Bach, B minor Mass. T. Herbert Dimmock discusses
movements that praise God: the sixth movement Laudamus te and Sanctus.
Then he provides a conclusion for this series on the Mass. BDP #288.
http://bachinbaltimore.org/.
Let’s take a look at one of the pieces that I consider one
of the greatest treasures of Western civilization—the B Minor Mass. Bach’s B
Minor Mass enjoys a special place in his life’s work. It is part of that group
of works that he sorted through and revised and assembled into collections in
the final years of his life. The B Minor Mass represents what Bach felt was his
absolute best music to express the essence of each part of the text of the
Latin Mass or what we might today more typically call the Roman Catholic Mass.
Bach used many of his existing movements of his other
pieces. If he thought that he had written a piece that was perfect to get at
some idea or another—whether praise, thanksgiving, petition for forgiveness,
exultation, whatever it might be—he went ahead and used it, sometimes adapting
the text to fit the Mass text. Other pieces he wrote new. Thus, we can rightly
assume that each piece is a quintessential look at Bach’s thinking and Bach’s
language as to what is the sine qua non, the absolute best of all of his
music in each of these many different parts of this larger whole of the Latin
Mass.
The text of the sixth movement is Ladamus te. Again,
I mention to you that Bach divides the bigger sections into shorter pieces to
focus on words that are interesting to him. This entire movement is just on
that word ladaumus te. In English, this means we laud or praise you God.
This is the first emergence of a virtuoso solo singer and a
virtuoso violin solo. It is enormously virtuosic all over the place in terms of
fast notes. This idea of lauding and praise is shown in two ways. First of all,
it is long, it goes through time. We praise through a whole lifetime and then
in the life to come in heaven in Bach’s viewpoint. But the other thing I find
about this that I wanted to show you is how vivid it is. Praise is not just
“OK, we praised you, yeah we praise you.” It is not mundane. It is very
creative; it is inventive. There is almost limitless creativity, plasticity,
and detail within the line.
I always love getting to this moment. It is a huge reward
when you get to hear a great violinist and a great singer getting together. I
can’t play the violin part because I don’t have a violin. He has all of these
[sings] figures and then this virtuoso [music]. Then the singer [music]; on and
on they go and then they have syncopated [music], then long notes that explode
into motion. Then trills and leaps and all kinds of praises. It is something
that Paganini would have been proud of one hundred and fifty years later. It is
a really remarkable thing.
Today I want to look at just one movement. I don’t have a
favorite. It is like a large family and saying that you have a favorite child.
Like a large family, the moment that you are doing it, e music or the moment you
are celebrating a family event, that is your favorite. So right now, this is my
favorite movement of the B Minor Mass. It is the Sanctus. It comes toward the
end of the Mass.
We know the English as “holy, holy, holy.” Consider, first
of all, where the text came from. The text came from the prophet Isaiah,
chapter 6, the second and third verses. Those verses in English are:
Above Him are the seraphim with six
wings. With two they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and
with two they flew around Him and called out to one another, …and here is the
Sanctus text…holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts. Heaven and earth are full
of Thy glory.”
Bach looks at all this and finds irresistible the use of
various symbolisms within his music. So, the first thing is that he writes this
piece for a six-part choir. That is important, why? It is the only six-part
chorus in all of Bach’s works. There is one secular pan-cantata that has a
moment of six parts in it, but it is safe to say that this is the only six-part
chorus in Bach’s entire work that references Isaiah 6 and the seraphim who have
six wings. Then he divides into two and three. The six wings divide into three
groups of two: two, two, two, three groups. Bach writes this for an orchestra
of three trumpets, three oboes—it is the only place in the 27 movements of the
B Minor Mass calling for three oboes, three upper strings, and a six part chorus.
The text is “above them flew” and who do they fly
above?—God. All of this is symbolized in the music. God is the perfect being.
In Bach’s musical language the perfect being is represented by the most perfect
musical interval, the octave. So, the basses sing over and over again [music]
“sanctus, sanctus, sanctus,” holy, holy, holy. Again, representing who they are
flying above and beyond. And that is God.
Now the orchestra in the beginning divides into three
groups. The three oboes pick up the idea of the declamatory quarter-note
sanctus [music], which is ascending praise toward God. The trumpets in groups
of three [music]: again, these ascending lines. Below that the upper strings
are playing [music, singing]. This is a dancing figure.
If you think of the wings of the seraphim, which are
undulating, the top three voices sing [music]. Again, that is the undulating
idea. The lower two voices are going [music]. Again, this idea of Sanctus. All
of this above God [music].
If you gave me this job at a conservatory and said to write
something and put all of those elements in it … I guess I could have
plagiarized Bach, but otherwise I would be at a complete loss. It is just and
astonishing achievement.
So, the Sanctus is in two verses, two groups, if you will:
the seraphim and God. So, Bach divides the text into two large sections. We
just looked at the first of those two large sections, the text where the text
is “sanctus, sanctus, sanctus.” The next text is “heaven and earth are full of
your glory.” In Latin it is “pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria ejus.” Here the
music accelerates, we get dance rhythms, the earth is full of your glory, it is
something to celebrate. And then Bach does something very interesting.
Let me play it for you and see what you hear. [music] If you
listen to that think about the beat. [music with counting] We call that a
hemiola. There is no test on this, you don’t need to remember that word. But in
Baroque music hemiolas are where music in three [singing] goes suddenly into
two [singing]. If heaven and earth is full of your glory, that is everything.
For glory we had all of these notes. Then to show the fulness of it we go from
the one meter to the other meter. It is full in both ways. Full in notes and
full of many rhythmic possibilities. It is full of the only rhythmic divisions
we have in music—2 and 3. “Pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria ejus.”
The other way that Bach shows this fullness is if you look
at the score, you see in the beginning that there is just one line. Then here
comes a second line and they answer. Here comes the third line and they answer.
Now we have three lines going. Here comes the rest of the choir and now the
full orchestra comes in with three trumpets, three oboes, the tympani, and the
strings. So, the fulness of glory is done in this musical form of a fugue, one
voice following the other. We have first one and two and three then six and
then all the nine parts of the orchestra come in. Heaven and earth are full of
your glory.
So, I find this piece very, very beautiful. It is an
astonishing achievement. It is just one of twenty-seven moments in the B Minor
Mass. He is twenty-seven for twenty-seven. There is not a single bad note or
movement that you would like to omit. It is just a fabulous piece.
Some years ago when radio stations were still doing this I
was invited to do one of these programs for NPR on a desert island. What would
you take if you could take five pieces of music and one book on a desert
island, what would you take? Well, I said, “The B Minor Mass” and then I said,
“What’s left?” After I picked the B Minor Mass I thought “That’s the one I
really want, it is so wonderful.”
So, Bach in Baltimore does the B Minor Mass every other
season. And the thing about the B Minor Mass is not only is it this mountain-top
experience, but it is rather virtuosic. In many place including cities of some
size there are no performances in a given year. We are pleased and privileged
to present it at least once every other year here in Baltimore.
We hope that you will stay in touch with us:
bachinbaltimore.org. Look for our next performance and do come join us.