Performance Information

BACH Mass in B Minor 2010

The Monteverdi Choir
The English Baroque Soloists
Sir John Eliot Gardiner conductor

Soloists from within the Choir

Johann Sebastian Bach

Mass in B Minor BWV232

The Mass in B Minor is widely regarded as one of the supreme achievements of classical music. It is a monumental work, which uses a variety of musical idioms from a wide range of traditions. Bach began writing it in 1724 but did not finish assembling it until 1749, a year before his death, so that he probably never heard it played whole.

Bach himself did not give the work a single title: the four parts of the Latin Mass – Kyrie, Gloria, Symbolum Nicenum and Sanctus - each have their own title page. Each uses different forces, as if they were originally intended to be used separately, and several of the movements are “recycled” from his previous works. The Mass seems never to have been performed as part of a church service, and it remains unclear why Bach, a committed Lutheran, composed a piece of Catholic liturgy. The virtuoso

instrumental writing has led to speculation that the Mass was a presentation piece with which Bach hoped to recommend himself at the Dresden court, where there were famous violin, oboe and horn players.

Alte Oper, Frankfurt, Germany

Date: 14 May 2010
Start Time:

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