Kolner Akademie. Johann Sebastian Bach - Music box, 30^th of March 2026

Johann Sebastian Bach - Lutheran Masses BWV 233-234

Premiere album, released on April 3^rd

A disc set to be released on April 3^rd by Pentatone record label - the Lutheran Masses by Johann Sebastian Bach, performed by Kolner Akademie ensemble.

It is a very appropriate performance for the period preceding Easter and a repertoire discovery, because we rarely have the opportunity to hear these Masses with Latin texts composed by Bach.

With his takeover of the position of cantor at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, a new chapter begins in Johann Sebastian Bach's life. Between 1723 and 1730, he wrote one cantata with German text each week, intended to be performed at the Sunday service; in addition, he taught at the school adjacent to the church and was in charge of all the instruments. An exhausting assignment.

Starting in 1730, he no longer composed new cantatas for Sunday services, but instead either reprised or adapted older ones.

Since St. Thomas Church in Leipzig was Lutheran, Bach composed for that rite - that is, in German, without following the pattern of the Catholic Mass. This does not mean that Bach was not interested in the Catholic Mass in Latin - for he greatly admired Palestrina's music and wished to compose in a similar style himself. Thus was born the Great Mass in B minor, a masterpiece by Bach - the first two sections, Kyrie and Gloria, dating from 1733, and the last ones, 15 years later.

In 1737, Bach composed four more masses with Latin texts, known today as the Lutheran Masses, with catalogue numbers BWV 233-236. It is interesting that Bach employs the same approach he uses for the German-text cantatas performed weekly at St. Thomas Church, that is, he revisits older works and reuses them - a practice we also see in many other Baroque composers. This does not mean, however, that self-quotation means poor-quality pastiche - all four Lutheran Masses are original works that stand out for their expert orchestration and the beauty of their musical arrangements.

Let's take, for example, the first Mass in this series, catalog 233 - which includes motifs from the cantatas BWV 102 and 40. A magnificent performance recorded in October 2025 at the Emanuel Church in Wuppertal by the Kolner Akademie, an ensemble led by Michael Alexander Willems, with soloists including soprano Hanna Herfurtner, mezzo-soprano Elvira Bill, tenor Gwilym Bowen, and bass Thomas Bonni.

The Kolner Akademie is a chamber orchestra that performs using historical instruments - dedicated to the mission of bringing to light historically informed interpretations, not only from the Baroque period, but also from the Classical and Romantic eras. It was founded in 1996 by Michael Alexander Willens, a graduate of The Juilliard School in New York; today, the Kolner Akademie is considered one of the most important and valuable ensembles dedicated to promoting historically informed performances.

Precision, delicacy, a perfect understanding of style - in one word, outstanding professionalism - also in the performance of Johann Sebastian Bach's Mass BWV 234, which includes sequences from Bach's cantatas 67, 179, 79, and 136. A new journey into a historical period in which composers used to quote themselves in their new works.