Résumé and New Beginning: Bach’s B minor Mass

About the production

It is one of the wonders of Western music, both a masterpiece and a musical sacrament: the Mass in B minor by Johann Sebastian Bach. When it was rediscovered by a new generation of listeners in the early nineteenth century, many called it “the greatest musical work of all time.” Bach originally composed parts of the piece for the royal court in Dresden in hopes of attaining a position as court composer, and expanded the work near the end of his life into a full Missa tota. With this work, the Lutheran church musician Bach gave the world a great Catholic Mass as well as a magnificent example of royal festival music, music that continues to fascinate believers and non-believers alike. Moments of meditative contemplation alternate with passages of intense expression. This work unites artistic ideals and contrapuntal complexity to display the full glory of Bach’s compositional mastery.