Bach: Mass in B minor; Dona nobis pacem (give us peace)

The last part of Bach's mass in B minor sung by the Berliner Philharmoniker and conducted by Otto Klemperer.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• JS
• Johann
• Sebastian
• Bach
• Mass
• Bminor
• dona
• nobis
• pacem

[switzent]

After listening to Bach, one realizes how most music consists of cheap, recycled tricks to exert an effect upon the listener. This piece is the opposite of "false music" which promotes affect rather than substance. The double fugal structure reveals itself , and each iteration of the recurring motifs creates a new whole as the subjects and answers are passed between the voices. From 2:27 on it gets IMMENSE, this might be the most powerful and true music ever written. Fractal-like and real.

[1illtown]

@switzent I agree this is one of the most powerful pieces ever written alongside the Finale of Mahler's 2nd symphony.

[QuietGuyUK]

If God exists, then Bach was allowed to reach out and touch Him while composing his music. This piece moves me to tears every time I hear it.

[1illtown]

@QuietGuyUK God does indeed exist and that's why you feel the way you do each time you hear this piece.

[thegoddescomposer]

i want to die with this work

[1illtown]

@thegoddescomposer I've always told myself the same exact thing. This recording is so glorious.

[sunburststratocaster]

@1illtown Prove it. Bach was a genius, not 'touched by God'. I feel this way because its a great piece of music by a dedicated composer. You're dwarfing Bach's achievements by saying that.

[violinoamore]

Most ecstatic and blissful music I know ... (similarly like Palestrina). I just prefer much less vocal vibrato, it makes it rather heavy and shaky ...

[GDEASTON123]

switzent; you took the words right out of my mouth. I do think that the cum sancto spiritu is the

the most wonderfully composed music of the whole mass. Too bad that only a tiny percentage of our population will ever hear this type of great music. Most people do not even know that these choral masterpieces exist.

[bcallan16]

@sunburststratocaster He is a man who always redirected the admiration of his talents to God's glory and would want anyone who listens to his music to do the same.

[bcallan16]

@sunburststratocaster well, according to Bach himself, "music's only purpose should be the glorification of God and the recreation of the human spirit." And what's furthermore is that Bach attributed his own extraordinary talent to diligent practice in both playing and composition. He even left the ONLY prestigious position he held in his life (Kapellmeister at Cothen) claiming his surroudings were "too distracting."

[uxnosidda]

@sunburststratocaster agreed 100% - it irritates me when i see or hear people attribute achievements to god for the same reason

[fznbaritone]

@CoachmanFrederick I never said that "God only rewards..." etc. I didn't say that. It was a different time when Bach was around than Berlioz, Verdi, and Shostakovich. Society made large steps away from the church in their time(s). I agree that Bach would have taken his God-given talent wherever he went, I also believe that Verdi, Berlioz, and even an atheist like Shostakovich were given talent and genius etc. by God. Sure - born with it....but that has to come from something. God created genes.

[CoachmanFrederick]

@fznbaritone I don't agree, I do NOT agree! If Bach had decided to follow Handel to England and pursue a career writing music for the theatre and the royal court, he would have taken his God-given talent with him. The idea that God only rewards people who spend their time in church singing his praises is very disrespectful to God. What about Berlioz and Verdi (agnostic) and Shostakovich (atheist)? Where do you think they got their creativity from? They, like Bach, were born with it!

[fznbaritone]

@sunburststratocaster Without God bestowing Bach with talent and genius - Bach would have never had them...Maybe you don't understand how that exchange works... Bach dedicated his life to work in the church...soooooo it seems that if God was to reach out and touch anyone and grant such intelligence and creativity - it would have been him.