These program notes were written by Elise Groves for a concert featuring Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor, Jesu meine Freude, and the mass in G minor. This concert was presented by The Bach Project on April 18, 2026.
More people recognize the famous opening of the Toccata and Fugue in D minor (BWV 565) than would know the name Bach or have ever heard a concert of classical music. It is the ultimate opening statement – the first piece in Disney’s Fantasia (1940) – and the piece most people think of when asked about something for the organ. “That spooky organ thing”, “Something dramatic for Halloween”, a moment in film pictured with a flash of lightning and a cacophonous roar of thunder behind some dark gothic castle – these are the associations our modern culture has with this Toccata and Fugue.
Surprisingly for a piece with such a famous reputation, very little is known about its origins. It was published in 1833 with the assistance (and editing) of Felix Mendelssohn at least 100 years after being composed. The earliest surviving source is an undated copy made by Johannes Ringk between 1730-1740 likely based on a copy by Johann Peter Kellner who was a student of Bach. The title page indicates that Bach was the composer, but the edition includes several errors. The lack of any sources in Bach’s hand along with an extensive analysis of its similarities to works of other composers led to speculation that either this piece was composed for violin first and then transcribed for organ by someone other than Bach, or that someone else may have composed the piece entirely. This remains an open question for many scholars, thus adding to the mystery surrounding the piece.
In contrast, the motet Jesu, meine Freude (BWV 227) was definitely composed by Bach. It may have been based on material from earlier in his career, possibly from his time in Weimar, but was completed after his move to Leipzig in 1723. Unlike his cantatas, Bach’s motets were not written to correspond with the liturgical calendar of the Lutheran church. Some were composed for specific occasions (often funerals), and others may have been written as teaching tools for his students. The genre of the motet was considered old-fashioned by the time Bach was writing them, but this was in keeping with Bach’s preference to make his mark on genres that others believed had run their course. This motet is one of the few settings for five voices Bach wrote (along with movements from the Magnificat and Mass in B minor) and is the longest and most musically complex of all his motets.
The motet is based on the Lutheran hymn of the same name, written by Johann Crüger with a text by Johann Franck, which appeared in the hymnal Praxis Pietatis melica in 1653. It was a popular source for many composers, including Handel, Zachow, Mendelssohn, and others. Graupner composed some 36 different settings, and Bach returned to it many times in his cantatas and chorale preludes. For the motet setting, Bach alternated stanzas from the hymn with verses from the Biblical book of Romans focusing on the contrast between living according to the flesh or according to the spirit. The hymn stanzas then provide commentary on this struggle between the earthly and the heavenly, focusing on the peace and security the believer finds in Jesus even in dire circumstances. The hymn tune appears as a simple chorale in movements 1 and 11, as a cantus firmus in movements 3 and 7, and in the alto voice in movement 9.
Bach often made use of earlier sources, both vocal and instrumental, and studied the works of his predecessors not only in Germany but also in France and Italy. He was one of many later Baroque composers who modeled his orchestral music on that of Arcangelo Corelli, who was known for his well-crafted and expressive style. Corelli was tremendously popular in his lifetime (1653-1713), and highly sought after by many of the major courts of Italy. He was included in the Pontifical Academy of Arcadia, a literary academy formed by the intellectual circle around Queen Christina of Sweden (who had abdicated and moved to Rome) and Corelli composed for most of the major figures in Italy during his lifetime. His published compositions, while relatively few, were hailed as the finest examples for other composers.
In Corelli’s time, instrumental ensemble music often took the place of solo organ repertoire in Italian churches. These pieces, known as concerti da chiesa (church concerts) would have alternating slow and fast movements as opposed to the concerti da camera (chamber concerts) which were based on dances. The Concerto Grosso in D major (Op. 6, No. 1) was likely written in the 1680s for use in a liturgical settng and was finally published with 11 other concerti in 1714 after Corelli’s death. By 1714, most Italian composers of concerted instrumental music were writtng in a ritornello form more associated with Vivaldi, but the publication of this set of concerti led to a renewed interest in the concerto grosso by composers in Germany and England. This form featured a small solo group of 2 violins and cello with continuo and several other string players forming the ensemble. Bach would use this form for several of his Brandenburg concerti, among other pieces.
Even though he was a devout Lutheran working in Lutheran churches in a Lutheran city, Bach did not ignore Latin-texted music or the styles that were in use in Catholic churches at the time. The acceptance of Latin in the Lutheran church varied from place to place, but Leipzig’s liturgies included both German and Latin on a regular basis. In fact, Sunday service music in Bach’s time usually began with a Latin motet from the Florilegium Portense, a collection which included motets by Lassus, Hassler, Gabrieli, and others, which was then followed by the cantata and sermon. The Lutheran liturgies of the time also included opportunities for settngs of the Magnificat and potentially also portions of the mass.
Bach’s Kyrie-Gloria Mass settngs (also known as his “Lutheran Masses”) were likely composed in the late 1730s, though they were based on material from earlier in his career . They may have been intended for liturgical use in Leipzig, or they could have been a gift for Count Franz Anton von Sporck who served as the High Commissioner for Bohemia in Leipzig and was also Catholic. Count Sporck was an important patron of artists, poets, and musicians in central Europe and maintained close contact with Christian Friedrich Henrici (known as “Picander”), a poet, librettist, and frequent collaborator with Bach. Possibly through this shared connection with Picander, Bach sent a copy of the “Sanctus” from his Mass in B minor to Count Sporck, though it is unclear if they had any more significant contact.
The Mass in G minor (BWV 235) has no entirely original material but instead comes from three different cantatas, all initially composed for the 1726 church year. The Kyrie chorus is a reworked version of the opening chorus from BWV 102, the Gloria chorus comes from the opening chorus of BWV 72, and the remaining movements are all from BWV 187. In fact, all four of the Lutheran Mass settings (BWV 233-236) were reworkings of movements from his cantatas and, along with the Mass in B minor (BWV 232) can potentially be seen as either a list of Bach’s favorite moments from his cantatas or as a second chance for him to explore certain musical ideas.
Taken together, a week in Leipzig during Bach’s tenure could very well have sounded like this program – some organ music, sacred music in German based on Lutheran chorales, perhaps an instrumental program in a coffeehouse, and maybe even something in Latin – and it also represents a tremendous amount of work. Music is an art, of course, but it is also a craft. Walking between rehearsal spaces, churches, schools, and coffeehouses in Leipzig would have been no different from walking around the spaces of other craftspeople. In an imaginary thriving 18th-century city one might have a textile neighborhood with various fibers being processed, spun, woven, and stitched. There would be carpentry and metalwork, printers and bookbinding, markets for various foodstuffs and more, all with their own sounds, smells, and visual references. Walking past rehearsal spaces today is much like it would have been then – catching little phrases of one piece from one room, something in a different key on a different instrument in another room, hearing the gossip from students in a corner, listening to teachers complain about working conditions and unmotivated pupils in a lounge… And yet even ~300 years later, the goal of musicians remains the same: to take the skills developed over hours of instruction and practice and create something special – a unique moment of beauty – which captures the attention of the listeners and provides a glimpse of transcendence and even a hope for the future, no matter what it may bring.