Bach’s B Minor Mass at Carus. Hybrid edition & CD

Why a Hybrid Edition?

Although the Mass in B Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach is one of his most frequently- performed works, it is full of enigmas and tricky questions. This applies not only to the question of why Bach composed this work, which still remains unanswered, but also to numerous details in the musical text itself. Poor-quality paper and a corrosive ink make the autograph manuscript almost illegible today in many places. Furthermore, the original manuscript was dras tically altered after Bach's death by his son Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, who clarifi ed unclear details, but also made alterations of his own in several stages.

With the autograph score of the Mass in B Minor the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin owns a unique part of music history. In collaboration with the Edirom Digital Music Edition project, Carus and the Staatsbibliothek are publishing a new edition of Bach's opus ultimum as the first volume in a new series, "Edition Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin". As a hybrid edition it contains all of the relevant sources in high-resolution scans as well as a scholarly-critical music edition on DVD, and through measure for measure links, enables music lovers to gain new insights into Bach's musical legacy.

What does the hybrid edition offer?

In addition to the meticulously edited musical text, the key sources are made available digitally as high-resolution color scans linked to the Critical Report. Linked measure for measure, the sources and the new engraving can be studied in parallel, and specifi c measures and passages can be selected. Comments and annotations can be juxtaposed with measures in the source and parallel passages compared with each other; this is an enormous advantage for all who want to study and understand the work from the sources. A practical, playable vocal score and the complete orchestral material are available for historicallyinformed performances.

The Hybrid Edition contains:

• the autograph score in its present condition (digitized from the holdings of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz), together with its better-preserved state as reproduced in the facsimile published by Insel-Verlag in 1924.
• the so-called “Dresden parts” which J. S. Bach prepared in 1733 for the Saxon Elector Frederick August II (from the holdings of the Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden). These contain the Missa (Kyrie and Gloria) and give numerous indications about performance practice which are missing from the score.
• the early copy of the score by J. F. Hering, as well the one in the possession of J. P. Kirnberger; both are extremely legible and document the condition of the autograph before the last reworking by C. P. E. Bach.
• the new Carus engraving and the detailed Critical Report.