Johann Sebastian Bach - booksnow.scholarsportal.info

ach's masses in g major and minor. 31the new conditions give it quite a new form. Finally, thereare some which are only a vivid reproduction of a piece ;and just as a finished composition may differ each time itis repeated, varying with the character of the performersand the feeling, time, place, and surroundings at themoment, so it has happened that Bach makes a compositionserve with different effect, though with but slight alteration,under different conditions of feeling. All these modes oftreatment have artistic justification, but none of themhave been used in the masses under discussion, which,so far as was possible to Bach, are mere mechanicalarrangements. To see with what relentless objectivenessBach could sacrifice the noble proportions of his compositions,we need only compare the Gloria of the G majormass with its prototype. The tremendous opening chorusof the cantata '* Herr deine Augen sehen nach demGlauben " is also gravely injured, though only in details,when we find it forced into the mould of a Kyrie for theG minor mass. Other pieces have suffered less recklesstreatment, but no artistic purpose in their transformationis anywhere to be detected ; and even a superficial comparisonmust result in favour of the cantata forms. Thereeach piece seems to have sprung from a living inspiration.It corresponds to the poetical purpose, and adequately fillsits place as part of a whole ;but here each gorgeous blossomis severed from the stem and bound in an ill-assortednosegay.In the G minor mass Bach has not even regardedthat necessary contrast between the Kyrie and the Gloriawhich, being based on the nature of the words, had alreadybecome typical. The Gloria does not stand out in radiantcontrast of Christmas glory after the passionate andagitated Kyrie, but, on the contrar}% continues the samestrain of sad and unfulfilled longing. Even the closingchorus, though impressive, retains the same gloomysolemnity.It is at once evident that Bach cannot have written theG major and G minor masses for his churches at Leipzig.As the chanted mass as a whole had no place in the LeipzigLiturgy, it is impossible to imagine any reason which could•