Chorus (with soloists)
and piano (solos: SAB -
choir: SATB - 2.0.0.0 -
0.0.0.0 - str - bc)
SKU: BR.EB-4063
Composed by Johann
Sebastian Bach. Edited by
Salomon Jadassohn.
Arranged by Salomon
Jadassohn. Choir;
Softcover. Edition
Breitkopf. Mass; Baroque.
Piano/Vocal Score. 48
pages. Duration 38'.
Breitkopf and Haertel #EB
4063. Published by
Breitkopf and Haertel
(BR.EB-4063).
ISBN
9790004162224. 7.5 x 10.5
inches.
The
Publication in facsimile
of the auto graphic copy
of Johann Sebastian
Bach's Mass in A major
BWV 234 at the occasion
of the Bach Anniversary
Year 1985 has been made
possible thanks to the
generous support of the
publishing house which so
carefully preserved this
precious manuscript in
its archives for almost
200 years. The manuscript
was acquired long ago by
Johann Gottlob Immanuel
Breitkopf, the brilliant
and dynamic forefather of
the publishing house
Breitkopf & Hartel, who
conducted a prosperous
business selling music
transcriptions in
Leipzig. It is still
unclear as to how he
obtained the manuscript.
Perhaps it had belonged
to the estate of Wilhelm
Friedemann Bach, from
whom Breitkopf apparently
acquired a part of his
Bach collection. The
earliest reference to the
manuscript's change of
ownership is found in
Breitkopfs Verzeichniss
Musicalischer Werke of
1761, which includes
Bach's Missa, a 2 Flauti,
2 Violini, Viola 4 Voci,
Organo under the listing
of copies of unpublished
compositions. The copy
was available at the
price of 2 thl. (thalers)
12gl. (groschen). A few
years later, in 1769, the
same offer appeared again
together with other works
by Bach or ascribed to
him in the Verzeichniss
lateinischer und
italianischer
Kirchen-Musiken of
Bernhard Christoph
Breitkopf & Sohn. In more
recent times, the work
has been mentioned in
Wilhelm Hitzig's Katalog
des Archivs von Breitkopf
& Hartel, revised in
1925, together with the
continuo part, which was
included with the copy
and which was also
originally written in
Bach's own hand. The
economic reorganization
of the publishing house
Breitkopf & Hartel after
the Second World War made
it necessary to sell the
manuscript together with
other works from the
publisher's archives.
This manuscript was to
have been put up at
auction by the auction
house J. A. Stargardt.
The catalogue, containing
an informative commentary
by Wolfgang Schmieder,
was already printed, but
before the auction could
take place, the land of
Hesse decided to purchase
all the manuscripts, thus
preventing the dispersion
of this valuable
collection. The
manuscript was officially
handed over to the
Hessische Landes- und
Hochschulbibliothek in
Darmstadt on 29 October
1953. The A major Mass is
still preserved there
today, together with its
fellow piece, the Mass in
G major BWV 236.
