Bach : Messe en Si

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)Messe en si mineur Thursday 17 June, 8pm Chapelle Royale Duration: 1h50 without interval It is perhaps the most accomplished masterpiece of baroque sacred music, an enthralling work of choral beauty and rich in dazzling arias.

The origin of this famous Messe en si mineur is fascinating.

Bach finalised it in Leipzig around 1748, two years before his death, by assembling his Missa Brevis of 1733 (a Kyrie and a Gloria dedicated to the Elector of Saxony, for the dazzling Catholic court of Dresden) with various pieces he had already written, notably the Sanctus dated Christmas 1724, as well as new compositions, to form what his son Carl Philipp Emanuel called the “Great Catholic Mass”.

It is in a sense a theoretical work, whose purpose was not dictated by any specific performance objective: Bach would thus have achieved his Great Work, a musical summa of sacred music after fifty years devoted to cantatas and passions… Published only in 1833, the complete work was certainly not performed during Bach's lifetime, but in the nineteenth century it became a symbol of mastery of composition, and then, with the baroque revival, an essential work of German baroque and of universal music, placed on the same level as his Passion selon saint Matthieu.

Within Bach's output, this great Latin mass stands in contrast through its splendour to the Protestant passions.

The haunting grief of the Crucifixus, where every voice mourns Christ, gives way to the intoxication of the Resurrexit, with all brass and timpani unleashed, carried along by the cries of joy of the faithful. Bach's musical testament, it is now one of his most performed works.