September 19, 2021Throughout his life, Johann Sebastian Bach assembled sets and cycles of music: the two books of the Well-Tempered Clavier, the liturgical calendar of organ chorales, the Goldberg Variations, the Musical Offering, and the Art of the Fugue. The Art of the Fugue was left unfinished, as Bach’s last years were devoted to compiling “the last word” in sacred choral music, his great B Minor Mass.
The mass was probably never performed in his lifetime, and remained unpublished until 1845. It’s said that Haydn obtained a copy in his old age, but Beethoven sought unsuccessfully to acquire a copy of the score while working on his own Missa Solemnis.
The great rediscovery of Bach’s music came two years after Beethoven’s death, when Felix Mendelssohn led the now-famous performance of the St. Matthew Passion in Berlin. The first complete performance of the B Minor Mass finally took place in Leipzig in 1859, more than a century after Bach’s death.
Bach - Mass in B minor (Proms 2012)
Bach - Mass in B minor (Proms 2012)
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John Scialdone published this page in Daily Beethoven 2021-09-19 11:55:58 -0400