B Minor Mass

Seattle Symphony and Chorale
Bach's B Minor Mass

Somewhere, I read that a life has not been fully lived until one has listened to Bach's Mass in B Minor.

Perhaps an exaggeration, but last night, the Seattle Symphony, together with its Chorale, made the claim seem plausible.

The conductor, Ludovic Morlot, chose to present the Mass using a smaller than typical orchestra, to approximate -- with modern instruments -- the orchestra for which Bach himself would have written.  As he hoped, this allowed the audience to follow the orchestra's counterpoint, as well to appreciate the occasional obbligato instrument accompanying the chorus, more easily than is possible with a full orchestra -- where you tend to be overwhelmed by the massed sound.

The program notes contained an unusually helpful description of the historical and religious background of the composition.  The B Minor Mass was to some extent a pastiche of smaller works that Bach had composed over the years.  For a Protestant composer writing for a Protestant court in the mid-18th century, it was somewhat daring to present -- in Latin -- portions of the Catholic liturgy.

Actually, however, I see nothing in the five selections from the Mass -- those most often put to music -- that would have offended Protestant sensibilities.  The Kyrie and the Gloria had already been adopted by Luther into his church's liturgy.  The other three movements -- the Credo, the Sanctus, and the Agnus Dei, came before and after the central, and most controversial, portion of the Mass, the Consecration.

I've never particularly cared for sung masses as a form of religious service.  Especially when the singing is fugal and contrapuntal, it's impossible to follow the language.  The music becomes a performance, and not a prayer.  And that's one reason that, by Bach's time, both Protestants and Catholics had tried to simplify the music that was used as part of church services. 

For example, the Kyrie contains six Greek words:  Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison [Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy].  In a spoken mass, those words are said in about five seconds.  In a mass as sung in today's Catholic churches, they may take a minute.  Bach's Kyrie takes eighteen minutes. 

In a Sunday service, after eighteen minutes, even the most devout mind might tend to wander.  But as a musical performance, combining voice and orchestra, the experience is sublime.

In last night's performance, especially dramatic was the playing of the first oboe in several obbligatos, and even more that of the flute in a virtual duet with the mezzo-soprano singer in the Agnus Dei.  Somehow, the flute and flautists always seem to end up the butt of jokes, or even disrespect, from clowns like myself.  Last night's performance showed what a solo flute is capable of.

Great composition, beautiful playing and singing.  And a very enjoyable evening.