Brett Weymark explores the beauty Bach's B Minor Mass 

I've sung the B minor mass 5 times. I'd happily be in a choir that never sang anything else.

i love that brett said many musicians and composers will play or sing Bach every morning. i play and sing different genres of music, but every morning i sing tenor parts from the motets, sometimes all of them straight through. if you asked me im not even sure i could articulate why.

Bach: a detox for modern life

Such a profound effect, spoken by Maestro Brett with much passion and elegance.

I need the "Desert Island Bach Box Set."

Du bringst einiges durcheinander.

Wowwww Brett u really inspire me I like the way you conduct with passion and appropriate movement with good rhythm

A profound journey for sure!! Esp if u’ve heard Lenny Bernstein talk about it ❤

Many factual errors in this narrative. 1) The "official period of mourning" was throughout Saxony, not Prussia. Leipzig was part of Saxony, not Prussia. The Kyrie commemorated the death in 1733 of the Saxon Prince Elector/King in Poland Augustus II. The Gloria celebrated his son's succession as Saxon Prince Elector and King in Poland. 2) Bach didn't compose the Kyrie and Gloria of 1733 to get a job! He composed in the hopes of getting a professional title that would raise his status and place him under the protection of the Saxon Electoral Court. It eventually worked. In 1736, Bach was appointed Royal Polish and Saxon Electoral Court Composer. The title gave him some clout in his dealings with the Leipzig authorities because he could now address his grievances to the King. 3) Bach assembled the B Minor Mass to celebrate the anticipated opening of the new Palace Church (the "Hofkirche") in Dresden, the capital of the Saxon Electorate. (The king and his family were Catholic, not Lutheran.) The construction of the church was delayed and not completed until after Bach's death. The Credo was performed at a public concert under the direction of CPE Bach in the 1780s. Beethoven had a copy of the B minor Mass. 4) The _Crucifixus_ of the B Minor Mass goes back to 1714. It's a reworking of the first section of the first chorus of the cantata _Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen,__ BWV 12. The cantata was 1st performed in Weimar in 1714 and performed again in revised version in Leipzig in 1724. 5) Bach did not have any happy years in Koethen in 1740, as he had left Koethen in 1723 to move to Leipzig, where he lived until his death in 1750. 6) Bach did not compose the 1733 _Missa_ (Kyrie and Gloria) for a Lutheran audience. We know for a fact that he dedicated the work to "His Royal Majesty and Electoral Highness of Saxony," which was a Catholic court. In addition to the original performing parts and title wrapper, we also have the accompanying letter that Bach wrote to the king asking for a title in the king's court capelle and the king's protection in dealing with the Leipzig authorities. These documents leave no mystery whatsoever as to why Bach composed the _Missa_ or the intended audience. 7) The _Crucifixus_ is not a freshly composed movement. It's a reworking of the first section of the first chorus of the 1714 Weimar cantata _Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen,_ BWV 12. 8) The "Gratias agimus tibi" ("We give you thanks") is not "thanking God for his wonderful creation." It's thanking him "propter magnum gloriam tuam" ("because of your great glory"). 9) The "et resurrexit tertia die secundum scripturas..," is not "a vision of the other possibility." It means "and he rose on the 3rd day according to the Scriptures." It's a profession of faith, not a vision. 10) The _Crucifixus_ movement repeats word "crucifixus" ("He was crucified") because it replaces the words "Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen" from the cantata BWV 12. But the complete text of the movement is "Crucifixus etiam pro nobis sub Pontio Pilato passus, et sepultus est." ("He was crucified also for us, died under Pontius Pilate, and was buried.")

Großartig, vielen Dank!

Die Matthäus-Passion und die h-moll- Messe sind die größten Werke, die je geschaffen wurden. Es ist mir bis heute unbegreiflich, dass ein einziger Mensch, das Genie Johann Sebastian Bach, fähig war, diese unfassbar genialen Werke zu komponieren. Nicht einmal Beethoven oder Mozart waren auch nur annähernd in der Lage, auf diesem Niveau zu komponieren. Und es steht außer Frage, dass das Requiem genial ist. Ich vermisse Karl Richter und auch Otto Klemperer. Richter hat vielleicht "asymptotisch" die dichteste Annäherung an diese Werke erreicht. Sein Musikverständnis und die Art, wie er mit dem Münchener Bachchor und Bach-Orchester diese Musik interpretierte, ist bis heute beispiellos. Grausam die seit Jahrzehnten gängige "barocke Aufführungspraxis" und ein absoluter Rückschritt. Warum Gamben, Barock-Geigen und Transfers-Flöten bei den in der heutigen Zeit verfügbaren, längst weiter entwickelten phantastischen Instrumenten, die der Welt zur Verfügung stehen? Kastraten-Stimmen. Ich kann diese ganzen "Alto-Soprano"- Männerstimmen langsam nicht mehr ertragen. Grausam. Es existieren zahlreiche musikwissenschaftliche Aufzeichnungen dazu, dass Bach zu. Lebezeiten nicht so durfte, wie er gerne gewollte hätte. Es war ihm untersagt, weibliche Sopran- und Altstimmen zu bringen. Und in seiner Genialität hätte er sich über den eklatanten Fortschritt im Instrumentenbau gefreut. All diesen Barock- Dirigenten ist gemeinsam, dass sie stets viel zu schnelle Tempi wählen. So ist bspw. bei der Matthäus-Passion bereits im Eingangschor ("Kommt Ihr Töchter, helft mir klagen") sehr oft ein viel zu schnelles Tempo gewählt. Einige Dirigenten spielen es fast wie ein Walzer-Tänzchen. Allein schon das Verb "klagen" impliziert eine eher nicht heitere Interpretation. Leonard Bernstein hat es in "Kommt Ihr Töchter helft mir klagen" sehr gut auf den Punkt gebracht: es ist dieser 12/8 -Takt, der dem menschlichen Herzschlag entspricht, wenn wir Menschen trauern und leiden. Und hier geht es um die Kreuzigung von Jesus Christus und die war alles aber nicht erheiternd. Bach und Richter leben in dieser Welt weiter und so lange es Menschen gibt, sind diese beiden Genies der Musikgeschichte unsterblich! Nach Karl Richter halte ich sowohl die Matthäus-Passion als auch die H-Moll-Messe bis heute für unausführbar. Ich hoffe, dass sich dieser "Geschmack" der barocken Aufführungspraxis irgendwann wieder legt....

I really need one day to talk with you

Besides the greatest composers of all times ( Beethoven, Mozart), Johann Sebastian Bach is the "Godfather" of composition. There are two works that are written for eternity: first of all the mass in b minor and than the St. Matthew Passion. I think that those 2 conductors, Otto Klemperer and Karl Richter were the only conductors who approached the spirits, the freedom and the liberty inside this wonders. Only a very few musicians know how to perform this. Unfortunately the "baroque" way to performed maintains our entire times. It cannot be in Bach's intention to use this old fashioned instruments like baroque-cello, transverse flutes and so on... Bach was always observed and judged by the authorities of the church and during his lifetime ( 1685-1750) Bach was not allowed to perform with female soloists and women in the choir. But today we life in a free world and we got so much beautiful instruments and voices. So it's only a step backwards if musicians perform it like this.

Before to die