Most ofJohann Sebastian Bach's extantchurch music inLatin—settings of (parts of) the Mass ordinary and of theMagnificat canticle—dates from hisLeipzig period (1723–50). Bach started to assimilate and expand compositions on a Latin text by other composers before his tenure asThomaskantor in Leipzig, and he continued to do so after he had taken up that post. The text of some of these examples by other composers was a mixture ofGerman and Latin: also Bach contributed a few works employing both languages in the same composition, for example his earlyKyrie "Christe, du Lamm Gottes" [scores].[1]
The bulk of Bach's sacred music, many hundreds of compositions such ashis church cantatas,motets,Passions,oratorios,four-part chorales andsacred songs, was set to a German text, or incorporated one or more melodies associated with the German words of aLutheran hymn. His output of music on a Latin text, comprising less than a dozen of known independent compositions, was comparatively small: inLutheranism, and Bach was a Lutheran, church services were generally in the native tongue, which was German for the places where Bach was employed. A few traditional Latin texts, such as the Magnificat and some excerpts of theMass liturgy, had however not been completely banned from worship practice during theProtestant Reformation. It depended on local traditions whether any of such Latin texts were used in church services occasionally. In Leipzig, compared to Lutheran practice elsewhere, an uncharacteristic amount of Latin was used in church:[2] it included music on Latin texts being performed on ordinary Sundays,[3] on high holidays (Christmas,Easter,Pentecost), and the Magnificat also on Marian feasts (Annunciation,Visitation,Purification).
In his first years in Leipzig Bach produced a Latin Magnificat and several settings of theSanctus. In 1733 he composed a large-scaleKyrie–Gloria Mass for theCatholic court inDresden. Around the same time he produced thefinal version of his Magnificat. Probably around 1738–39 he wrotefour more Kyrie–Gloria Masses, to a large extent based on earlier compositions. From around 1740 there was an increase of Bach copying and arrangingstile antico Latin church music by other composers, which sheds light on a style shift towards more outspokenpolyphonic andcanonic structures in his own compositions in the last decade of his life.[4] In the last years of his life Bach extracted a cantata on a Latin text from his 1733 Kyrie–Gloria Mass, and finally integrated that Mass, and various other earlier compositions, into hisMass in B minor.
Bach's involvement with Latin church music thus stemmed from several circumstances:
That being identifiable motivations for his involvement with Latin church music, some questions remain however without conclusive answer, including:
From the early 19th century there was a renewed attention for Bach and his music: his Latin church music, includingBWV Anh. 167 (published as a composition by Bach in 1805), the Magnificat (published in 1811),BWV 234 (published in 1818) and the Mass in B minor (heralded as "the greatest musical art work of all times and nations" in 1818), received a fair share of that renewed attention – the first 19th-century publication of a work for voices and orchestra on a German text only followed in 1821.[5] In the second half of the 20th century Bach's compositions on a Latin text were grouped in thethird chapter of theBach-Werke-Verzeichnis.[6]
Bach composed fiveKyrie–Gloria masses, the first of which was later expanded to theMass in B minor. He also set the Sanctus part of the mass liturgy a few times, and copied and arranged mass-related compositions by other composers.[6]
Around 1748–49 Bach completed his Mass in B minor,BWV 232,based on various earlier compositions including cantata movements and the early versions of Part IMissa in B minor for the Dresden court (Kyrie–Gloria mass composed in 1733), of the first movement of Part II and of the Sanctus (Part III). The Mass in B minor is Bach's only setting of the complete ordinary of the mass.
In 1724 Bach composed a Sanctus for six vocal parts (SSSATB) and elaborate orchestral score for the Christmas service. Bach revised it when he reused it in the Mass in B minor, changing its initial vocal scoring to SSAATB, and its meter from₵ toC.[7][8]
In 1733, Bach composed an extendedKyrie–Gloria mass for the court in Dresden, a setting of two parts of the Latinmass, theKyrie andGloria, scored for five vocal parts and orchestra.
Bach used three movements of theGloria of his 1733 Mass for the Dresden court to compose the cantataGloria in excelsis Deo, BWV 191, possibly for a performance in 1745.[8] The cantata was composed for a Christmas service sometime in the mid-1740s (between 1743 and 1746).[9]
In the last years of his life, Bach integrated the complete Mass for the Dresden court as Kyrie and Gloria in his Mass in B minor, his only complete mass (in Latin:missa tota).[10] Scoring and structure are identical with the later work. Another part of this Mass was derived from the 1724 Sanctus for six vocal parts. Also the music of several movements of his earlier German cantatas was integrated in this mass.
Hans Georg Nägeli described the work, in 1818, as "the greatest musical art work of all times and nations."[11]
Apart from the 1733 Missa in B minor for the Dresden court (later incorporated in the Mass in B minor), Bach wrote four further Kyrie–Gloria masses. These compositions, consisting of the first two sections of the Mass ordinary (i.e. theKyrie and theGloria), have been indicated asMissae breves (Latin for "short masses") or Lutheran Masses. They seem to have been intended for liturgical use, considering a performance time of about 20 minutes each, the average duration of a Bach cantata. They may have been composed around 1738/39.[12] Possibly they were written for CountFranz Anton von Sporck or performed by him inLysá.[13]
Each of the Kyrie-Gloria Masses is in six movements: the Kyrie is one choral movement (with Kyrie/Christe/Kyrie subdivisions) and the Gloria is in five movements. The first and last movement of the Gloria are also choral, framing threearias for differentvoice types. The music consists mostly ofparodies of earlier cantata movements.[14] Bach changed the music slightly to adjust to the Latin words, but kept the original instrumentation.
For theMissa inF major, BWV 233, scored for horns, oboes, bassoon, strings,SATB, andbasso continuo,[15] Bach derived most of the six movements from earlier cantatas asparodies.[6]
For theMissa inA major, BWV 234, scored for flute, strings, SATB, and basso continuo, Bach parodied music from at least four earlier cantatas.[6]
In 1818 this was one of a very few of Bach's compositions for voices and orchestra to appear in print prior theBach Gesellschaft complete edition in the second half of the 19th century.[16]
For theMissa inG minor, BWV 235, scored for oboes, strings, SATB, basso continuo, Bach derived all six movements from cantatas as parodies.[6]
For theMissa inG major, BWV 236, scored for oboes, strings, SATB, basso continuo, Bach derived all six movements from cantatas as parodies.[6]
Bach composed and copied separate movements on a text extracted from the Mass ordinary. He also copied and arranged larger Mass compositions (mostly Kyrie–Gloria masses).
Bach composed the Sanctus in C major for SATB choir and orchestra, BWV 237, possibly forSt. John's Day, 24 June 1723.[17]
Bach's Sanctus in D major, BWV 238, for SATB choir and orchestra, was first performed onChristmas, 25 December 1723.[18]
Bach's manuscript of theSanctus in D minor, BWV 239, dates from around 1738 to 1741.[19] It is a composition for SATB voices, string orchestra and continuo, based on the Gloria ofAntonio Caldara'sMissa Providentiae.[20][21][22]
Bach's manuscript of the Sanctus in G major, BWV 240, dates from 1742.[23] The authenticity of this composition for SATB choir and orchestra is however doubted.[24]
TheSanctus for double SATB choir and orchestra, BWV 241 [scores], is Bach's arrangement of the Sanctus ofJohann Caspar Kerll'sMissa superba.[25][26] Bach's manuscript of this Sanctus setting was written between July 1747 and August 1748.[27]
In the period from 1727 to 1732 Bach produced the manuscript of aKyrie–Gloria Mass in C minor [scores] for SATB choir and orchestra, BWV Anh. 26, based on a composition byFrancesco Durante. Bach's manuscript included his own setting of a"Christe eleison", BWV 242 [scores]. Elsewhere in the score there are some instances of Bach adjusting the text placement.[28][29]
BWV 325 is afour-part chorale by Bach, in F major, which appears with the text "Heilig, heilig, heilig" (i.e. the German translation of the Sanctus) in Part III (1786) ofBreitkopf's first edition of Bach's chorale harmonisations, edited byC. P. E. Bach. In Part IV (1787) of the same edition the setting appears under the title "Sanctus, Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth", that is the Latin text of the Sanctus. Thehymn tune used for this setting is derived from the melody ofSanctus minus summus, published inmeter-less music notation in 1557 (Zahn No. 8633). Thecommon time version of the tune (Zahn No. 8634) did not appear in print before the Breitkopf edition of Bach's chorales.[30][31][32]
TheAcroama missale [scores] is a collection of six Mass settings byGiovanni Battista Bassani, first published in Augsburg in 1709. Between 1736 and 1740 Bach had these six Masses copied, without the Benedictus and Agnus Dei, writing himself the Credo lyrics in the score. BWV 1081 is a Credo intonation in F major for SATB choir which Bach composed in 1747–48 as an insertion in the fifth of these masses.[33]
BWV Anh. 24 is a Kyrie and Gloria in A minor after theMissa Sancti Lamberti byJohann Christoph Pez. The Kyrie was copied, and expanded with a melody line different from the continuo, in Weimar (1715–17). The Gloria was copied without modification in Leipzig (1724).[34]
BWV Anh. 25 is a Kyrie–Gloria Mass in C major,[25] sometimes attributed toJohann Ludwig Bach:[35] copied by J. S. Bachc.1740-1742.[36]
BWV Anh. 27 is a Sanctus in F major byJohann Ludwig Krebs.[25]
BWV Anh. 28 is a Sanctus in B major[25] by an unknown composer.[37]
BWV Anh. 29 is a Kyrie-Gloria Mass in C minor of which only the continuo part survives,[38] found in a manuscript Bach wrote in the period from 1714 to 1717.[39]
BWV Anh. 166 is a Kyrie–Gloria Mass in E minor composed in 1716 byJohann Ludwig Bach, known asMissa super cantilena "Allein Gott in der Höh' sei Ehr", JLB 38.[40] Previously the work had also been attributed toJohann Nicolaus Bach.[41][42] The part scores were written out by J. S. Bach and others for performance in 1729.[43] In his copy, J. S. Bach added 5 bars of music at the beginning of the Gloria.[40] J. S. Bach's variant of the incipit of the Gloria is rendered in Vol. 41 of theBach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe.[44] The text of the Gloria is partly in German: it intersperses the Latin text of the Gloria with, as cantus firmus, all four stanzas of "Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr" (which is itself a paraphrase of the Gloria), a Lutheran hymn byNicolaus Decius and Joachim Slüter.[45][40][41]
BWV Anh. 167 is a Kyrie–Gloria Mass in G major for double choir attributed toChristoph Bernhard,Johann Philipp Krieger orDavid Pohle,[46][47] formerly also attributed to Johann Ludwig Bach andAntonio Lotti.[48] One of its 18th-century manuscript copies, produced 1732–35 and 1738–39, is partially in J.S. Bach's handwriting.[49][50] Published and performed as J. S. Bach's in 1805.[51][52]
Around 1742 Bach arranged the Kyrie and the Gloria ofPalestrina'sMissa sine nomine a 6 [scores], and copied the other movements of this Mass, up to the Agnus dei, without modification (BNB I/P/2; BWV deest). Bach transposed the Kyrie and Gloria sections from D minor to E minor and provided acolla parte orchestration for these sections, written out as performance parts for aKyrie–Gloria Mass for SSATTB choir, and an orchestra consisting of cornets, trombones and continuo.[25][53][54]
Bach's manuscript copy ofFrancesco Gasparini'sMissa canonica, BNB deest, was rediscovered inWeißenfels in 2013.[55] Bach probably performed his orchestrated version of the Kyrie and Gloria of this mass several times in Leipzig.[4] TheBach-Archiv Leipzig, whose Deputy DirectorPeter Wollny discovered the Bach autograph, stated that it was an important model for Bach in his exploration of thestile antico and of thecanon in his last decade.[56]
Bach composed theMagnificat in E-flat major, BWV 243a, in 1723, and then revised it around 1733 to the better knownMagnificat in D major, BWV 243. In the early 1740s he copied and arranged two Magnificats by other composers, apparently in view of performing them.[57]
A few weeks after arriving at his new post asThomaskantor inLeipzig in 1723, Bach presented aMagnificat forSSATB voices and orchestra at theMarian feast ofVisitation (2 July)
Later that year, for Christmas, he presented this Magnificat again, with additionally four inserted hymns, partly in German and partly in Latin, related to the celebration of that feast.
In 1733 Bach again presented this Magnificat, buttransposed to the key ofD major and in a somewhat more elaborated orchestration, for the feast of Visitation. It is this version of his Magnificat that would become the most frequently performed version.
BNB I/C/1 refers to Bach's copy of aMagnificat in C major [scores] byAntonio Caldara.[58] Bach started to copy Caldara's Magnificat on31 May 1740 and completed his manuscript, later classified asD-B Mus. ms. 2755, Fascicle 1, in 1742.[59] Bach's manuscript also contained a reworked version (i.e., expanded with two upper voices) of the "Suscepit Israel" movement in E minor: Bach's arrangement of that movement is known as BWV 1082.[25][60]
Around 1742 Bach copiedPietro Torri'sMagnificat in C major for doubleSATB choir and orchestra, and then arranged it by adding a third trumpet part and a timpani part.[61][62][63][64][65] That Torri was the composer of the original work was only discovered in 2012:[66] before that, the work had been attributed to Bach and to Antonio Lotti,[25][67] and had been classified asBWV Anh. 30 inAnh. II, that is theAnhang of doubtful works, in all 20th-century editions of theBach-Werke-Verzeichnis.[48]
Bach parodied and arranged Latin church music by other composers to church music on a German text.
Tilge, Höchster, meine Sünden, BWV 1083, is Bach's adaptation ofPergolesi's 1736Stabat Mater. Bach'sparody, written around 1745–47, used a German version ofPsalm 51 as text.[68]
Der Gerechte kömmt um,BC C 8, is a motet on a German text parodied from the LatinTristis est anima mea motet attributed toJohann Kuhnau, Bach's predecessor as Thomaskantor in Leipzig. On stylistic grounds the arrangement, including a transposition from F minor to E minor and an instrumental accompaniment, is attributed to Bach.[69][70][71]
Vopelius' 1682Neu Leipziger Gesangbuch, the hymnal that was in use in Bach's Leipzig, contains a few hymns on a mixed German and Latinmacaronic text. According to Vopelius the usage originated in the time ofPetrus of Dresden [de], a German-languageHussite active in the early 15th century: at the time native-language hymns, such as those sung by the Hussites, were barred from official church practice. As a response the Hussites sought, and eventually received, permission to mix native-language phrases in an otherwise Latin text.[72] Examples include:
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