Choruses in 4, 5, 6 and 8 parts
Soloists:  soprano 1, soprano 2, alto, tenor, bass
Orchestra:  2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 oboes d'amore, 2 bassoons,
3 trumpets, timpani, strings, continuo

***

Kyrie:

Kyrie eleison
Christe eleison (sopranos 1 & 2)
Kyrie eleison

Gloria:

Gloria in excelsis Deo / Et in terra pax
Laudamus te (soprano 2)
Gratias agimus tibi
Domine Deus (soprano 1, tenor)
Qui tollis peccata mundi
Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris (alto)
Quoniam tu solus sanctus (bass)
Cum Sancto Spiritu

Symbolum Nicenum (Credo):

Credo in unum Deum
Patrem omnipotentem
Et in unum Dominum (soprano 1, alto)
Et incarnatus est
Crucifixus
Et resurrexit
Et in spiritum sanctum (bass)
Confiteor
Et expecto resurrectionem

Sanctus:

Sanctus / Pleni sunt coeli

Osanna, Benedictus, Agnus Dei, Dona nobis pacem:

Osanna in excelsis
Benedictus (tenor)
Osanna in excelsis
Agnus Dei (alto)
Dona nobis pacem

Program Notes by Martin Pearlman

Although Bach's Mass in B Minor is revered for its overwhelming dramatic sweep and sense of unity, it was not originally created as a single work.  It is made up of music composed over a 25-year period, some of it adapted, some of it new. Its manuscript is divided into four large sections with no overall title, and it came to be called the Mass in B minor only by later generations.  It was not performed complete until 1859, more than a century after Bach's death.

The opening music, consisting of a Kyrie and Gloria, dates from 1733, when Bach presented it to the new Elector of Saxony, Frederick Augustus II.  It was, he said, "a modest example of the learning I have acquired in music."  In that original form with only a Kyrie and Gloria, the work was a complete missa brevis of the type that was common not only in Lutheran practice but also in some Catholic areas, including at the Elector's court in Dresden.  (No other mass by Bach has more than those two sections.)

It was not until the late 1740's, near the end of his life, that Bach began to expand this work, already his largest and most complex mass, into a full Catholic mass.  Why he did so has been the subject of much discussion.  The work as we now have it is too large to be used in a normal church service.  While some sections could have been useful in services at Bach's own church, the work was completed so late in his life -- indeed at a point when he was ill and no longer actively supplying new music -- that he may not have had a practical purpose in mind.  The most convincing reason may well be that, toward the end of his life, Bach wished to gather and preserve many of his finest works for the church by assembling them into a collection, much like other late collections, such as The Art of  the Fugue and the third part of the Clavierübung.  In assembling his music into a complete Latin mass, Bach turned to a form with a classic tradition and a sense of permanence, one that transcended the tastes of his day and the specific practices of his own denomination.

To complete the mass, he needed to add a Credo (Symbolum Nicenum), a Sanctus, and a final section comprising the Osanna, Benedictus, Agnus Dei, and Dona nobis pacem.  Most of the movements in these sections are reworkings of music that he had written earlier.  For some, he borrowed and revised (often extensively) music from his own cantatas; in a few movements, he appears to have added choral parts to what may have been instrumental concertos that are now lost.  The Sanctus, however, was originally a piece on its own, written back in 1724.  Bach's decision to adapt these movements and include them in his Mass has doubtless not only given them a wider audience but, in some cases, may have saved them from being lost entirely.

Because the music is drawn from various sources, different sections sometimes require different performing forces.  Most of the choruses are in either five or four voices.   The Sanctus is the only one to call for a six-part chorus, as well as for a third oboe, and the final section (Osanna through Dona nobis pacem) calls for eight voices divided into two four-voice choruses.  Yet despite these differences, the Mass has a compelling feeling of unity because of the care Bach has taken in structuring the whole.

The only performances of this work that are known for certain to have taken place in the eighteenth century are of separate sections:  Bach's own performance of the Sanctus on Christmas Day of 1724 and a performance of the Credo by his son, Carl Philipp Emanuel, in 1786.  C. P. E. Bach did refer to the work as a complete Catholic mass, but the first complete performance did not take place until 1859, more than a century after Johann Sebastian's death.  When we perform the Mass in B minor as a complete work today, we are therefore not recreating a specific liturgical experience, as we are with Bach's cantatas.  The complete Mass is the creation of the concert hall, and it offers all the brilliance and theatricality that are appropriate to that venue.  

Details about individual movements 

Missa (Kyrie and Gloria)
This first part of the Mass was presented to the Elector in Dresden and may have been performed as a missa brevis in April of 1733. 

Gloria: 
The fast opening section of this chorus is thought perhaps to have been adapted from a lost instrumental concerto.  Not only does the writing suggest a concerto, but the instrumental parts were written into the manuscript first, suggesting that they may have been copied from a pre-existing piece. 

Gratias agimus tibi: 
This chorus comes from the opening movement of Cantata 29, which sets essentially the same text in German.  The opening motive is based on the Gregorian chant for this text. 

Qui tollis: 
This is based on a chorus from Cantata 46, but the instrumental opening and middle sections have been omitted here. 

Quoniam:
The unusual, extended solo for horn suggests that it may well have been inspired by the virtuoso tradition of horn playing at the Dresden court, where Bach presented his work to the Elector.  

Credo

Credo:
Written in the "old style" (stile antico), this chorus is built on a chant line that develops into seven-voice counterpoint (five-voice chorus plus two independent violin lines), all unfolding over a walking bass.  

Patrem omnipotentem: 
This music is adapted from Cantata 171. 

Et in unum Dominum: 
Bach revised this duet when he later inserted the chorus that follows it, so that their texts would not overlap.  As a result, some of the word painting by the instruments no longer falls on the words for which it was originally intended. 

Et incarnatus est: 
Bach inserted this chorus later, in order to make a trilogy of choruses at this point.  That put the Crucifixus at the exact center of the Credo and made the Credo completely symmetrical in its order of choruses and solo arias. 

Crucifixus: 
This central movement of the Credo has the hypnotic repeating bass line of a passacaglia.  Remarkably, the bass line, which repeats every four bars, is never harmonized the same way twice.  This movement is adapted from a chorus in Cantata 12 and is written in larger note values to suggest an older style. 

Et resurrexit:
The style of this music suggests that it may be based on a lost instrumental concerto.  If so, considerable adaptation would have been necessary, including, of course, adding the chorus.  In the middle, an extended ornamental bass line suggests performance by a vocal soloist, rather than the choral basses. 

Confiteor:
This extraordinary movement in five voice parts was newly composed for this mass.   About half way through, Bach introduces the simple Gregorian chant for the Confiteor text, weaving it into the complex counterpoint.  Toward the end, the music slows down and becomes intensely chromatic, as it comes to the words, "I await the resurrection of the dead." 

Et expecto resurrectionem: 
This is adapted from Cantata 120 with various additions, cuts and revisions, but Bach adds a fifth voice to the original four-voice chorus of the cantata.  

Sanctus
This movement, written for Christmas of 1724, is the only part of this mass known for certain to have been performed by Bach.  It is also the only movement to require a six-voice chorus, as well as a third oboe.  

Osanna to end
Osanna: 
Adapted from the secular Cantata 215, a work originally written to celebrate the Elector of Saxony's election as King of Poland. 

Benedictus: 
The solo instrument for this beautiful aria is not specified.  It goes too high for a baroque oboe but could be for either flute or violin.  Since the figuration is typical of Bach's flute writing, and since the music never goes below the bottom note of a baroque flute, it is normally played by that instrument. 

Agnus Dei: 
Adapted from Cantata 11, with extensive alterations, this poignant aria is the only piece in the mass in a flat key. 

Dona nobis pacem:
This closing movement of the mass repeats the music of the Gratias agimus tibi, with small adaptations to fit the new text.  As mentioned above, the opening motive of the Gratias was based on the Gregorian chant for that text; but here the motive is again appropriate, since the chant for the Dona nobis is almost the same as that for the Gratias.

Orchestration Chart

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