that encapsulate the crux of the movement: “Qui tollis peccata mundi....” Conversely, the solos and duets in the movement often initiate phrases of direct address. A solo aria for the second soprano marks the first such moment in the text—“Laudamus te.” Paired with a virtuosic violin obbligato (an important accompanying part), the soprano’s gracefully ascending melodic lines seem almost to mimic the direction of the words themselves. The laudatory “Domine Deus” is likewise set in an intimate fashion, sung as a duet for soprano I and tenor that recalls the style of the “Christe eleison.”

While solos and duets play a crucial role in the Gloria, expressive choral writing dominates the Credo. Indeed, the passionate “Crucifixus” attracted more attention among nineteenth century composers than any other movement of the B Minor Mass. As Robert Schumann said of the “Crucifixus” after hearing Felix Mendelssohn conduct the Mass at the Leipzig Gewandhaus in 1841, “It is a piece that is to be compared only with other works by Bach. Before it all masters of other ages must bow in reverence.” Drawing on the Italian tradition of the lament, the “Crucifixus” is built on a ground bass—a repeating pattern in the lower instruments—that descends chromatically, imbuing the movement with a deep sense of mourning. Immediately erupting from the hushed, somber “Crucifixus,” however, is the triumphant “Et resurrexit,” its major tonality, dance rhythms and percussive sound graphically illustrating the metamorphosis of the Resurrection. The movement also contains moments of more intimate address; “Et in unum Dominum” and “Et in Spiritum Sanctum” are set as a solo and a duet. Despite the radically contrasting styles that coexist in the Gloria and Credo, however, they are also noteworthy for their structural symmetry. Not only are the sections unified tonally (they begin and end in the same key), but each is comprised of pairs of movements that surround a particular midpoint. Each half of the Credo, for example, contains two choruses, a solo and a chorus—leaving the extremely significant “Crucifixus” to stand alone.

In comparison to the earlier portions of the Mass, the Sanctus and Agnus Dei seem almost cursory in their brevity, a fact that has provoked several scholars to suggest that Bach was not as interested in or inspired by this section of the Mass. Certainly, these movements are less formally complex than their predecessors, a fact that applies to Mass settings in general at this time. That the interest in text expression is maintained, however, is indisputable. In the Sanctus, for example, the first word of the text (“Holy”) is set as an invocation, and the imitative part-writing that permeates the next phrase—“Heaven and earth are full of thy glory”—literally illustrates the words through intense repetition. Moreover, Bach’s original and unconventional linking of these movements—Osanna/ Benedictus/Osanna/Agnus Dei/Dona nobis pacem—creates a symmetrical form reflected in the musical textures themselves: chorus/solo/chorus/solo/chorus. As in the Gloria, the choir is used in celebratory sections, while the solo voices serve to express texts that explain the reasons for the jubilance. Also noteworthy is the division of the chorus into two groups, a technique not used in the earlier parts of the Mass: both the “Osanna” and “Dona nobis pacem” employ the polychoral technique popular in the seventeenth century.

Anchoring the innovation and heightened expression of the Mass in B Minor is the history of music itself: in composing music for the Catholic rite, Bach was participating in one of the oldest musical traditions, a tradition that the piece itself frequently invokes. Several sections of the Mass—in particular, the Kyrie II, “Credo in unum Deum,” and “Confiteor”—are written in stile antico, carefully controlled counterpoint that recalls Palestrina and other composers of the Renaissance. The original plainchant on which the Mass was based echoes through several movements; the imitative subject of the Credo, for example, is audibly based on its chant tune. And Bach’s own compositional practice in much of the piece hearkens back to an earlier age as well. In the Renaissance, composers frequently employed a technique known as “parody” using preexisting works (both secular and sacred) as a wellspring for musical material. Like his predecessors, Bach also used extant pieces as the basis for many portions of the Mass in B Minor—in most cases, his own. The music for the “Crucifixus,” for example, is taken from a movement in the Cantata BWV 12, composed for a service in 1714, and the “Osanna” of the Sanctus and Benedictus has been traced to the lost wedding cantata, “Auf! süss entzückende Gewalt” (1725). Acknowledging his debt to musical tradition in the Mass in B Minor, while simultaneously fusing it with his own innovations, Bach effectively wrote his own place in the history of music.

—Program Notes © Jennifer E. More 1998