UKIAH >> A cathedral in sound will grace the stage at Mendocino College Center Theatre Sunday, May 22 at 7 p.m. Choruses from Bach’s celebrated Mass in B minor will be performed by Mendocino College Masterworks Chorale and selected musicians from Ukiah Symphony Orchestra. Also, several vocal students of the Applied Music Program will perform. They are students of Marilyn Simpson.
The concert is free (donations appreciated).
Les Pfutzenreuter is Conductor. Rehearsal accompanists were Denise Beckler and Janice Timm.
For more information, call (707) 468-3018 or lpfutzen@mendocino.edu
The Mass in B minor by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) is a musical setting of the complete Ordinary of the Latin Mass.
The work was one of Bach’s last compositions, not completed until 1749, the year before his death. Much of the Mass gave new form to vocal music that Bach had composed throughout his career, dating back to 1714, but extensively revised.
It was unusual for composers working in the Lutheran tradition to compose a “Missa tota” and Bach’s motivations remain a matter of scholarly debate. The Mass was never performed in its entirety during Bach’s lifetime; the first documented complete performance took place in 1859. Since the nineteenth century it has been widely hailed as one of the greatest compositions in musical history, and today it is frequently performed and recorded.
