Baroque Forms: Mass

J.S. Bach - Mass in B Minor

Bach took the opportunity to work on the composition of a Missa, a portion (Kyrie and Gloria) of the Eucharistic liturgy , during the five months of mourning following the death of Augustus II, Elector of Saxony on February 1, 1733, as during this time all public music-making was suspended. Bach's ultimate aim was to dedicate the work to Augustus II's successor, Augustus III, the result of which he hoped to be granted the title of court composer. This wish was granted three years later in 1736. Assembled over the last two years of his life, Bach expanded the Missa into a complete setting of the Latin Ordinary. Since the 19th century, the work has been considered one of the greatest pieces of music ever written.

The mass is often compared with Bach's other large scale religious works, specifically the St. John and St. Matthew passions. The function of the mass is quite a mystery, whereas the passions had a specific purpose - to focus and enhance the religious devotion of the congregation at St.Thomas church in Leipzig where Bach was cantor. The mass was put together at the same time that Bach was writing his Art of Fugue, the latter being a summation of the composer's lifelong preoccupation with counterpoint. The Mass in B Minor could be considered a complimentary work; a summation of Bach's life of composing religious devotional music, specifically for voice. Every example of his compositional skill is used and offered here though, and there are some sections, especially within the Gloria, where the orchestra takes the lead.


The form of the mass is as follows:

I. Kyrie - Lord, have mercy
II. Gloria - Glory to God in the highest
III. Credo - I believe in one God
IV. Sanctus - Holy, Holy, Holy
V. Benedictus - Blessed is he
VI. Agnus Dei - Lamb of God


Only five of the work's 27 movements are in B minor, 12 are in the relative major to B minor - D major. The work contains many revised versions of earlier choral work of which he used what he thought his very best, as well as original material.

My Response

The slow and sublime sound of the opening kyrie eleison immediately drew me into work from the first listen. Like the St.Matthew passion looked at earlier, the scale of this work is daunting, and not being religious myself it is easy to be confused by the Latin terminology and christian ceremonies and procedures. Undeterred however, I undertook my research and began to unravel and learn a lot about the structure of a mass, what it's used for, and what a musical setting entails. It turns out that the Mass in B Minor due to its length was probably not intended to be performed in church, and was not performed in its entirety in Bach's lifetime.

Like the passions, this work would take many repeated listens and much research to begin to really comprehend it, but in the limited time I had to dedicate to this exercise I listened to a good cross-section of it, and found the many different styles and emotions contained within the work very intriguing. Looking at these choral works in more detail has helped to further spark my already increasing interest in choral music of all eras, and although a person of faith would find deeper meaning within the mass than I would, I still believe that it's possible, and okay, to listen to and enjoy a religious piece of music even if you aren't religious yourself.