Ronald Doiron, D.M.A., Artistic Director of The Bach Ensemble, was named 2008 Star in the Arts

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Avow Hospice to benefit from Bach Ensemble Concert

Avow Hospice is Collier County’s original and only nonprofit, independent hospice, serving the community since 1983.

Avow Hospice delivers the promise of hospice by providing all residents of Collier County with comfort, care, pain relief and dignity at the end of life. But the promise to patients, their loved ones and physicians goes beyond health care and control of symptoms.

At Avow Hospice, we recognize that each of our patients is an individual with a unique life story. As such, each patient deserves a program of physical, emotional and spiritual support to bring their story to a graceful end. We are able to provide this level of personal attention because we are a charitable organization driven solely by the well-being of our patients and their families, not by profit.

As a community hospice, Avow is dedicated to extending its care to include support for caregivers and anyone in the community who has experienced a loss - even those who do not have a loved one under hospice care. Community services include support groups, memorial services and educational workshops.

Avow Hospice helps all residents of Collier County and their loved ones recognize and embrace the promise of life even as it draws to an end. Because we believe by changing the way people die, we change the way people liveSM.

The ability to fulfill the promise of hospice care in our community is largely due to the generosity of the community. Avow Hospice supporters provide financial contributions, volunteer hours and help to spread the word to others in the community about the care Avow Hospice can offer to those in need.

Avow is the largest provider of hospice services in Collier County and is quality certified by the Joint Commission.
Frequently Asked Questions about J. S. Bach's Mass in B Minor
Bach’s Mass in B Minor

Why was the Mass in B Minor composed in B minor?

There might be more than one answer to this question. One answer revolves around the idea that each key has a particular mood or emotion associated with it. Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart (1739-91) described the key of B minor as “the key of patience, of calm awaiting one's fate and of submission to divine dispensation.” The Mass begins in B minor, with the Kyrie, and has movements in various keys, including D major, the relative major of B minor. Schubart described D major as “the key of triumph, of Hallelujahs, of war-cries, of victory-rejoicing. Thus, the inviting symphonies, the marches, holiday songs and heaven-rejoicing choruses are set in this key.” In the D-major movements of the B-minor Mass (e.g., the Gloria) Bach uses the trumpets, instruments that have always had associations with praise and victory.

The title in German is Messe in H-moll. What is “H”, and what is “moll”?

“H” is the German name for the pitch “B”. “Moll” is the term used in German for “minor”. Both terms derive from much earlier nomenclature used in medieval music theory.

When was the B-minor Mass composed?

The Mass in B Minor was composed—or rather compiled— possibly over a period of about twenty-five years—from about 1724 to about 1748—though scholars cannot state this definitively.

Why did it take Bach so long to compose the mass?

It wasn’t as if Bach sat down to begin the Mass in 1724 and continuously worked on it until 1748. Instead, he reworked musical material from earlier works. The Sanctus (without the Osanna and Benedictus) was performed for the first time in 1724, on Christmas day. The Kyrie and Gloria date from 1733, when Bach composed them as a present to the Elector of Saxony. The Kyrie was intended as a lament for the late Friedrich August I, who had died on February 1st. The Gloria was meant to be a hymn of thanksgiving for the new Elector, Friedrich August II. With this Missa, comprised of the Kyrie and Gloria, Bach hoped to obtain an appointment as a court composer to the Electoral court in Dresden. The Credo was not composed all at once, but in sections, most likely between 1748 and 1749, and also reuses some earlier music. The fourth, and final, section, consisting of the Osanna, Benedictus, and Agnus Dei, likewise seems to date from between August 1748 and October 1749. Bach scholar John Butt relates that “Bach’s compilation of what is now termed the Mass in B Minor was probably the very last project of his compositional career”. In the late 1740s Bach gathered together all the disparate sections and organized them into four sections: I. Missa (Kyrie, Gloria); II. Symbolum Nicenum (Credo); III. Sanctus; IV. Osanna, Benedictus, Agnus Dei.

When was this work first performed?

The Mass in B Minor as a complete Mass—a missa tota—was most likely not performed during Bach’s lifetime, although sections of it were. Musicologist John Butt writes that there exists “no firm evidence of a complete performance before that of the Riedel-Verein of Leipzig in 1859”.

Why is the Mass in B Minor so seldom performed?

The Mass in B Minor is a challenging work of such immense proportions that it takes a choir that has enough time and skill to learn to sing it confidently. In addition, the cost of the orchestra and the soloists is considerable.

How many "periods" or styles of music are incorporated in the mass?

Bach’s Mass in B Minor is a virtual compendium of national and historical styles of music known to the composer. Because of his study of the music of Italian composers (e.g., Vivaldi, Lotti) and his exposure to French music during his school days in Lüneburg, when he was able to listen to the French-influenced music at the court of the Duke of Celle, Bach was able to combine these styles with his own German Lutheran, chorale-based style. In addition, it is known that Bach performed the Gloria of Palestrina’s Missa sine nomine at Saint Thomas Church in Leipzig, so he was familiar with the earlier style of Renaissance counterpoint. Last, but not least, Gregorian chant was still use, to some extent, at the Thomaskirche. Thus, some of the movements in the B-minor Mass that reflect the dance-based style of French and Italian music are the Cum Sancto Spiritu and Et resurrexit (polonaise) and the Gloria (minuet). Movements that reflect the “learned style” of Palestrina include Kyrie I, Kyrie II, Gratias agimus, and Credo. Furthermore, both Credo and Confiteor incorporate melodic excerpts of a well-known Gregorian Credo. Because of his extensive use of contrapuntal, “learned style,” Bach was seen by his younger contemporaries as old-fashioned, yet in several movements of the Mass (e.g., Et in Spiritum Sanctum) Bach used the fashionable galant style, which was simpler and more melodic.

What would have been the performing forces?

As mentioned above, the complete Mass in B Minor was never performed during Bach’s lifetime. There is varying information about the size of his choir at the Thomaskirche, partly because there were different numbers of singers needed for different works, and because in some cases Bach divided the choir between soloists and the full choir. For further information, please consult http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Articles/OVPP-Evidence[Braatz].htm. In 1981 musicologist Joshua Rifkin forwarded the controversial idea that Bach used one voice per part, and ever since then there has been much discussion on the matter. The orchestra Bach used would have had around twenty players.

Why did Bach, a Lutheran, compose a setting of the Latin Mass?

When Martin Luther broke away from the Catholic Church, he did not see any need to discontinue the use of Latin, even though he promoted the use of the vernacular at his new liturgies. Therefore, a significant amount of Latin was used in the Lutheran church, and especially at Saint Thomas Church, Leipzig, which was considered to be a “high” church. It seems, however, that it was a rare occurrence that the entire Ordinary (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus, and Agnus Dei) was sung at Lutheran services. One rather common practice was the Missa (Missa brevis), which consisted of only the Kyrie (which is actually in Greek) and the Gloria. Therefore, it is not difficult to understand how Bach could have composed the Missa of 1733, which later became the Kyrie and Gloria of the Mass in B Minor. The recently deceased Elector Friedrich August I and his son, Friedrich August II, for whom Bach and composed the Missa, were actually Catholics (because they were also King of Poland), but most of the rest of their subjects were Lutherans. Thus the Missa could have worked in either setting. There was also apparently a tradition in the Lutheran church of the Sanctus, without the Benedictus, being performed as a single item at the worship service.

Why do scholars believe that Bach intended the Mass in B Minor as a concert piece and not as part of the service?

Some of the reasons are offered in the above answer. Bach knew that the missa tota would be far too long to be performed in a normal Sunday service, even though these services were quite long.

What are some examples of the music as reflective of the text, i.e., word painting?

One good example is the Crucifixus, which features downward movement of melodic lines, which would indicate dying and being buried. In this movement Bach also uses much chromaticism, melodic movement by half steps, which results in harmonies that are more anguished, in keeping with the suffering of Christ. At the end of this movement, the voices are at their lowest point. In a split second all this changes to exultation, for Bach begins the Et resurrexit with leaping melodic lines!

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