Description

This is perhaps the most accomplished masterpiece of Baroque sacred music, an intoxicating work of choral beauty and rich in dazzling arias.<div> The origin of this famous Mass in B minor is fascinating. It was finalized by Bach in Leipzig around 1748, two years before his death, by combining his Missa Brevis of 1733 (a Kyrie and a Gloria dedicated to the Elector of Saxony for the brilliant Catholic court of Dresden) with various pieces already written, notably the Sanctus dated Christmas 1724, as well as with new compositions, to form what his son Carl Philipp Emanuel called the "Great Catholic Mass." It is, in a way, a theoretical work, whose purpose was not dictated by a specific performance objective: Bach thus created his magnum opus, a sacred musical compendium after fifty years devoted to cantatas and passions...</div><div><br></div><div> Published only in 1833, the complete work was certainly not performed during Bach's lifetime, but in the 19th century it became a symbol of mastery of composition, and then with the Baroque revival an essential work of German Baroque and universal music, placed on the same level as his St. Matthew Passion.</div><div><br></div><div> In Bach's oeuvre, this grand Latin mass stands in stark contrast to Protestant passions, its splendor a stark contrast to the sorrows of the Protestant Resurrection. The haunting grief of the Crucifixus, where every voice mourns Christ, gives way to the rapture of the Resurrexit, with all brass and timpani blaring, swept away by the joyous cries of the faithful. Bach's musical testament, it is now one of his most frequently performed works. John Eliot Gardiner is its undisputed champion, leading his Constellation Choir and Orchestra in an aesthetic experience that transcends centuries.</div>