Upon its completion, Bach visited Augustus III in Dresden and presented him with a copy of the Kyrie–Gloria Mass BWV 232 I (early version), together with a petition to be given a court title, dated Jin the accompanying inscription on the wrapper of the Mass he complains that he had "innocently suffered one injury or another" in Leipzig. His aim was to dedicate the work to the new sovereign Augustus III, a convert to Catholicism, with the hope of obtaining the title "Electoral Saxon Court Composer". Bach used the opportunity to work on the composition of a Missa, a portion of the liturgy sung in Latin and common to both the Lutheran and Roman Catholic rites. Five months of mourning followed, during which all public music-making was suspended. On 1 February 1733, Augustus II the Strong, King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania and Elector of Saxony, died.
Osanna, Benedictus, Agnus Dei and Dona Nobis Pacem In 2015, Bach's personal handwritten manuscript of the mass held by the Berlin State Library has been included in the UNESCO's Memory of the World Register, a project to protect and preserve culturally significant documents and manuscripts. With many dozens of recordings, it is among Bach's most popular vocal works. Its earliest documented complete performance took place in 1859. The Mass was likely never performed in its entirety during Bach's lifetime. Bach had composed five such Kyrie–Gloria Masses before he completed his Mass in B minor: the Kyrie–Gloria Masses, BWV 233–236, in the late 1730s, and the Mass for the Dresden court, which would become Part I of his only Missa tota, in 1733. In Bach's day, Masses composed for Lutheran services usually consisted only of a Kyrie and Gloria. Įven more exceptional, for a Lutheran composer such as Bach, is that the composition is a Missa tota. Its key, B minor, is rather exceptional for a composition featuring natural trumpets in D. Among the more unusual characteristics of the composition is its scale: a total performance time of around two hours, and a scoring consisting of two groups of SATB singers and an orchestra featuring an extended winds section, strings and continuo.
Sections that were specifically composed to complete the Mass in the late 1740s include the "Et incarnatus est" part of the Credo.Īs usual for its time, the composition is formatted as a Neapolitan mass, consisting of a succession of choral movements with a broad orchestral accompaniment, and sections in which a more limited group of instrumentalists accompanies one or more vocal soloists. The composition was completed in 1749, the year before the composer's death, and was to a large extent based on earlier work, such as a Sanctus Bach had composed in 1724. The Mass in B minor ( German: h-Moll-Messe), BWV 232, is an extended setting of the Mass ordinary by Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach's 1748–1749 autograph score of the "Et incarnatus est", 13th movement of his Mass in B minor