Updated: Jul 3, Known to us today as the Mass in B minor by Johann Sebastian Bach, this magnificent opus is truly one of the pieces of music I could not live without. I wanted to talk about it, to share its story, and to make it more approachable to the average music lover.
For that reason, rather than surveying the work in two programs and playing extracts from the various movements which would have necessitated fading in and out of some sections , I took my time and played every single movement complete over three episodes. One of the perks of being not only the presenter but also the producer of a radio program. What follows here is the entire survey drawn from all three programs. For the musical examples I will link to a magnificent performance of the Mass now available on YouTube featuring the Netherlands Bach Society.
The video can be found here. Scholars have argued for two centuries about much of the detail of how, when and why Bach wrote or perhaps more accurately, compiled this masterpiece; they still do. For this survey I am drawing mostly on the research of the highly respected musicologist and Bach specialist John Butt, primarily from his book on the B minor Mass in the Cambridge Music Handbooks series, as well as his more recent writings which can be found online.
In , Bach marked ten years since his appointment as Kantor to the major Lutheran churches in Leipzig. Despite creating the bulk of his cantata repertoire in that period, it had not been a happy time, with constant disputes with church and civic authorities.
In an accompanying letter Bach requested an honorary court title in the hope that this would improve his lot in Leipzig. In order to create this work Bach compiled in the late s right at the end of his life music from across his composing career. The Missa for the Elector of Saxony was just the start. The Credo - numbered as part two of the final score - was called Symbolum Nicenum by Bach.
