B Minor Basics: The Lord and Giver of Life

By Thy glorious resurrection and ascension;
And by the coming of the Holy Ghost, the Comforter:
Help us, good Lord.

— from The Litany
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​As the church concludes the Fifty Great Days from Easter Sunday to the Feast of Pentecost, the focus of the Gospel lessons gradually shift from the resurrection appearances of our Lord to His discourses on the Holy Spirit. This seems to be a fitting time to focus on the portions of J. S. Bach’s B Minor Mass that address the Holy Spirit, the church, and the sacramental and eschatological gifts given therein.

The Kyrie and Gloria of the B Minor, known in Lutheran circles as a Missa Brevis or Brief Mass, were presented as a gift to the Saxon Elector in 1733, but it is difficult to determine if they were ever performed in Bach’s lifetime. The Sanctus was composed for Christmas Day in 1724, and was performed in Bach’s lifetime on multiple occasions. The remaining Mass movements, including the sections on the Holy Spirit that this essay will explore, were newly written or adapted from previous compositions between August 1748 and October 1749, not long before Bach’s death in 1750. In contrast to the Kyrie, Gloria, and Sanctus, the Credo was “heard” only in Bach’s mind, an offering for the King of Kings and a musical last will and testament for future generations.
 
Following the jubilant Et resurrexit, the Et in Spiritum Sanctum transitions to a charming aria for bass soloist, oboes d’amore (the “sweeter” or softer oboes available in Bach’s day), and continuo. In the following video, which begins with the Et resurrexit, listen to the transition from the full chorus and orchestra to the lilting, 6/8 meter, the gently rocking triplets, and the softer woodwind tones. As you listen to the bass solo, think about why Bach chose pastoral musical to depict the work of the Holy Spirit. (Please see the April 2016 issue of “Lifted Voice” for a complete commentary on the Et resurrexit.)

Et resurrexit tertia die
      secundum scripturas
Et ascendit in coelum,
sedet ad dexteram
      Dei Patris;
et iterum venturus est cum Gloria
      judicare vivos et mortuos:
      cujus regni non erit finis.

[3:45]
Et in Spiritum Sanctum,
      Dominum et vivificantem,
qui ex Patre Filioque procedit,
qui cum Patre et Filio simul
      adoratur et conglorificatur,
      qui locutus est per Prophetas.
Et unam sanctam catholicam
      ​et apostolicam Ecclesiam.
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The third day He rose again
      according to the Scriptures.
And ascended into heaven,
and sits on the right hand
      of God the Father;
and He will come again with glory
      ​to judge the living and the dead:
      Whose kingdom will have no end.


And in the Holy Ghost,
      the Lord and giver of life,
​who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son together is
      worshipped and glorified,
      who spoke by the Prophets.
And [I believe] in one holy catholic
      and apostolic Church.
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So why did Bach choose a pastoral form of music to depict the work of the Holy Spirit? Before offering my theory, I must respectfully disagree with the esteemed Bach scholar, Helmuth Rilling, who asks, “[W]hy is there no close relationship between music and text, when this is such a prominent characteristic of the other movements of the [Credo]?” According to Rilling, this aria “renounces interest in the text in favor of purely musical values” (Johann Sebastian Bach’s B-Minor Mass, p. 92). To be sure, Rilling is certainly correct in saying that there is a close relationship between text and tune throughout the Mass: the “follow the leader” canon depicts the unchanging nature of the Christian faith in the opening statement of the Credo; duets paint a rich musical portrait of the two natures in Christ (Christe Eleison) and the unity of Father and Son (Et in unum Dominum); groups of three’s depict the third day (Et resurrexit), and much, much more.

So why is pastoral music used to depict the work of the Holy Spirit? May I suggest that the pastoral music, with its characteristic 6/8 meter and two oboes, simply depicts the work of Christ, the Good Shepherd, as He feeds His flock? In his Large Catechism, Martin Luther says, “Neither you nor I could ever know anything of Christ, or believe in him and take him as our Lord, unless these were first offered to us and bestowed on our hearts through the preaching of the Gospel by the Holy Spirit” (LC III.38). Christ is the Good Shepherd, who works through the Holy Spirit—the “Comforter,” as The Litany calls Him—to lead us into all truth. Far from renouncing interest in the text, Bach demonstrates his knowledge of theology by setting this pastoral text to pastoral music.

Two closely connected choruses, with no break between them, conclude the Credo: the Confiteor on Holy Baptism and Et expecto on the eschatological hope of the believer. The Confiteor is based in part on one of the historic chants associated with the Nicene Creed. Listen for a simple theme on the words, Confiteor unum baptisma in remissionem peccatorum, which serves as the main theme of this movement as it is passed from voice to voice in imitative fashion. 

      Confiteor unum baptisma in                  I confess one baptism for
           remissionem peccatorum.                      the remission of sins. 

Et expecto
      resurrectionem mortuorum
      et vitam venture seculi.
            Amen.
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And I look for
      the resurrection of the dead,
      And the life of the world to come.
            ​Amen.
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Listen for the augmented theme in doubled note values in the tenor line. This theme interacts with the initial theme on the word Confiteor and the second, related theme on the words, remissionem peccatorum. Hence, three themes converge (do they symbolize the Trinity?) in a five-voice texture, so that the listener is musically “awash” in the confession of baptismal regeneration, even to the life everlasting! Could there be a more fitting last will and testament for Bach or for anyone? To every accusation of Satan, the answer of St. Paul, Luther, Bach, and all the faithful is simply this: “I have been baptized!”

The music takes a sudden and solemn turn at the words, “And I look for the resurrection of the dead.” The harmony lurches off course and descends into the dark regions of E-Flat minor, a key that was seldom used in Baroque music because it was incompatible with most tuning systems. The Passacaglia theme of the Crucifixus reoccurs in the bass line, the tempo slows to Adagio, and the voice leading is unpredictable, especially on the word mortuorum. What does this mean? May I suggest that this 24-measure bridge simply depicts what theologians call the now/not yet tension of the Christian life? We have one foot in the New Creation by virtue of our baptism now. But the fullness of the new heaven and the new earth is not yet.

In the end, the New Creation arrives, and it is marvelous in our ears! Conductor John Eliot Gardiner rightly connects the music to I Corinthians 15:
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​This is the stage [4:38 in the previous video] at which we might discern a Parallel with St. Paul’s mysterious moment when ‘we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye’ (I Corinthians 15:51-2). This then leads to the conviction . . .that ‘the dead shall be raised incorruptible’. At this point—‘at the last trump’—the dam finally breaks: et expecto now becomes credo resurrectionem mortuorum (Bach: Music in the Castle of Heaven, p. 511).
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A number of musical features strike the ear after the dam breaks: the prominent role of the timpani and trumpets, as if to wake the dead; the Vivace (literally “to come to life”) tempo marking, which contrasts the gravitas nature of the previous 24 measures; the dance-like nature of the music, including cut time; the “race to the finish line” as the various motives progress from relatively longer note values to eighth and sixteenth notes; the upward movement produced by the ascending motives (listen for the “ascending spiral motif” in the alto voices); and the feeling of crescendo that is created by gradually adding instruments. Most of these features echo the Et resurrexit in the first video and the promises of I Corinthians 15 that those who are in Christ shall rise because He rose again on the third day. The following hymn stanza, though written long after Bach’s lifetime, summarizes the theology of the Et expecto and of all the music addressed in this issue of “Lifted Voice”:

My flesh in hope shall rest / And for a season slumber
Till trump from east to west / Shall wake the dead in number:
Had Christ, who once was slain, Not burst His three-day prison,
      Our faith had been in vain:
But now has Christ arisen, arisen, arisen;
      ​But now has Christ arisen!

— Lutheran Service Book 482.3
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Addendum: Watch the playlist below to see the complete performance of the B Minor from the balcony of St. Thomas, Leipzig, under the baton of Herbert Blomstedt, leading the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig. The performance is presented in fifteen sequential videos, followed by three short conversations with Maestro Blomstedt.
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