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AN INTRODUCTION TO BACH'S LATIN CHURCH MUSIC

KEY WORKS

Mass in B minor
Magnificat in D major

    Latin Church Music - an introduction

    The Ordinary of the Latin Mass comprises the movements Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus (with Osanna and Benedictus) and Agnus Dei. Although the post-Reformation Lutheran Church preferred its services to be in the vernacular, respect was maintained for the old Latin settings, and these continued to be used.

    The best known example of Bach's setting of the Latin mass is the Mass in B Minor. This began life as a setting of only the Kyrie and Gloria, presented to the Elector of Saxony in 1733 as part of a petition for a court title - as the mere Kantor of St Thomas's in Leipzig, Bach missed the status associated with the Kapellmeister title which he had held at court in Cöthen.

    We know that the Kyrie and Gloria movements only were considered an essential part of the Lutheran Mass - Bach also composed independent Sanctus movements, and his only known settings of the Osanna, Benedictus and Agnus Dei are in the B Minor Mass. There is no evidence that the B Minor Mass - now lauded as a homogenous work, and much performed in our own time - was ever given in its entirety during Bach's lifetime: the first complete performance is thought to have taken place in Leipzig as late is 1859.

    There are four extant masses - in F (BWV233), A (BWV 234), G minor (BWV235) and G (BWV 236) - all of them built around the truncated Lutheran Mass form including just the Kyrie and Gloria. Bach's motivation in compiling these Masses, which often involve the recycling of material from other sources, particularly cantatas, was probably to be able to call on free-standing liturgical works which were not tied, as the cantatas were, to specific Sundays in the church year.

    The other significant Latin work in Bach's output is the exuberant Magnificat, which remains a firm favourite with audiences today. It was composed during Bach's first Christmas a Kantor at St Thomas 's, and performed on Christmas Day, 1723.


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