Latin church music

Latin church music by Johann Sebastian Bach

Despite preference in the Lutheran liturgy of Bach's time for German language, compositions with Latin texts played a part which should not be underestimated. The Magnificat and Sanctus were sung in Latin on principal and secondary feast days. Bach repeatedly performed as repertoire pieces not only works of his own but also works by contemporary composers. The Magnificat in E flat BWV 243a was first performed on Christmas Day 1723. In accordance with an old Leipzig tradition four Christmas pieces were added to it for that occasion. During a later revision this splendid work was transposed from E flat major to D major.


Bach's liturgical masses, almost all of which date from between about 1736 and 1740, consist of only the Kyrie and Gloria, in accordance with Lutheran tradition. These masses consist largely of music which Bach arranged from his church cantatas.

Bach's B minor Mass at Carus

The great Mass in B minor occupies a place of its own. Its Kyrie and Gloria were written in 1733 during the period of national mourning following the death of the Catholic ruler August the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland. Bach dedicated the work to Friedrich August II, who conferred upon him the honorary title of Court composer in 1736. About 1748/49 Bach added to the work a Credo (Symbolum Nicenum), a Sanctus in D major BWV 232 III, which had been written for Christmas Day 1724, together with Osanna, Benedictus, Agnus Dei and Dona nobis pacem. In this form the “grand Catholic Mass” as it was called in the family circle, became the composer's legacy to church music.

The Masses by Johann Sebastian Bach

Bach's liturgical masses, almost all of which date from between about 1736 and 1740, consist of only the Kyrie and Gloria, in accordance with Lutheran tradition. These masses consist largely of music which Bach arranged from his church cantatas. This process cannot, however, have saved the composer much time, because adapting the music conceived for the setting of German poetry in the cantatas to fit the Latin prose of the Mass must have been almost as time-consuming as composing new music. The choice and placing of the movements was therefore probably governed mainly by the emotional content of the original pieces.

Other sacred Latin works

The Magnificat and Sanctus were sung in Latin on principal and secondary feast days. The Magnificat in E flat BWV 243a was first performed on Christmas Day 1723. In accordance with an old Leipzig tradition four Christmas pieces were added to it for that occasion. During a later revision this splendid work was transposed from E flat major to D major.