Mass in B minor structure
The Mass in B minor is Johann Sebastian Bach's only setting of the complete Latin text of the and the Gloria in Excelsis Deo, and several additional individual settings of the Kyrie and the Sanctus. To achieve the Missa brevis, a setting of the complete text of the mass, he combined his most elaborate Missa, the Missa in B minor, written in 1733 for the court in Dresden, and a Sanctus written for Christmas of 1724. He added a few new compositions, but mostly derived movements from cantata movements, in a technique known as parody.
The Mass is a compendium of many different styles in vocal composition, in both the "stile antico" reminiscent of Renaissance music and the Baroque concertante style of his own time: fugal writing and dances, arias and a movement for two four-part choirs. Similar to architecture of the period, Bach achieved a symmetry of parts, with the profession of faith in the center and the Crucifixus in its center. Bach scored the work for five vocal parts. While some choral movements are for only four parts, the Sanctus is scored for six voices, and the Osanna even for two four-part choirs. Bach called for a rich instrumentation of brass, woodwinds and strings, assigning varied obbligato parts to different instruments.
History and parody
The Mass was Bach's last major artistic undertaking. The reason for the composition is unknown. Scholars have found no plausible occasion for which the work may have been intended. Joshua Rifkin notes:... likely, Bach sought to create a paradigmatic example of vocal composition while at the same time contributing to the venerable musical genre of the Mass, still the most demanding and prestigious apart from opera.
Bach first composed a setting of the Kyrie and Gloria in 1733 for the Catholic royal court in Dresden. He presented that composition to Frederick Augustus II, Elector of Saxony, accompanied by a letter:
In deepest Devotion I present to your Royal Highness this small product of that science which I have attained in Musique, with the most humble request that you will deign to regard it not according to the imperfection of its Composition, but with a most gracious eye ... and thus take me into your most mighty Protection.He arranged the text in diverse movements for a five-part choir and solo voices, according to the taste in Dresden where sacred music "borrowed" from Italian opera with a focus on choral movements, as musicologist Arthur Wenk notes.
, 1746|alt=portrait of Bach towards the end of his life, posing in a dark outfit with a wig, holding a single sheet of music in his right hand, facing the viewer with a serious expression
Bach expanded the Missa of 1733 to a Missa tota from 1748 to 1749, near the end of his life. In these last years, he added three choral movements for the Credo: its opening Credo in unum Deum, Confiteor and Et incarnatus est. The Sanctus was originally an individual movement composed for Christmas 1724 in Leipzig.
Most other movements of the mass are parodies of music from earlier cantatas, dating back as far as 1714. Wenk points out that Bach often used parody to "bring a composition to a higher level of perfection". The original musical sources of several movements are known, for others they are lost but the score shows that they are copied and reworked. Bach selected movements that carried a similar expression and affekt. For example, Gratias agimus tibi is based on Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir, BWV 29 and the Crucifixus is based on the general lamenting about the situation of the faithful Christian, Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen, BWV 12 which Bach had composed already in 1714 as one of his first cantatas for the court of Weimar.
Bach quoted Gregorian chant twice, in the Credo in unum Deum as a theme and in the Confiteor as a cantus firmus embedded in complex polyphony.
Bach achieved a symmetry of the parts, with the profession of faith in the center and the movement Crucifixus in its center. Markus Rathey, Associate Professor of Music History at the Institute of Sacred Music at the Yale School of Music, sees a similarity to architecture of the period, such as the Palace of Versailles. Bach knew buildings in that style, for example in Gotha, built in 1710. Rathey continues:
The symmetry on earth mirrors the symmetric perfection of heaven. The purpose of art at this time—in architecture, the visual arts, and music—was not to create something entirely new, but to reflect this divine perfection, and in this way to praise God. We find such a symmetric outline in many pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach,19 but only in a few cases is this outline as consequent as in the B Minor Mass.The parts Kyrie, Gloria and Credo are all designed with choral sections as the outer movements, framing an intimate center of theological significance.
According to Christoph Wolff, the Mass can be seen as a "kind of specimen book of his finest compositions in every kind of style, from the stile antico of Palestrina in the 'Credo' and 'Confiteor' and the expressively free writing of the 'Crucifixus' and 'Agnus Dei', to the supreme counterpoint of the opening Kyrie as well as so many other choruses, right up to the most modern style in galant solos like 'Christe eleison' and 'Domine Deus'". Bach made "a conscious effort to incorporate all styles that were available to him, to encompass all music history as far as it was accessible". The Mass is a compendium of vocal sacred music, similar to other collections that Bach compiled during the last decade of his life, such as the Clavier-Übung III, The Art of Fugue, the Goldberg Variations, the Great Eighteen Chorale Preludes and The Musical Offering.
Overview
Bach's autograph score of the Mass in B minor is subdivided in four sections. Part I is titled Missa, consisting of the same Kyrie and Gloria which constituted his Missa of 1733. The second part is titled Symbolum Nicenum. An early version of the first movement of this section is extant. The third section, called Sanctus, is based on an early version composed in 1724. The Hosanna and Benedictus, traditionally concluding the Sanctus, are however not included in this section, but open the next, which is called Osanna, Benedictus, Agnus Dei et Dona nobis pacem.Scoring
The work is scored for five vocal soloists, chorus and orchestra. Its movements are listed in a table with the scoring of voices and instruments, key, tempo marking, time signature and source. The movement numbering follows the Bärenreiter edition of the Neue Bach-Ausgabe, first in a consecutive numbering, then in a numbering for the four individual parts.The voices are abbreviated S for soprano, A for alto, T for tenor, B for bass. Bach asked for two sopranos. Practical performances often have only one soprano soloist, sharing the parts for the second soprano between soprano and alto. A four-part choir is indicated by SATB, a five-part choir by SSATB. The Sanctus requires six vocal parts, SSAATB, which are often divided in the three upper voices versus the lower voices. The Osanna requires two choirs SATB.
Instruments in the orchestra are three trumpets, timpani, corno da caccia, two flauti traversi, two oboes, two oboes d'amore, two bassoons, two violins, viola, and basso continuo. The continuo is not mentioned in the table as it is present all the time. The other instruments are grouped by brass, woodwinds and strings.
Bach based movements of the Mass in B minor on earlier compositions. What is known about reworked earlier material is indicated in the last two columns of the table, including some educated guesswork, as found in the indicated scholarly literature. This does not include the 1733 version of Part I, but earlier compositions which Bach used as basis for that version.
Structure
I. Missa
! colspan="13" |II. Symbolum Nicenum
! colspan="13" |III. Sanctus
! colspan="13" |IV. Osanna, Benedictus, Agnus Dei et Dona nobis pacem
Parts and movements
No. 1 Missa
Kyrie and Gloriaof the opening Adagio|alt=Incipit of the beginning, showing the music of the five voices in the first two measures
The section Kyrie is structured, following tradition, in a threefold acclamation of God, a chorus for the Kyrie I, a duet [|Christe], and a different chorus for Kyrie II. Kyrie I is in B minor, Christe in D major, Kyrie II in F-sharp minor. The three notes B, D and F-sharp form the B minor triad. Butt notes D major as the central key, corresponding to the "atonement of Christ".
The Gloria is structured in symmetry as a sequence of choral movements and solo movements, arias and a central duet, in three sections. The first is opened with a chorus followed by an aria, closed in the last section in symmetry by an aria followed with a chorus; the middle section alternates choral music with solo movements. The trumpets are introduced as a symbol of divine glory in several movements, beginning and ending in D major, with a planned architecture of keys in the middle movements. The central duet is in the "lowly" key of G major, referring to Christ as a "human incarnation of God". A corno da caccia appears only once in the whole work, in the movement Quoniam, which is about the holiness of God.
Kyrie I
The first movement is scored for five-part choir, woodwinds and strings. As the Dresden Mass style required, it opens with a short homophonic section, followed by an extended fugue in two sections, which both begin with an instrumental fugue.Christoph Wolff notes a similarity between the fugue theme and one by Johann Hugo von Wilderer, whose mass Bach had probably copied and performed in Leipzig before 1731. Wilderer's mass also has a slow introduction, a duet as the second movement and a motet in stile antico, similar to late Renaissance music, as the third movement. Bach based the work on a composition in C minor, as mistakes in the copying process show.
The vast movement has aspects of both a fugue and a ritornello movement. In the first fugal section, the voices enter in the sequence tenor, alto, soprano I, soprano II, bass, expanding from middle range to the extreme parts, just as the theme expands from the repeated first notes to sighing motives leading upwards. In the second fugal section, the instruments begin in low registers, and the voices build, with every part first in extremely low range, from bass to soprano I. In both sections, the instruments open the fugue, but play with the voices once they enter.
Christe
The acclamation of Christ stresses the second person of the Trinity and is therefore rendered as a duet of the two sopranos. Their lines are often parallel, in an analogy to Christ and God proclaimed as "two in one". Probably a parody of an earlier work, it is Bach's only extant duet for two sopranos, stressing that idea. Rathey points out that the duet is similar in many aspects to the love duets of Neapolitan opera. Typical features of these duets are consonant melodies, in parallel thirds and sixths, or imitating each other, with sigh motifs as on the word Christe. Rendering Christe eleison as a duet follows the Dresden Mass style.Kyrie II
The second acclamation of God is a four-part choral fugue, set in stile antico, with the instruments playing colla parte. This style was preferred at the court in Dresden. The theme begins with intervals such as minor seconds and major seconds, similar to the motif B-A-C-H. The first entrances build from the lowest voice in the sequence bass, tenor, alto, soprano. According to Christoph Wolff, Bach assimilated the stricter style of the Renaissance only in the early 1730s, after he had composed most of his cantatas, and this movement is his first "significant product" in the style.Gloria
The Gloria is structured in nine movements. The first and last are similar in style, concertante music of the eighteenth century. In further symmetry, the opening in two different tempos corresponds to the final sequence of an aria leading to "Cum sancto spiritu", the soprano II solo with obbligato violin "Laudamus te" to the alto solo with obbligato oboe "Qui sedes", and the choral movements "Gratias" frame the central duet of soprano I and tenor "Domine Deus".The text of the Hymnus Gloria begins with the angels' song from Luke's Christmas story. Bach used this section, the central duet and the concluding doxology as a Christmas cantata, Gloria in excelsis Deo, BWV 191, probably in 1745, a few years before the compilation of the Mass. The opening is set as a five-part chorus, beginning with an instrumental presentation of the material. In great contrast to the first section Kyrie, it is in D major, introducing the trumpets and timpani. The first thought, "Gloria in excelsis Deo", is set in 3/8 time, compared by Wenk to the Giga, a dance form.
Et in terra pax
The continuation of the thought within the angels' song, "Et in terra pax", is in common time. The duration of an eighth note stays the same, Bach thus achieves a contrast of "heavenly" three eights, a symbol of the Trinity, and "earthly" four quarters. The voices start this section, and the trumpets are silent for its beginning, but return for its conclusion.Laudamus te
An aria for soprano II and obbligato violin express the praise and adoration of God in vivid coloraturas. It has been argued that Bach might have thought of the Dresden taste and the specific voice of Faustina Bordoni.Gratias agimus tibi
A four-part chorus in stile antico illustrates the idea of thanks and praise, again with trumpets and timpani. It is based on the first choral movement of Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir, BWV 29, which also expresses the idea of thanks to God and praise of his creation. The first part of the text, devoted to thanks, is a melody in even tempo that rises gradually and falls again. The voices enter without instrumental support in dense succession. The countersubject on the second line "propter magnam gloriam tuam", devoted to the glory of God, is more complex in rhythm. Similarly, in the cantata the second line "und verkündigen deine Wunder" leads to a more vivid countersubject. Towards the end of the movement, the trumpets take part in the polyphony of the dense movement.Domine Deus
The section addressing God as Father and Son is again a duet, this time of soprano I and tenor. The voices are often in canon and in parallel, as in the Christe. The movement is likely another parody, possibly from the 1729 cantata Ihr Häuser des Himmels, BWV 193a. As the Christe, it is a love-duet addressing Jesus. Both duets appear as the center of the symmetry within the respective part, Kyrie and Gloria. Here an obbligato flute opens a concerto with the orchestra and introduces material that the voices pick up.Rathey points out, that the scoring at first glance does not seem to match the text "Domine Deus, Rex coelestis", but it matches the continuation "Domine Deus, Agnus Dei", stressing the Lutheran "theologia crucis" that the omnipotent God is the same as the one revealed on the cross.
Qui tollis
Qui sedes
The continuation of the thought, "Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris", is expressed by an aria for alto and obbligato oboe d'amore. It is probably a parody. In Bach's earlier settings of the mass he had treated "Qui tollis and "Qui sedes" as one movement, here he distinguished Jesus at the right hand of the father by dance-like music. Wenk likens it to a gigue.Quoniam tu solus sanctus
The last section begins with an aria for bass, showing "Quoniam tu solus sanctus" in an unusual scoring of only corno da caccia and two bassoons. Paczkowski points out the symbolic function of this corno da caccia as well as the polonaise. By using the polonaise, Bach not only expressed the text by musical means, but also paid respect to the King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, August III, to whom the Mass is dedicated. Probably a parody, it is the only movement in the work using the horn. The unusual scoring provides a "solemn character". Butt observes that Bach uses a rhythmic pattern throughout the movement in the two bassoons which is even extended into the following movement, although they originally were independent. The repeated figure of an anapaest provides the "rhythmic energy of the texture."Cum sancto spiritu
On the continuing text "Cum sancto spiritu", the choir enters in five parts, in symmetry to the beginning. A homophonic section is followed by a fugue. The concertante music corresponds in symmetry to the opening of the Gloria, both praising God.No. 2 Symbolum Nicenum
Credo in unum Deum
The Credo begins with "Credo in unum Deum", a polyphonic movement for five-part choir, to which two obbligato violins add independent parts. The theme is a Gregorian Chant, first presented by the tenor in long notes on a walking bass of the continuo. The other voices enter in the sequence bass, alto, soprano I, soprano II, each one before the former one even finishes its line. The two violins enter independently, reaching a seven-part fugue. The complex counterpoint of the seven parts, five voices and two violins, expands the theme of the chant, often in stretto function, and uses a variety of countersubjects. In the second exposition, the bass voice is missing, leading to anticipation and a climactic entry in augmentation beginning the third exposition, just as an entry of the first violin ends the second exposition. Musicologist John Butt summarizes: "By using numerous stile antico devices in a particular order and combination, Bach has created a movement in which a standardised structure breeds a new momentum of its own".This movement in stile antico contrasts with the following modern concerto-style movement, Patrem omnipotentem. This contrast is reminiscent of the contrast between the two Kyrie movements and foreshadows the last two movements of the Symbolum Nicenum. Recent research dates the movement to 1747 or 1748 and suggests that it might have been the introduction to a Credo by a different composer, before Bach began to assemble the Mass.
Patrem omnipotentem
The thought is continued in "Patrem omnipotentem", in a four-part choral movement with trumpets. The movement probably shares its original source with the opening chorus of Gott, wie dein Name, so ist auch dein Ruhm, BWV 171, which also expresses the idea of thanks to God and praise of his creation. The voices sing a fugue to a concerto of the orchestra. The bass introduces the theme, without an instrumental opening, while the other voices repeat simultaneously in homophony "Credo in unum Deum" as a firm statement. The theme contains all eight notes of the scale, as a symbol completeness. Bach noted at the end of the movement that it contains 84 measures, the multiplication of 7 and 12, a hint at the symbolic meaning of numbers. The word "Credo" appears 49 times, the words "Patrem omnipotentem" 84 times.Et in unum Dominum
The belief in Jesus Christ begins with "Et in unum Dominum", another duet, this time of soprano and alto, beginning in a canon where the second voice follows the first after only one beat. The instruments often play the same line with different articulation. The movement is based on a lost duet which served already in 1733 as the basis for a movement of Laßt uns sorgen, laßt uns wachen, BWV 213. Bach headed the movement "Duo voces articuli 2" which can be translated as "Two voices express 2" or "the two vocal parts of Article 2". The text included originally the line "Et incarnatus est de Spiritu sancto ex Maria virgine et homo factus est", illustrating "descendit" by a descending figure for the violins. When Bach treated "Et incarnatus est" as a separate choral movement, he rearranged the text, and the figure lost its "pictorial association".Et incarnatus est
The virgin birth, "Et incarnatus est", is a five-part movement. It is probably Bach's last vocal composition, dating from the end of 1749 or the first weeks of 1750. Until then, the text had been included in the preceding duet. The late separate setting of the words which had been given special attention by previous composers of the mass, established the symmetry of the Credo. The humiliation of God, born as man, is illustrated by the violins in a pattern of one measure that descends and then combines the symbol of the cross and sighing motifs, alluding to the crucifixion.The voices sing a motif of descending triads. They enter in imitation starting in measure 4, one voice every measure in the sequence alto, soprano II, soprano I, tenor, bass, forming a rich texture. The text "ex Maria vergine" appears in an upward movement, "et homo factus est" is even in upward triads.
Crucifixus
"Crucifixus", the center of the Credo part, is the oldest music in the setting of the Mass, dating back to 1714. It is a passacaglia, with the chromatic fourth in the bass line repeated thirteen times. Wenk likens it to a sarabande. The movement is based on the first section of the first choral movement of Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen, BWV 12. Bach transposed the music from F minor to E minor, changed the instrumentation and repeated each bass note for more expressiveness. Bach begins the movement with an instrumental setting of the bass line, while the cantata movement started immediately with the voices.The suffering of Jesus is expressed in chromatic melodic lines, dissonant harmonies, and sigh-motifs. The final line, on the 13th repeat of the bass line, "et sepultus est" was newly composed, with the accompaniment silent and a modulation to G major, to lead to the following movement. At the end, soprano and alto reach the lowest range of the movement on the final "et sepultus est". A pianissimo ending of this movement, contrasted by a forte Et resurrexit, follows the Dresden Mass style.