Lutheran Masses (Bach)

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When Johann Sebastian Bach's Lutheran fairs or small measuring one calls his four Kyrie-Gloria- fairs in F major, A major, G minor and G major, BWV 233 to 236. They add sound to the Kyrie and Gloria of the Latin Mass and are therefore also called Missa brevis . The Missa from Kyrie and Gloria, which Bach composed in 1733 and which he later expanded to form the B minor Mass , also belongs to the same genre .

General

The complete setting of all parts of the mass (“Missa tota”) consists of the five-part ordinarium : Kyrie, Gloria, Credo , Sanctus with Hosanna and Benedictus as well as Agnus Dei . In contrast, the composition of Kyrie and Gloria is referred to as "Missa brevis" (plural: Missae breves) and in Protestant church music also as "Lutheran mass". A uniform German mass could not prevail in Protestantism; neither the language nor the exact scope was fixed.

On the one hand, the name "Lutheran Masses" refers to this Protestant tradition of setting Kyrie and Gloria to music. Kyrie-Gloria masses were "quite common in Italy as well as in Germany" in the 18th century and were "choralite or silent". In Protestant church music, there was a restriction to setting Kyrie and Gloria to music from an early stage. On the other hand, the name expresses the fact that Bach's Latin mass compositions were conceived for Lutheran worship. According to the Bach researcher Christoph Wolff , Bach composed the figural masses for high church holidays in the Leipzig services, possibly also for the Protestant court service in Dresden. Especially since the Urtext edition of the New Bach Edition , the scientific standard edition of the Johann Sebastian Bach Institute in Göttingen and the Bach Archive in Leipzig, the name "Lutheran Masses" has become almost synonymous with Bach in musicology and on CD recordings Latin masses BWV 233–236: “Since there is no binding term for the Protestant mass, which consists only of the two parts Kyrie and Gloria, the term 'Lutheran' has become established - both in German and in English. "

The term “Lutheran Masses” can be misleading, since Bach's works are compositions in Latin. On the other hand, other parts of the ordinarium such as the Credo were sung during Bach's cantorat in Leipzig. As an alternative, Konrad Küster proposed the name "Kyrie-Gloria-Messen", which describes the scope of the masses. “Missa brevis” seems less suitable for Bach's compositions, because in Catholic tradition it is usually understood to mean short settings of the full ordinarium, “instead of the very detailed setting of only the Kyrie and Gloria, which is also used in the Lutheran area, as here referred to as "Missae" (hence the title of the 4 masses) ".

The Lutheran Masses were probably created a few years after the Missa for the Court of Dresden (1733), later Kyrie and Gloria of the B minor Mass, and are now dated to 1738/39 at the latest. Arnold Schering advocated the thesis, which is now considered outdated, that Count Franz Anton von Sporck was the client of Bach's Latin masses and that they were performed by him in Bohemia.

The Kyrie is in these short measuring each one einsätziger, three-part choral setting, the Gloria is text that is however divided into five sets, with choruses at the beginning and conclusion and interposed therebetween solo arias. The total duration roughly corresponds to that of an average cantata - this suggests practical use in church services.

Similar to the B minor Mass, the Small Masses consist almost exclusively of parodies , i.e. revisions of existing choirs and arias. The cantatas used come mainly from Bach's time in Leipzig. For this purpose, new versions of the vocal parts were necessary in order to replace the original German cantata text with Latin prose.

These works can be interpreted as evidence of Bach's endeavors in his later years to place works that seemed to him particularly valuable in a timeless context.

The individual fairs

Mass in F major BWV 233

sentence title Type Tempo, time signature key comment
  1 Kyrie eleison - Christe, Christe eleison - Kyrie eleison Choir ¢ F major Early form as BWV 233a
  2 Gloria in excelsis Choir 6/8 F major
  3 Domine Deus Bass aria 3/8 C major Possibly from BWV appendix 18
  4th Qui tollis Soprano aria (Adagio) c G minor From cantata BWV 102
  5 Quoniam tu solus Altarie (Vivace) 3/4 D minor From cantata BWV 102
  6th Cum sancto spiritu Choir (Presto) ¢ F major From cantata BWV 40

Mass in A major BWV 234

sentence title Type Tempo, time signature key comment
  1 Kyrie eleison - Christe, Christe eleison - Kyrie eleison Choir (changing) A major
  2 Gloria, Gloria in excelsis Choir (changing) A major From cantata BWV 67 (there sentence 6)
  3 Domine, Domine Deus Bass aria (Andante) c F sharp minor
  4th Qui tollis peccata Soprano aria (Adagio) 3/4 B minor From cantata BWV 179 , movement 5 (voice heavily reworked)
  5 Quoniam tu solus Altarie 6/8 D major From cantata BWV 79
  6th Cum sancto spiritu Choir (Grave) c -
(Vivace) 12/8 		A major Vivace section from Cantata BWV 136 (opening chorus)

Mass in G minor BWV 235

sentence title Type Tempo, time signature key comment
  1 Kyrie eleison - Christe, Christe eleison - Kyrie eleison Choir c G minor From cantata BWV 102
  2 Gloria in excelsis Choir 3/4 G minor From cantata BWV 72
  3 Gratias agimus Bass aria ¢ D minor From cantata BWV 187
  4th Domine Fili unigenite Altarie 3/8 B flat major From cantata BWV 187
  5 Qui tollis peccata, peccata mundi - Quoniam tu solus Tenor aria (Adagio) c -
(Un poco allegro) 3/8 		E flat major From cantata BWV 187
  6th Cum sancto, sancto spiritu Choir c C minor From cantata BWV 187

Mass in G major BWV 236

sentence title Type Tempo, time signature key comment
  1 Kyrie eleison - Christe, Christe eleison - Kyrie eleison Choir ¢ G major From cantata BWV 179
  2 Gloria in excelsis Choir (Vivace) ¢ G major From cantata BWV 79
  3 Gratias agimus Bass aria 3/4 D major From cantata BWV 138
  4th Domine Deus, Agnus Dei Soprano / Alto Duet ¢ A minor From cantata BWV 79
  5 Quoniam tu solus Tenor aria (Adagio) c E minor From cantata BWV 179
  6th Cum sancto spiritu Choir c - 3/4 C major From cantata BWV 17

Recordings / sound carriers (selection)

On modern instruments

On historical instruments

Sheet music editions

  • Emil Platen , Marianne Helms (ed.): Lutheran masses and individual mass sets . BWV 233, 234, 235, 236 / BWV 233a, 237, 238.BWV Appendix 26 with BWV 242 (=  Johann Sebastian Bach. New edition of all works (NBA) II / 2 ). Bärenreiter, Kassel 2007. ISMN 9790006462681 (search in the DNB portal)
  • Johann Sebastian Bach: Four Lutheran Masses . Ed .: Emil Platen (=  Bärenreiter Urtext ). Bärenreiter, Kassel 2010 (study score, urtext). ISMN 9790006202324 (search in DNB portal)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Georg von Dadelsen; Arnold Feil (Ed.): About Bach and others. Articles and lectures, 1957-1982. Laaber Verlag, Laaber 1983, ISBN 3-921518-97-0 , p. 203.
  2. ↑ Friedhelm Krummacher: Bach's way of working at work. A sketch. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-86280-6 , p. 66: "Since the ordinarium composition in the Protestant tradition was limited to these movements early on, the four works are referred to as 'Lutheran masses'."
  3. ↑ After Renate Steiger (Ed.): Parody and original. On Bach's parody method and its significance for hermeneutics. International Working Group for Theological Bach Research, Heidelberg 1988, p. 117, Christoph Wolff was the first to take the view "that these are Lutheran masses and that the intention of their composition must be sought in the Lutheran worship service."
  4. ↑ Christoph Wolff: The stile antico in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Studies on Bach's late work. Steiner, Erlangen-Nürnberg 1968, p. 34.
  5. ↑ Johann Sebastian Bach; Emil Platen, Marianne Helms (ed.): New edition of all works. Series II: masses, passions, oratorical works. Lutheran masses and individual mass sentences. Critical report. Part 2. Bärenreiter, Kassel 1982.
  6. ↑ Gerhard Allroggen , Detlef Altenburg (ed.): Festschrift Arno Forchert for his 60th birthday on December 29, 1985. Bärenreiter, Kassel 1986, ISBN 3-7618-0776-7 , p. 110: “… and in the relevant volume of the New Bach edition has been sanctioned as it were ”.
  7. ^ Rita Häußler: The Lutheran masses of Johann Sebastian Bach. Studies on the parody process in the trade fairs BWV 233–236. Diss. Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich 1994, p. 13.
  8. ↑ Konrad Küster (Ed.): Bach Handbook . Bärenreiter / Metzler, Kassel / Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-7618-2000-3 , p. 490 ff .
  9. ^ Arnold Feil: Metzler Musik Chronik. From the early Middle Ages to the present. 2nd Edition. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2005, ISBN 978-3-476-02109-0 , p. 287.
  10. ^ Christoph Wolff : Johann Sebastian Bach , 2nd edition 2007. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main, ISBN 978-3-596-16739-5 .
  11. ↑ Messen BWV 233, 234, 235, 236 . (PDF; 617 kB) accessed December 27, 2011 (free downloadable booklet accompanying the CD recording with Helmuth Rilling).
  12. ^ Wolfgang Schmieder : Thematic-systematic directory of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach . Wiesbaden 1969