‘Collegium Vocale Gent’

Some masterpieces are the result of a long creative process. Bach “composed” the Missa in h-moll during the final years of his life, but most of the music was older. The Sanctus dates back to 1724, just after his appointment as cantor in Leipzig, while Kyrie and Gloria were written by Bach in 1733 as a Lutheran missa brevis for the Court of Dresden. It is only the Credo that contains newly written music, intended to develop the Mass into a missa tota or full Mass. Strangely enough, its origins in no way detracted from the reputation of the Hohe Messe. It is simply regarded as the synthesis of Bach’s musical thinking and an absolute high point of Western classical music.

During this lecture-performance, Phillipe Herreweghe will explain to the audience his vision about the magnificient first two parts, Kyrie & Gloria, from the B-minor Mass of Bach.

On the occasion of the Bach Heritage festiva, BOZAR LITERATURE has asked a number of poets to write a poet on Bach for the publication of "Thirteen Ways of Looking at J.S. Bach".