Chattanooga Bach Choir: JS Bach -- Mass in B Minor

The Chattanooga Bach Choir & Orchestra, conducted by artistic director David Long, concludes its 2025-26 season with a performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Mass in B Minor, BWV 232, on Saturday, May 16 at 7:30 p.m., at the First Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 1505 N. Moore Road in Chattanooga. General admission is $45; Reserved: $55; Students: $10. For more information and to purchase tickets in advance, visit www.chattanoogabachchoir.org.

Joining the Chattanooga Bach Choir & Orchestra are featured soloists Janelle Wagoner, soprano I, Aryssa Burrs, soprano II; Douglas Dodson, countertenor; Mark Vogel, tenor; Ned Vogel, bass. Bach’s Mass in B minor is performed in Latin.

The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul. -- J.S. Bach

David Long, the Bach Choir’s artistic director, comments, “For many musicians and music lovers, the one work they would take with them on a desert island would be Bach’s Mass in B Minor, a work revered for its dramatic sweep and spiritual resonance. Completed in 1748, two years before his death, the Mass in B minor has long been recognized as the summation of Bach’s art and philosophy – dedication to his mission, striving for perfection, and the glorification of God – resulting in a work for the ages. As a German Lutheran, Bach would have no reason to create a setting of the complete Roman Catholic mass, especially since it was not intended for liturgical use and was never performed in his own lifetime. So the question is why did he write it? The answer may lie with the varied ways he went about setting the four parts of the Ordinary of the Latin Mass – I. Kyrie and Gloria (“Missa”), II. Credo ("Symbolum Nicenum”), III. Sanctus, IV. Osannah-Benedictus-Agnus Dei-Dona Nobis Pacem – in which he contrasts magisterial, extroverted and dramatic movements for multi-part chorus with elaborate orchestrations against more expressive, intimate and virtuosic writing for one or two voices with solo accompanying instruments. In creating this rich musical tapestry, Bach extensively reworked music he had written over the course of his lifetime to fit these texts, as well as creating sections of newly composed music where necessary. The result is the crowning peak of Bach’s sacred music and one of the greatest musical creations of all time demonstrating the use of faith as a powerful stimulus and inspiration. In the words of another famous composer, Robert Schumann, ‘We are never at an end with Bach, he seems to grow more profound the more often he is heard.’”

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