Johann Sebastian Bach - booksnow.scholarsportal.info

—38 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.Deiis Pater omnipoiens. Domine Pili nnigeniie, Jesu Christealtissime.^ The word aliissime is inserted ; it was not usedin the Catholic service, and, so far as I can discover, it wasso sung nowhere but in Leipzig. In the B minor massBach has followed the Leipzig custom ; but when he becamemore familiar with the Catholic mass he left the word outin other works of this class.When Friedrich August IL, the King and Elector, died,Feb. I, 1733, Bach resolved to show his devotion to hissuccessor and to raise himself in the estimation of theLeipzig functionaries by connecting himself more closelywith the Court. He, therefore, composed these two subjectsfrom the mass, and presented them himself in Dresden,July 27, 1733. The dedication that accompanied them iswell-known, but must not be omitted here :To the most illustrious Prince and Lord, the Lord Friedrich August,King and Prince of Poland and Lithuania, Duke of Saxony, &c., &c.,my most gracious Sovereign,Most illustrious Elector,Most gracious Lord.I lay before your Kingly Majesty this trifling work (or proof ) of thescience which I have been able to attain in music, with the very humblepetition that you will be pleased to regard it, not according to themeasure of the meanness of the composition, but with a gracious eye,as befits j'our Majesty's world-famed clemency, and condescend to takeme under your Majesty's most mighty protection. For some years,and up to the present time, I have had the direction of the music inthe two principal churches in Leipzig ; but I have had to suffer, thoughin all innocence, from one and another vexatious cause—at differenttimes a diminution of the fees connected with this function, and whichmight be withheld altogether unless your Kingly Majesty will show megrace and confer upon me a Prcedicote of your Majesty's Court Capelle,and will issue your high command to the proper persons for the grantingof a patent to that effect. And such a gracious acceding to my mosthumble petition will bind me by infinite obligations; and I hereby offermyself in most dutiful obedience to prove my indefatigible dilligencein composing church music, as well as in your orchestra, whenever it isyour Kingly Majesty's most gracious desire, and to devote my wholepowers to your Majesty's service, remaining with constant fidelity yourKingly Alajesty's most humble and obedient servant,Dresden, July 27, 1733.^^Johann Sebastian Bag«.^ Vopelius, 06. cit., p. 422." See the preface 10 the B.-G. edition of the B minor mass, YL, p. xv.