Just as Bach culled his B Minor Mass from disparate sources, Herbert von Karajan's 1952-53 recording stemmed from choral sessions in Vienna, with the vocal solos and duets taped later in London. Indeed, Bach's own ideal, and therefore his expectations, can be gleaned from a 1730 letter he had written to the Leipzig Town Council in which he proposed a "Short But Most Necessary Draft for a Well-Appointed Church Music," comprising 4-6 violins, 4 violas, 2 celli, one bass, 2-3 oboes, 2 flutes, 1-2 bassoons, 3 trumpets, one kettledrum and a chorus of 3-4 each of sopranos, altos, tenors and basses. To oversimplify matters, let’s begin by pointing out that performance styles have changed in the past century. Charles Sanford Terry notes that while it contains all the sections of the Catholic mass (and, indeed, it was listed in Bach's estate catalog as "die Grosse catholische Messe"), textual variations violate the inflexible strictures required for ritual purposes; on the other hand, Lutherans use only portions (the Kyrie, Gloria and occasionally the Sanctus) of the full Catholic mass in their services. Furthermore, the words of the Mass – unlike those of the cantatas – are universal rather than being a product of their time. I would go further and consider the Mass to be "Bach's Greatest Hits" (at least among his vocal compositions), as every movement boasts exceptional melodies that rank among Bach's most memorable, arrayed amid a wide variety of textures and settings, and thus provides a convenient condensation of his art into a single composition, without the recitatives and narrative filler that pad out his cantatas and even the work that is often cited as his crowning achievement – the even more massive St. Matthew Passion. Bach, who performed the Credo alone (but with his own introduction and elaborations) toward the end of his own life in 1786. bruggen's interpretation of bach's b minor mass powerful and gripping! Scholars speculate as to just when the Missa was composed. You'd never know from listening; there's remarkable consistency to the … Although the overall timing is nearly identical to Coates's, individual movement tempos tend toward extremes. At the other, Butt traces the influence of dance in the regularity, recurrence, symmetry, periodic phrasing and metric organization that permeates several sections. (x3) Lord, have mercy upon us. (The nature and sources of each movement are traced in the notes that accompany nearly every recording of the B Minor Mass, and so, in lieu of citing numerous examples, I gladly defer to them for a detailed structural analysis of the individual components, should that be of interest.). Although the choir is large and the instruments modern, this recording paved the way toward more recent scholarly versions with crisp articulation, precise balances and lucid sound. Find album reviews, stream songs, credits and award information for Bach: Mass in B minor, BWV 232 - Helmuth Rilling on AllMusic Malcolm Boyd concludes: "No other work more convincingly demonstrates that at the highest level Bach's process of parody, adaptation and compilation must be accepted as a creative act almost on a par with what we normally think of as 'original composition'." Consequently, throughout this recording, following the purely intuitive practice of Shaw, Harnoncourt shifts among three divisions of his choir (varying between large (20 sopranos, 10 altos, 6 tenors and 8 basses); medium (11, 5, 4, 4) and small (7, 3, 3, 3)) and orchestra (diverse combinations ranging between 6 and 13 strings). He began by asserting that traditions of interpretation are valid only for works performed in unbroken sequence since their composition, whereas for Bach, whose works lay unperformed for a century and thus were removed from the composer's intentions, our notions of authenticity (and thus our accustomed listening experiences) reflect the prevalent style of when they were discovered rather than when they had been composed. Not surprisingly, given Richter's acclaimed organ recordings, the tonal color is often enriched with prominent bass from the organ. Rifkin, Joshua – notes to his Nonesuch gatefold album, 9 79036 (1982). Showing 91 - 100 of 150 results In any event, Bach's efforts eventually were successful, as he ultimately was bestowed the title of Church Composer, but only after reminding the Elector three years later. In any event, Butt notes with considerable irony that the B Minor Mass, which brims with Bach's deepest spiritual convictions, began to attain popularity only after religious works became fashionable in secular concert settings. In that regard, Terry notes that the scoring was for Bach's augmented festival orchestration – three high trumpets, tympani and pairs of flutes, oboes and bassoons. Only some portions of the score were in Bach's handwriting, leading Rifkin to consider that others might have been copied by family members rather than by the usual professional copyists, which, in turn, suggests composition during a trip rather than at home. And even in 1749 when it was completed it was bundled in four very separate parts. B minor Mass. Thus, after its initial chords and orchestral fugal introduction the opening Kyrie begins with a vocal quartet and evolves into a full chorus, adding cumulative weight in this way rather than through an escalation of volume alone, as is routinely done. The B Minor Mass included Harnoncourt's own lengthy, scholarly notes in which he both explained and defended his approach. The Boyd Neel Orchestra, founded by its namesake surgeon in 1933 as one of the earliest permanent chamber groups, provides eloquent, light textures (with imposing tympani) that must have seemed refreshingly pure at the time. A wonderful question which, I’d argue, admits of no single answer. As Butt points out, Martin Luther never set out to replace the Latin mass but rather to alter and adapt it where needed for understanding. Robert Shaw sidesteps the issue, stating that no matter when the fragments may have been composed, they comprise a textual and musical unity reflecting Bach's unwavering religious conviction and his staggering musical craftsmanship. The result of all this, even to those willing to credit Rifkin's reasoning, can be disconcerting to ears attuned to either the "big band" or Harnoncourt approaches, gaining in overall intimacy yet foregoing the accustomed contrast between massed and solo sections for a uniformly light texture, abetted by consistently mellow playing. In that regard, the B Minor Mass was consistent with Luther's underlying theology, since, as Philipp Spitta put it, Luther was not a foe of Catholicism but a development grown from the same soil. The annotator of the original album (identified only as "H.W.L." In that light, the score itself (even when shorn of later annotations) is only a bare outline, as it omits performance conventions that were universally understood at the time, and thus obviated the need to write out all the details of execution. Whether it is a complete patchwork or put together from pieces of a design (most musicologists suggest the latter), this music is- certainly metaphorically and possibly literally- divine! : Canby, Edward Tatnall – notes to the Scherchen Westminster box, WAL 301 (1950). Records further show that the electoral chapel included only a single tenor. They had already released revelatory original instrument versions of the Bach Brandenburg Concertos, Orchestral Suites and Violin Concertos (the last with a reduced "orchestra" of seven strings and harpsichord continuo) and would soon launch their most ambitious venture (shared with the King's College Choir and like-minded Leonhardt Consort), a project of staggering scope and historical importance – recording all 200+ Bach cantatas (and including the complete scores in each album). The primary snags are rather blurry sound for the era and some painful horn playing to launch the "Quoniam. [T]hese eight sides give the curious listener a fascinating glimpse into Bach as his music was understood in England before the Second World War and before the revival of interest in the 'correct' performance of early music took hold." The Mass in B minor is Johann Sebastian Bach's only setting of the complete Latin text of the Ordinarium missae. Personal preferences aside, it's a fascinating alternative to standard versions, draws you in to infer the missing power and focuses attention to previously overlooked details – and after all, lacking any definitive proof, who's to say what Bach intended? While the sincerity and commitment of the leaders of earlier versions cannot be discounted, Richter had extraordinary credentials as a Bach specialist – son of a minister, organist at the same Thomaskirche in Leipzig where Bach himself had presided during his final 27 years (including the period of composing the Mass) and where he is buried, and founder of the famed Munich Bach Choir, heard here in all its radiant splendor. Xinh's project for Mu123, spring/1996 [Bach home page] What follows is the full text for Bach's B-Minor Mass. Overall, Gardiner melds historical credibility and tradition with creativity to help bridge the gap between the older, romanticized approach and a radical application of period practices that threatens to alienate those who should embrace this wondrous work, and thus paved the way to many excellent recordings that continue to proclaim Bach’s eternal relevance, even in our modern times. Heard in the context of all the recordings that followed, it emerges nowadays as largely a dutiful and functional rendition, lacking the zesty ardent spontaneity that Coates routinely brought to his brilliant series of recordings of Wagner, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakoff and other late Romantic repertoire. In this short guide John Butt considers the work from many angles offering the reader basic information in a concise and accessible form. INTERMISSION. Bach - Mass in B Minor | John Eliot Gardiner (2015) - YouTube The Mass in B minor was not performed in its entirety in Bach’s lifetime. Butt notes that the parody technique had been a staple of Renaissance music, and so Bach's use of his own work showed respect for tradition, as well as for the purity and durability of the old style, rather than signaling a decline in inventiveness. Wolff, Christoph – notes to the Gardiner set, Archiv 415 514 (1984). Thus, in sending this Missa to the Elector with a letter dated July 27, 1733, Bach asked that the Elector "take me into your most mighty protection" and wrote that, despite serving as music director of Leipzig's two primary churches, "I have been made to suffer one injury or another, and on occasion a diminution of the fees connected with this office – all of which, however, would cease if Your Royal Highness would give me his favor and confer upon me a title in his court chapel," and promised "unending devotion … and to devote all my powers to your service." (Although perhaps more widely known for his tasteful pop arrangements for Judy Collins, his witty Baroque Beatles Book album and his acclaimed series of Scott Joplin piano pieces, Rifkin was a formidable scholar.) Even beyond these markings, he infers that Bach may have used soloists in the movements having no obbligato instrumental accompaniment. To simply note this to be the first recording of the Mass with original instruments would vastly understate both the magnitude of its approach and its profound influence on all that would follow. Sandrine Piau, Bernarda Fink, Markus Schäfer, Marcos Fink Ensemble de Lausanne, Michel Corboz Rifkin speculates that the solos may have been meant to display the talents of the Elector's chapel choir. As with most music of this vintage, the recordings of the Mass in b minor invoke the fundamental issues of appropriate performing forces and interpretive approaches and trace the evolution of attempts to follow "authentic" performance practices. All the components fit well – yet perhaps a bit too well, without the textural diversity or emotional peaks needed to sustain attention over the course of two largely undifferentiated, moderated hours. George Enescu; Suzanne Danco, Kathleen Ferrier, Peter Pears, Bruce Boyce, Norman Walker; BBC Chorus; Boyd Neel Orchestra (1951, BBC Legends CDs; 133'), Recorded in a single day (July 19, 1951), presumably from a broadcast (no audience is evident), this performance was issued only in 1998 on the BBC Legends CD series to great acclaim, especially for Enescu and Ferrier, both at the close of their careers (his full and rich, hers cruelly truncated). Yet, he reserved most of his praise for the marvels of the work itself and, noting that "it makes supreme demands in every branch," went on to fault the recording as falling short of broadcast quality, citing in particular some crudity in the alto and tenor solos, lack of choral definition and skewed balances of overly dominant strings but suppressed solo instruments. In a January 1951 review in the Saturday Review of Literature, Irving Kolodin hailed this release as one of "imagination, integration and subtlety" and "a musical phenomenon rather than a liturgical exercise." Rifkin's reasoning is that distinctions between chorus and solo singing arose only after Bach's time, when a chorus comprised however many singers (known as "concertists") were required to assign one voice to each line. I. MISSA Kyrie Kyrie eleison (5-part chorus) Kyrie eleison. Harnoncourt quips that this approach was "Bach clothed in Beethoven. Even within movements, the Confiteor galvanizes with a startling contrast between effervescent outer sections and a deeply contemplative inner one. Credo Sanctus Agnus Dei (1685–1750) Mass in B Minor, BWV 232. Thus, the opening Kyrie runs a full 15 ½ minutes (compared to a "standard" 11 or so), followed by a fleet 5-minute Christe (versus 6) and then a slow second Kyrie (4:45 versus 4). These concertists could be doubled by additional singers ("ripienists") for fully-scored passages to amplify the vocal texture, but the ripienists were purely optional, dependent upon available resources. Dadelsen, Georg von – notes to the Richter DG Archiv box, 2710 001 (1961). Five-part choral writing is most in evidence, the… Further evidence of Bach's subjective approach lies in his use of musical symbolism to underline the text, ranging from the standard and conspicuous (chromaticism to underline lamentation; falling seconds to suggest sighing; a descending arpeggio to accompany the text of "descendit de coelis" ("came down from heaven") in the Et in unum movement) to far more subtle (a canon, also in the Et in unum Dominum, to signify the mystic unity of Father and Son), and even to the speculative yet fascinating (Albert Schweitzer's attributing the six vocal parts of the Sanctus to evoke six-winged seraphim). (Of course, all this assumes that Bach intended the Mass for actual performance which, we have already suggested, might not be true, as he may have written the work for idealized forces only in his imagination.) The Mass in B minor (German: h-Moll-Messe), BWV 232, is an extended setting of the Mass ordinary by Johann Sebastian Bach. Clearly, Schumann was the star of this show (and indeed its Pearl CD incarnation is entitled "Elisabeth Schumann – the Complete Bach Recordings," even though she appears in only three of the 24 movements). Chris grew up in London and studied cello from the age of 5. It begins and ends with paired choruses (the first movement in a sober antique style and the last in a festive modern style, both representing aspects of the Father), surrounding tender arias (movements 2 and 6) presenting the other members of the Trinity, and surmounted by central choruses (movements 3 and 5) depicting Christ's time on earth, with the Crucifixus (movement 4) at the very center, so as to represent the cornerstone of Christian faith. To that end, Christoph Wolff credits Bach as having a breadth that embraces a comprehensive grasp of musical history, ranging from ancient to new styles. 19. The Mass of 1733 The length of the Mass in B minor precludes it being sung in its entirety in a church service. Indeed scholars often marvel at the range of material Bach incorporated into the Mass. A new Bach B minor Mass has got me very excited this week. All rights reserved. Cost: $25+ Duration: About 2 … An equally serious consideration is that its text is not suited for use by either Roman Catholics or Lutherans. While I consider the above recordings of the Mass in B Minor to have the greatest claim to historical significance, there are dozens of others, many of which have been widely acclaimed. Similarly Bach himself harbored diverse leanings; as Parry notes, while his allegiance may have been to the Catholic ruler of Saxony, he had been educated by Protestants, lived in a Protestant town and made his living by writing and organizing performances of Protestant music. As Teri Noel Towe aptly describes it, "a massive choir … sings with gusto and with surprising subtlety in the handful of choruses that were rather inexpertly recorded by a pioneer mobile recording team. Indeed, heard today (on an Amphion CD), the performance is strikingly modern – spirited with strong dynamics and careful balances. Amen (so to speak)! Although often cited as quirky or worse (a 1955 British Record Guide slams it as "a woeful disappointment," "capriciously conceived" and "simply unmusical"), Scherchen's highly individual account is a remarkably fresh approach that eschews ostentation and constantly resonates with sincere artistry that compels appreciation for the magnitude of Bach's achievement. Join us to listen to this special presentation of the Mass in b minor in its entirety. Indeed, those are the precise forces for which he scored the B Minor Mass. In a sense, this was a matter of political expediency, as the Saxon court had become Catholic only in 1697 and many of its officials were Lutheran. Joshua Rifkin; Judith Nelson, Julianne Baird, Jeffrey Dooley, Frank Hoffmeister, Jan Opalach; The Bach Ensemble (1982, Nonesuch LPs and CDs; 106'). Rejecting the intervening 19th century notions of interpretation, he insisted that artistic intuition had to arise from study of the original materials and thus be informed by deep knowledge of the traditions of Bach's time. 25 Years in the Making! An immediate question is of Bach's intentions – as one who constantly chafed against the restricted resources he was provided, would he have approved the added power and impact of augmented modern instruments, orchestras and choruses, or did he conceive the work knowing that any performance would reflect the limitations of his time? The origins of the rest of the B Minor Mass are even less certain. The complete B Minor Mass was first heard in Leipzig, Germany, in 1859. His star pupil Yehudi Menuhin, in liner notes, recounts him as a humble, deeply cultured human being. So what was Bach's purpose in creating the B Minor Mass? As you probably know Suzuki is part way through a cycle of Bach Cantatas which are getting fantastic reviews, and when the cycle is finally complete (a little way off admittedly as he is only on Volume 36 of what I imagine will get up to somewhere near 60) I think it may well become ‘the’ version to have. Everything about it is large, the music, the voices, the scope of conception, the dynamics, use … Although written in the last years of his life, Bach’s Mass in B Minor had its beginnings some 15 years earlier. That, in turn, was seen by Butt as the culmination of Bach's deeply-held belief that music was God-given and that its highest possible purpose was to serve as a vehicle for social harmony. It was hard to imagine a more radical recasting of the B Minor Mass – until this version, which dispensed with a choir altogether, assigned one singer to each choral part, and pared the instrumental ensemble to 4 violins, one viola, one cello, one violone (an early string bass) plus the usual winds specified in Bach's score (2 flutes, 3 oboes and 2 bassoons), brass (3 trumpets, one horn) and timpani (one), all actually made in the 18th century or modern copies using Baroque models. In terms of its origins, the Mass can be viewed as having been crafted in two distinct halves. George Stauffer points out that, by whatever name, the B Minor Mass is not mentioned in any of Bach's letters nor in any other contemporaneous documents, and so our only direct evidence of its creation must lie in the autograph itself. In fairness, Rifkin notes that C.P.E. Rifkin, too, included extensive notes to justify his choices. Philip Miller notes that the pristine condition of the portion sent to the Elector suggests that it was never used, and Rifkin notes that the second half of the autograph has errors that Bach would have corrected in preparing performing parts. Gardiner’s celebrated set can be viewed as a reconciliation of the Harnoncourt and Rifkin approaches. The liturgical problems and the doubts surrounding its origins have led many scholars to question whether the B Minor Mass was ever intended for performance. The overall effect evokes an idealized performance that Bach himself might have recognized but without any self-conscious attempt to invoke period mannerisms. Butt notes that, rather than expanding the originals as he did in nearly all other instances of adaptation, here Bach tended to abridge them, often by excising entire repeated ritornello or da capo sections of cantata movements. Showing 11 - 20 of 104 results Scholars agree that at most one or two sections were freshly composed, with all the rest adapted from earlier cantata movements. The Mass in B Minor is arguably Bach's greatest single work. The Mass can also be hailed as the supreme example of the practice of parody. Johann Sebastian Bachs Mass in B minor is regarded by many as one of the supreme achievements of Western classical music. While he believes that the Missa portion intended one instrument per string part (evidenced by separate (and slightly dissimilar) copies for two first violins and only a single copy for the other parts), he notes that Bach had four violinists in Leipzig and thus doubles both violin parts throughout. Completed in 1748, with individual parts composed and performed earlier. Browse: Bach, J S - Mass in B minor, BWV232 This page lists all recordings of Mass in B minor, BWV232 by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). On this edition of Baroque&Before, Ivor Bolton leads Balthasar Neumann Chorus and B’Rock Orchestra in Bach’s masterwork. Despite scholarly misgiving over its integral nature, modern performances and recordings all present the entire work. In that light, perhaps recognizing the unique ability of music to transcend the literalism of words, Bach may have devoted his ultimate religious work to an attempt to universalize Christian worship – in Terry's phrase, into an expression of Christian idealism – neither Catholic nor Protestant, yet both and therefore greater than either alone. Basing his performances on a newly-edited 1954 edition, he asserted in accompanying notes that “Bach was used to an equal numerical and auditory balance between singers and instrumentalists,” and thus scaled the size of the chorus “where a choral sound might obscure an instrumental detail” and assigned soloists in lieu of the chorus to sections of choral movements in which instruments do not double the voices. Georg von Dadelsen contends that it had been written during the five-month official period of mourning for August the Strong, the prior Elector, during which all musical performances had been banned, thus affording Bach a respite from his official duties. (x3) No.17: Coro - Crucifixus (from the new recording), Bach - Cantata BWV 12, ’Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen’, No.2: Coro - Weinen, Klagen... (from BISCD791), rolyn Sampson (soprano I), Rachel Nicholls (soprano II), Robin Blaze (alto), Gerd Türk (tenor) & Peter Kooij (bass), Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki, Available Formats: 2 SACDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC. Moreover, all the cantata sources for the Mass movements were for solo voices. (Please note that in this context the term refers merely to borrowing, rather than in the modern connotation of caricature.) ", While there may have been earlier acoustical records of isolated, and possibly abridged, arias or choruses, the first substantial set of excerpts was the eight sides cut in 1926 for HMV by the Royal Choral Society and Royal Albert Hall Orchestra under the direction of Dr. Edward Cuthbert Bairstow, a distinguished minister, organist and professor. For nearly two decades, Harnoncourt had immersed himself in the study of period instruments and performance, played on numerous LPs and with his wife Alice had founded the Concentus Musicus Wein to spread their goal of realizing and proselytizing for period practice. òcalled: Mass in B minor ó was actually composed in different stages over several decades. However the Bach Archive Leipzig in conjunction with Bärenreiter are constantly striving to bring new discoveries of editorial research to the fore. Join us to listen to this special presentation of the B Minor is Johann Sebastian Bach 's setting! 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