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76-548: A "Kantorei" is a choir of high standard dedicated mostly, but not exclusively, to sacred music . The ensemble operates in Stuttgart now and is therefore officially named Gächinger Kantorei Stuttgart . The choir has up to 200 voices, called together for projects from Germany and Switzerland, most of them singers with a degree in music. Since 1965 they have performed music with orchestra as Gächinger Kantorei and Bach-Collegium Stuttgart , including several first performances. Initially

152-443: A 1983 Gramophone Award . The Mass in B minor is widely regarded as one of the supreme achievements of classical music . Alberto Basso summarizes the work as follows: The Mass in B minor is the consecration of a whole life: started in 1733 for "diplomatic" reasons, it was finished in the very last years of Bach's life, when he had already gone blind. This monumental work is a synthesis of every stylistic and technical contribution

228-666: A B minor chord. The piece is orchestrated for two flutes , two oboes d'amore (doubling on oboes ), two bassoons , one natural horn (in D), three natural trumpets (in D), timpani , violins I and II, violas and basso continuo (cellos, basses, bassoons, organ and harpsichord). A third oboe is required for the Sanctus. Bach conducted the Sanctus, in its first version, at the 1724 Christmas service in Leipzig, and re-used it in Christmas services in

304-571: A Spanish poet of the late 4th century was one of the most prolific hymn writers of the time. Early Celtic hymns, associated with Saint Patrick and Saint Columba , including the still extant, Saint Patrick's Breastplate , can be traced to the 6th and 7th centuries. Catholic hymnody in the Western church introduced four-part vocal harmony as the norm, adopting major and minor keys, and came to be led by organ and choir. The Protestant Reformation resulted in two conflicting attitudes to hymns. One approach,

380-449: A cappella , for the human voice alone, or they can be accompanied by instrumental obbligatos up to and including a full orchestra. Many masses, especially later ones, were never intended to be performed during the celebration of an actual mass. Generally, for a composition to be a full mass, it must contain the following invariable five sections, which together constitute the Ordinary of

456-751: A convert to Catholicism, with the hope of obtaining the title "Electoral Saxon Court Composer". 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 July 27, 1733; in the accompanying inscription on the wrapper of the Mass he complains that he had "innocently suffered one injury or another" in Leipzig . The petition did not meet with immediate success, but Bach eventually got his title: he

532-529: A copy of the work along with The Well Tempered Clavier . As recounted by George Stauffer, the next documented performance (not public) in the nineteenth century was when Carl Friedrich Zelter —a key figure in the 19th-century Bach revival—led the Berlin Singakademie in read-throughs of the "Great Mass" in 1811, covering the Kyrie; in 1813 he led read-throughs of the entire work. The first public performance in

608-413: A database lists over 200 recordings with many different types of forces and performance styles. The work has played a central role in the 'historical performance movement' : Nikolaus Harnoncourt made the first recording with "period instruments" in 1968, his second Bach choral recording. Joshua Rifkin 's first recording using the one-voice-per-part vocal scoring he proposes was made in 1982, and won

684-399: A format with wider potential future use than the church cantatas they originated in (see "Movements and their sources" below). The chronology of the Mass in B minor has attracted extensive scholarly attention. Recent literature suggests: Bach did not give the Mass in B minor a title. Instead, he organized the 1748–49 manuscript into four folders, each with a different title. That containing

760-659: A later Carolingian synthesis of Roman and Gallican chant . During the following centuries, the Chant tradition was still at the heart of Church music, where it changed and acquired various accretions. Even the polyphonic music that arose from the venerable old chants in the Organa by Léonin and Pérotin in Paris (1160–1240) ended in monophonic chant and in later traditions new composition styles were practiced in juxtaposition (or co-habitation) with monophonic chant. This practice continued into

836-503: A liturgical mass, there are variable other sections that may be sung, often in Gregorian chant . These sections, the "proper" of the mass, change with the day and season according to the church calendar, or according to the special circumstances of the mass. The proper of the mass is usually not set to music in a mass itself, except in the case of a Requiem Mass , but may be the subject of motets or other musical compositions. The sections of

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912-640: A refrain (or chorus) and usually (though not always) a faster tempo than the hymns. As examples of the distinction, " Amazing Grace " is a hymn (no refrain), but " How Great Thou Art " is a gospel song. During the 19th century the gospel-song genre spread rapidly in Protestantism and, to a lesser but still definite extent, in Catholicism. The gospel-song genre is unknown in the worship per se by Eastern Orthodox churches, which rely exclusively on traditional chants, and disallow instrumental accompaniment. Along with

988-533: A revised edition the next year. The 1857 edition was the standard for the next century, but was later recognized to be even less accurate than the 1856 version due to inadvertent incorporation of C.P.E. Bach's alterations in the autograph. Similarly, the 1954 edition by Friedrich Smend for the Neue Bach-Ausgabe was shown to have significant faults within five years of publication. Christoph Wolff's edition, published by C.F. Peters in 1997, uses two copies of

1064-666: Is Christian music written for performance in church, or any musical setting of ecclesiastical liturgy , or music set to words expressing propositions of a sacred nature, such as a hymn . The only record of communal song in the Gospels is the last meeting of the disciples before the Crucifixion . Outside the Gospels, there is a reference to St. Paul encouraging the Ephesians and Colossians to use psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Later, there

1140-606: Is a reference in Pliny the Younger who writes to the emperor Trajan (53–117) asking for advice about how to persecute the Christians in Bithynia , and describing their practice of gathering before sunrise and repeating antiphonally "a hymn to Christ, as to God". Antiphonal psalmody is the singing or musical playing of psalms by alternating groups of performers. The peculiar mirror structure of

1216-475: Is also credited as having written the first English hymn which was not a direct paraphrase of Scripture. Later writers took even more freedom, some even including allegory and metaphor in their texts. Charles Wesley 's hymns spread Methodist theology , not only within Methodism, but in most Protestant churches. He developed a new focus: expressing one's personal feelings in the relationship with God as well as

1292-586: Is evidence that parts of the Mass had been performed in the United States as early as 1870. From early in the century, authors such as Albert Schweitzer , Arnold Schering, and Frederick Smend called for smaller performance forces, and experiments with (relatively) smaller groups began in the late 1920s. The first complete recording of the work was made in 1929, with a large choir and the London Symphony Orchestra led by Albert Coates . As of 2013,

1368-431: 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 . Its key , B minor , is rather exceptional for a composition featuring natural trumpets in D, although far more of the work is in this key than B minor. Even more exceptional, for a Lutheran composer such as Bach,

1444-568: Is that the composition is a Missa tota . In Bach's day, Masses composed for Lutheran services usually consisted only of a Kyrie and Gloria. 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. The Mass

1520-766: The Requiem of Reconciliation (1995) or Wolfgang Rihm 's Deus Passus (Passionsstücke nach Lukas) in 2000 and Creatio in 2009. They explored different repertoire in 2004, in a premiere performance and recording of Mendelsohn's opera Die beiden Neffen . Gächinger Kantorei have also performed new versions of works, such as Mozart's unfinished Great Mass in C minor completed by Robert D. Levin . In 2009 they performed Bach's Christmas Oratorio in St. Thomas Church, Leipzig where it had been premiered 275 years before. The choir has performed with notable guest conductors such as Masaaki Suzuki . Krzysztof Penderecki conducted his Credo on

1596-819: The Catholic Church , the Churches of the Anglican Communion , and also the Lutheran Church ) to music. Most masses are settings of the liturgy in Latin , the traditional language of the Catholic Church, but there are a significant number written in the languages of non-Catholic countries where vernacular worship has long been the norm. For example, there are many masses (often called "Communion Services") written in English for

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1672-538: The Church of England . At a time when Christianity was competing for prominence with other religions, the music and chants were often beautiful and elaborate to attract new members to the Church. Music is an integral part of mass. It accompanies various rituals acts and contributes to the totality of worship service. Music in mass is an activity that participants share with others in the celebration of Jesus Christ. Masses can be

1748-696: The Oregon Bach Festival . They have appeared at the Rheingau Musik Festival and recorded Mozart's Great Mass in C Minor in 2006. During the first years the Gächinger Kantorei performed a cappella works of Buxtehude, Schütz, Pachelbel, Lasso, Hassler, Bach, Caspar Othmayr and Leonhard Lechner , and music of 20th century composers such as Hugo Distler , Paul Hindemith , Kurt Hessenberg , Willy Burkhard , including premieres of works by Johann Nepomuk David , Evangelienmotetten (motets on

1824-455: The Sophienkirche in Dresden, where Wilhelm Friedemann Bach had been organist since June, it "was definitely performed ... as evidenced by the extant Dresden performing parts and by the inscription on the title wrapper" given to the king the next day. Hans-Joachim Schulze made this case by pointing to the use of the past tense in the wrapper's inscription: "To his royal majesty was shown with

1900-579: The regulative principle of worship , favored by many Zwinglians , Calvinists among others, considered anything that was not directly authorized by the Bible to be a novel and Catholic introduction to worship, which was to be rejected. All hymns that were not direct quotations from the Bible fell into this category. Such hymns were banned, along with any form of instrumental musical accompaniment, and organs were ripped out of churches. Instead of hymns, Biblical psalms were chanted, most often without accompaniment. This

1976-540: The 'Divine Service' nine times a day at the proper hours was upheld according to the Rule of Saint Benedict . Singing psalms made up a large part of the life in a monastic community, while a smaller group and soloists sang the chants. In its long history, Gregorian Chant has been subjected to many gradual changes and some reforms. It was organized, codified, and notated mainly in the Frankish lands of western and central Europe during

2052-517: The 12th and 13th centuries, with later additions and redactions, but the texts and many of the melodies have antecedents going back several centuries earlier. Although a 9th-century legend credits Pope Gregory the Great with having personally invented Gregorian chant by receiving the chant melodies through divine intervention of the Holy Spirit, scholars now believe that the chant bearing his name arose from

2128-459: The 13th century, although carols were originally communal songs sung during celebrations like harvest tide as well as Christmas. It was only in the late 18th and 19th centuries that carols began to be sung in church, and to be specifically associated with Christmas. Traditionally, carols have often been based on medieval chord progressions, and it is this that gives them their characteristic sound. Some carols like "Personent hodie" and "Angels from

2204-412: The 1748–50 manuscript made before C.P.E. Bach's adulterations to try to reconstruct Bach's original readings, and seeks to recover performance details by using all available sources, including cantata movements that Bach reworked in the B minor Mass. Joshua Rifkin's edition, published by Breitkopf & Härtel in 2006, also seeks to remove the C.P.E. Bach emendations, but differs from Wolff in arguing that

2280-446: The 1748–50 work is, to quote John Butt, "essentially a different entity from the 1733 Missa, and that a combination of the 'best' readings from both does not really correspond to Bach's final (and virtually completed) conception of the work"; Rifkin's version seeks to adhere to this final version. Uwe Wolf 's edition, published by Bärenreiter in 2010, relies upon x-ray spectrograph technology to differentiate J.S. Bach's handwriting from

2356-463: The 1970s. A distinctive form is the modern, lively black gospel style. Mass in B minor The Mass in B minor ( German : h-Moll-Messe ), BWV 232, is an extended setting of the Mass ordinary by Johann Sebastian Bach . 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 . Sections that were specifically composed to complete

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2432-537: The Cantor of Leipzig made to music. But it is also the most astounding spiritual encounter between the worlds of Catholic glorification and the Lutheran cult of the cross. Scholars have suggested that the Mass in B minor belongs in the same category as The Art of Fugue , as a summation of Bach's deep lifelong involvement with musical tradition—in this case, with choral settings and theology. Bach scholar Christoph Wolff describes

2508-616: The Gospel) in 1959 and Psalm 139 in 1961. Gächinger Kantorei and Bach-Collegium Stuttgart, conducted by Rilling, completed the first complete recording of Bach's cantatas and oratorios , a project of 15 years in collaboration with the Hänssler Verlag , on 21 March 1985, the composer's 300th birthday. The recording was awarded a Grand Prix du Disque . The choir premiered works such as the Messa per Rossini (1988), Litany of Arvo Pärt (1994),

2584-502: The Hebrew psalms makes it likely that the antiphonal method originated in the services of the ancient Israelites. According to the historian Socrates of Constantinople , its introduction into Christian worship was due to Ignatius of Antioch (died 107), who in a vision had seen the angels singing in alternate choirs. During the first two or three centuries, Christian communities incorporated into their observances features of Greek music and

2660-636: The Holy Trinity, which was begun in 1738 and was nearing completion by the late 1740s. However, the building was not completed until 1751 and Bach's death in July 1750 prevented his Mass from being submitted for use at the dedication. Instead, Johann Adolph Hasse 's Mass in D minor was performed, a work with many similarities to Bach's Mass (the Credo movements in both works feature chant over a walking bass line, for example). In 2013, Michael Maul published research suggesting

2736-409: The Kyrie and Gloria he called "1. Missa "; that containing the Credo he titled "2. Symbolum Nicenum "; the third folder, containing the Sanctus, he called "3. Sanctus "; and the remainder, in a fourth folder he titled "4. Osanna | Benedictus | Agnus Dei et | Dona nobis pacem ". John Butt writes, "The format seems purposely designed so that each of the four sections could be used separately." On

2812-451: The Kyrie and Gloria, in 1833 by the Swiss collector Hans Georg Nägeli with Simrock , refers to it as "Messe" Finally, Nageli and Simrock produced the first publication in 1845, calling it the "High Mass in B Minor" ( Hohe Messe in h-moll ). The adjective "high", Butt argues, was "strongly influenced by the monumental impact of Beethoven's Missa solemnis ." It soon fell from common usage, but

2888-1027: The Mass . This setting of the Ordinary of the Mass spawned a tradition of Mass composition to which many famous composers of the standard concert repertory made contributions, including Bach , Haydn , Mozart and Beethoven . The Requiem Mass , or the Mass of the Dead, is a modified version of the ordinary mass. Musical settings of the Requiem mass have a long tradition in Western music. There are many notable works in this tradition, including those by Ockeghem , Pierre de la Rue , Brumel , Jean Richafort , Pedro de Escobar , Antoine de Févin , Morales , Palestrina , Tomás Luis de Victoria , Mozart , Gossec , Cherubini , Berlioz , Brahms , Bruckner , Dvořák , Frederick Delius , Maurice Duruflé , Fauré , Liszt , Verdi , Herbert Howells , Stravinsky , Britten , György Ligeti , Penderecki , Henze , and Andrew Lloyd Webber . In

2964-412: The Mass in B minor poses a considerable challenge to prospective editors, and substantial variations can be noted in different editions, even critical urtext editions. The Bach Gesellschaft edition, edited by Julius Rietz, was published in 1856 based on several sources but without direct access to the autograph. When access was later obtained, the textual problems were so evident that the society published

3040-671: The Mass in its entirety took place in 1859 in Leipzig, with Karl Riedel and the Riedel-Verein. The first performance of the Mass in the UK was given by The Bach Choir , newly formed for this purpose by conductor Otto Goldschmidt , in 1876 in St James's Hall, London. The Bach Choir of Bethlehem performed the American premiere of the complete Mass on March 27, 1900, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania , though there

3116-404: The Mass in the late 1740s include the "Et incarnatus est" part of the Credo . As 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. Among the more unusual characteristics of the composition

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3192-408: The Mass was appreciated by some of Bach's greatest successors: by the beginning of the 19th century Forkel and Haydn possessed copies. Two autograph sources exist: the parts for the Kyrie and Gloria sections that Bach deposited in Dresden in 1733, and the score of the complete work that Bach compiled in 1748–50, which was inherited by C.P.E. Bach (the autograph has been published in facsimile from

3268-591: The Midnight Clear ", a New England carol written by Edmund H. Sears and Richard S. Willis. Thomas Aquinas , in the introduction to his commentary on the Psalms, defined the Christian hymn thus: " Hymnus est laus Dei cum cantico; canticum autem exultatio mentis de aeternis habita, prorumpens in vocem ." ("A hymn is the praise of God with song; a song is the exultation of the mind dwelling on eternal things, bursting forth in

3344-671: The Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart. Ton Koopman conducted Haydn's The Seasons with soloists Klara Ek , Jörg Dürmüller and Klaus Mertens in 2009. In 2009 the Gächinger Kantorei sang under Rilling with the New York Philharmonic Handel's Messiah in Avery Fisher Hall in New York with soloists Annette Dasch , Daniel Taylor , James Taylor and Shenyang . Church music Church music

3420-617: The Realms of Glory" can be traced directly back to the Middle Ages , and are among the oldest musical compositions still regularly sung. Carols suffered a decline in popularity after the Reformation in the countries where Protestant churches gained prominence (although well-known Reformers like Martin Luther authored carols and encouraged their use in worship), but survived in rural communities until

3496-499: The Strong, King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania and Elector of Saxony , died. Five months of mourning followed, during which all public music-making was suspended. 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. His aim was to dedicate the work to the new sovereign Augustus III ,

3572-604: The additions made by C.P.E. Bach and others. Ulrich Leisinger 's edition, published by Carus in 2014, accepts some of C.P.E. Bach's revisions and uses the 1733 Dresden parts as the primary source for the Kyrie and Gloria. The work consists of 27 sections. Tempo and metrical information and parodied cantata sources come from Christoph Wolff's 1997 critical urtext edition, and from George Stauffer's Bach: The Mass in B Minor . except where noted. Regarding sources, Stauffer, summarizing current research as of 1997, states that "Specific models or fragments can be pinpointed for eleven of

3648-597: The century—of just the Credo section—took place in Frankfurt in March, 1828, with over 200 performers and many instrumental additions. In the same year in Berlin, Gaspare Spontini led the Credo section, adding 15 new choral parts and numerous instruments. A number of performances of sections of the Mass took place in the following decades in Europe, but the first attested public performance of

3724-743: The choir sang with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra the first performance in Israel of Brahms's A German Requiem . Tours of the 1980s took the group to Poland and Moscow . Gächinger Kantorei and Bach-Collegium Stuttgart have performed at festivals such as the "Musikfest Stuttgart" of the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart , Salzburg Festival , Lucerne Festival or the Prague Spring . In 2004 they celebrated their 50th year by performing Bach's Mass in B minor at

3800-487: The choir was dedicated to a cappella music of the 16th, 17th and 20th century, later adding works from the period of Romanticism . In 1965 Rilling founded the orchestra Bach-Collegium Stuttgart , and both groups started performing choral music with orchestra. The first international tours were conducted in the 1960s to the (then) DDR , CSSR and Hungary , the first tour to the United States followed in 1968. In 1976

3876-451: The concept of parody (adapting existing vocal music to a new text) appear in an unfavourable light" while it was "almost unavoidable" in Bach's day. He further notes that "by abstracting movements from what he evidently considered some of his finest vocal works, originally performed for specific occasions and Sundays within the Church's year, he was doubtless attempting to preserve the pieces within

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3952-514: The enclosed Missa ... the humble devotion of the author J. S. Bach." However, Joshua Rifkin rejects the argument, pointing out that the past-tense wording was typical of formal address often not related to performance. Also skeptical is Peter Williams , who notes that "there is no record of performers being assembled for such an event, and in August 1731 Friedemann reported that the Sophienkirche organ

4028-484: The former Roman empire. The introduction of church organ music is traditionally believed to date from the time of the papacy of Pope Vitalian in the 7th century. Gregorian chant is the main tradition of Western plainchant , a form of monophonic liturgical chant of Western Christianity that accompanied the celebration of Mass and other ritual services. This musical form originated in Monastic life, in which singing

4104-518: The late 4th or early 5th century, St. Jerome wrote that a Christian maiden ought not even to know what a lyre or flute is like, or to what use it is put. Evidence of musical roles during the 6th through 7th centuries is particularly sparse because of the cycle of invasions of Germanic tribes in the West and doctrinal and political conflict in the East as well as the consequent instability of Christian institutions in

4180-426: The lifetime of François Couperin , whose Organ Masses were meant to be performed with alternating homophonic Chant. Although it had mostly fallen into disuse after the Baroque period, Chant experienced a revival in the 19th century in the Catholic Church and the Anglo-Catholic wing of the Anglican Communion . The mass is a form of music that sets out the parts of the Eucharistic liturgy (chiefly belonging to

4256-404: The mid-1740s. Scholars differ on whether he ever performed the 1733 Missa. Arnold Schering (in 1936) asserted that it was performed in Leipzig on April 26, 1733, when Augustus III of Poland visited the town, but modern scholars reject his argument for several reasons: Scholars differ, however, on whether the Missa was performed in July in Dresden. Christoph Wolff argues that on July 26, 1733, at

4332-429: The more classical sacred music of composers ranging from Mozart to Monteverdi , the Catholic Church continued to produce many popular hymns such as Lead, Kindly Light , Silent Night , "O Sacrament Divine" and "Faith of our Fathers". Many churches today use contemporary worship music which includes a range of styles often influenced by popular music . This style began in the late 1960s and became very popular during

4408-418: The more durable context of the Latin Ordinary." Details of the parodied movements and their sources are given below. Note the nine (trinitarian, 3 × 3) movements that follow with a largely symmetrical structure, and the Domine Deus in the centre. Note the nine movements with the symmetrical structure and the crucifixion at the centre. As of 2015 , 237 recordings are listed on bach-cantatas, beginning with

4484-432: The music of other cultures bordering on the eastern Mediterranean Sea. As the early Church spread from Jerusalem to Asia Minor, North Africa, and Europe, it absorbed other musical influences. For example, the monasteries and churches of Syria were important in the development of psalm singing and the use of strophic devotional song, or hymns. The use of instruments in early Christian music seems to have been frowned upon. In

4560-504: The occasion of Rilling's 70th birthday, 29 May 2003, with the Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart , programmed with Bach's setting of these words in the Symbolum Nicenum from his Mass in B minor , Rilling conducting Gächinger Kantorei and Bach-Collegium Stuttgart with Sibylla Rubens , Ingeborg Danz and Christian Gerhaher . Sir Roger Norrington chose the choir for his recording of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with Camilla Nylund , Iris Vermillion , Jonas Kaufmann , Franz-Josef Selig and

4636-451: The other hand, the parts in the manuscript are numbered from 1 to 4, and Bach's usual closing formula (S.D.G = Soli Deo Gloria ) is only found at the end of the Dona Nobis Pacem . Further, Butt writes, "What is most remarkable about the overall shape of the Mass in B Minor is that Bach managed to shape a coherent sequence of movements from diverse material." Butt and George Stauffer detail the ways in which Bach gave overall musical unity to

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4712-456: The possibility that instead, Bach compiled it for performance in Vienna at St. Stephen's Cathedral (which was Roman Catholic) on St. Cecilia's Day in 1749, as a result of his association with Count Johann Adam von Questenberg . Other explanations are less event-specific, involving Bach's interest in 'encyclopedic' projects (like The Art of Fugue ) that display a wide range of styles, and Bach's desire to preserve some of his best vocal music in

4788-446: The possibility that there may have been a private performance or read-through of the Symbolum Nicenum late in Bach's life. The first public performance of the Symbolum Nicenum section (under the title "Credo or Nicene Creed") took place 36 years after Bach's death, in Spring of 1786, led by his son Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach at a benefit concert for the Medical Institute for the Poor in Hamburg . One of Bach’s admirers Joseph Haydn had

4864-432: The prepositional phrase "in B Minor" survives, even though it is in some ways misleading: only five of the work's 27 movements are in B minor, while twelve, including the final ones of each of the four major sections, are in D major (the relative major of B minor). The opening Kyrie, however, is in B minor, with the Christe Eleison in D major, and the second Kyrie in F-sharp minor; as Butt points out, these tonalities outline

4940-464: The proper of the mass include the introit , gradual , Alleluia or Tract (depending on the time of year), offertory and communion. A carol is a festive song, generally religious but not necessarily connected with church worship, often having a popular character. Today the carol is represented almost exclusively by the Christmas carol , the Advent carol, and to a lesser extent by the Easter carol. The tradition of Christmas carols goes back as far as

5016-440: The revival of interest in carols in the 19th century. The first appearance in print of " God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen ", " The First Noel ", " I Saw Three Ships " and " Hark the Herald Angels Sing " was in Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern (1833) by William Sandys . Composers like Arthur Sullivan helped to repopularize the carol, and it is this period that gave rise to such favorites as " Good King Wenceslas " and " It Came Upon

5092-590: The simple worship seen in older hymns. The Methodist Revival of the 18th century created an explosion of hymn writing in Welsh, which continued into the first half of the 19th century. African-Americans developed a rich hymnody out of the spirituals sung during times of slavery. During the Second Great Awakening in the United States, this led to the emergence of a new popular style. Fanny Crosby , Ira D. Sankey , and others produced testimonial music for evangelistic crusades. These are often designated "gospel songs" as distinct from hymns, since they generally include

5168-586: The source in the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin ). However, for his 1786 public performance of the Symbolum Nicenum, C.P.E. Bach, as was typical practice in the era, made additions to the autograph score for performance by adding a 28-bar introduction, replacing the now-obsolete oboe d'amore with newer instruments (clarinets, oboes, or violins) and making other changes in instrumentation for his own aesthetic reasons. C.P.E. also wrote in his own solutions to reading some passages made nearly illegible by his father's late-life handwriting problems. For this and other reasons,

5244-525: The voice.") The earliest Christian hymns are mentioned round about the year 64 by Saint Paul in his letters. The Greek hymn, Hail Gladdening Light was mentioned by Saint Basil around 370. Latin hymns appear at around the same time, influenced by Saint Ambrose of Milan . Early Christian hymns are known as canticles and are often based on Biblical passages other than the psalms; they are still used in Catholic, Lutheran , Anglican and Methodist liturgy, examples are Te Deum and Benedicite . Prudentius ,

5320-560: The work as representing "a summary of his writing for voice, not only in its variety of styles, compositional devices, and range of sonorities, but also in its high level of technical polish ... Bach's mighty setting preserved the musical and artistic creed of its creator for posterity." The Mass was described in the 19th century by the editor Hans Georg Nägeli as "The Announcement of the Greatest Musical Work of All Times and All People" ("Ankündigung des größten musikalischen Kunstwerkes aller Zeiten und Völker"). Despite being seldom performed,

5396-414: The work's twenty-seven movements" and that "two other movements [the "Domine Deus" and "Et resurrexit"] are most probably derived from specific, now lost sources." But Stauffer adds "there is undoubtedly much more borrowing than this." Exceptions are the opening four bars of the first Kyrie, the Et incarnatus est and Confiteor . Butt points out that "only with a musical aesthetic later than Bach's does

5472-404: The work. The first overall title given to the work was in the 1790 estate of the recently deceased C.P.E. Bach, who inherited the score. There, it is called "Die Grosse Catholische Messe" (the "Great Catholic Mass"). It is called that as well in the estate of his last heir in 1805, suggesting to Stauffer that "the epithet reflects an oral tradition within the Bach family". The first publication of

5548-521: Was badly out of tune." However, there is evidence of an organ recital by Bach at the Sophienkirche on 14 September 1731, and Friedemann Bach was only chosen as Organist for the institution on 23 June 1733. He would again perform a 2-hour Organ recital on 1 December 1736 at the Frauenkirche Dresden to inaugurate the new Gottfried Silbermann organ. Scholars agree that no other public performances took place in Bach's lifetime, although Butt raises

5624-578: Was known as exclusive psalmody . Examples of this may still be found in various places, including the Churches of Christ and the "free churches" of western Scotland. The other Reformation approach, favored by Martin Luther , produced a burst of hymn writing and congregational singing. Luther and his followers often used their hymns, or chorales, to teach tenets of the faith to worshipers. The earlier English writers tended to paraphrase biblical text, particularly Psalms ; Isaac Watts followed this tradition, but

5700-662: Was likely never performed in its entirety during Bach's lifetime. Its earliest documented complete performance took place in 1859. With many dozens of recordings , it is among Bach's most popular vocal works. In 2015, Bach's personal handwritten manuscript of the mass held by the Berlin State Library was included in the UNESCO 's Memory of the World Register , a project to protect and preserve culturally significant documents and manuscripts. On 1 February 1733, Augustus II

5776-566: Was made court composer to Augustus III in 1736. In the last years of his life, Bach expanded the Missa into a complete setting of the Latin Ordinary. It is not known what prompted this creative effort. Wolfgang Osthoff and other scholars have suggested that Bach intended the completed Mass in B minor for performance at the dedication of the new Hofkirche in Dresden , a Catholic cathedral dedicated to

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