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The architecture of this "building" is obvious: framed by the concerto-like side wings, and the other outer movements praising God, the central section speaks of the believer's relationship with God, which is—in the contemporary theology—a relationship of deepest love, rooted in Christ's suffering. And this love is expressed by a love duet. With the Cum Sancto Spiritu the Mass Bach composed for the court in Dresden in 1733 ends. We do not know whether or not these pieces were ever performed in Dresden or in Leipzig.41 It was nearly fifteen years before Bach began to complete his Mass cycle. When he returned to work on the Mass in the late 1740s, he again recycled several older cantata movements, and provided them with the Latin texts of the Mass.
The introductory movement of the Credo, Credo in unum Deum, a polyphonic piece with a walking bass, was—according to recent research—composed about 1747/48, and might have served as a slow introduction to a Credo by another composer.42 Only a short time later, however, Bach began to complete his Mass, and he used this movement in his own Credo (see Example 7). The following Patrem omnipotentem is a parody of a movement composed in 1729, Gott, wie dein Name, so ist auch dein Ruhm (BWV 171).43 To remodel this older piece was not difficult because the mood and the contents are similar: in both cases the power and might of God are praised. 
Again, as in the Kyrie, Bach juxtaposes two musical styles, the stile antico in the introduction, and a modern, concerto-like texture in the Patrem omnipotentem. This is a juxtaposition of old and new musical material as well: the stile antico movement is not only composed in an older musical technique, but Bach adopts an old Gregorian chant, a melody used in the Leipzig worship at Bach's time. The beginning of this part of the Mass is mirrored at the end. The final movements are a piece in an old, motet style, with the text Confiteor unum baptisma, and a modern, concerto-like movement, Et expecto resurrectionem peccatorum. Thus the Credo starts with a couple of movements for choir in different styles, and it ends with the same combination of styles. But the connection between beginning and end is deeper. Both stile antico movements employ the same chant melody. This is obvious in the Credo, since Bach uses it as the main musical idea in all the voices. In the Confiteor, however, the melody of the Gregorian chant that was used in Leipzig for the words of the Confiteor is hidden in the lower voices and treated as a canon.44 These observations are still on a technical level. A third, theological connection exists between the beginning and the end of the Credo. The two movements Bach composed in stile antico have a similar aspect: Credo—I believe... Confiteor—I confess. Both express the human reaction to the divine mystery: I believe and I confess. These two side wings of the Credo-"palace" embrace seven single movements. Like the Kyrie and the Gloria, the Credo has a centerpiece as well, focused on a central theological idea. Here it is not a love-duet, but the text expresses the love between God and humanity in the most intense way: Crucifixus etiam pro nobis (Crucified for us). If we take into account that the theologia crucis was a cornerstone in Lutheran theology in the time of Bach, this choice is not surprising. The genesis of the Credo makes clear how important this aspect was for Bach. In an earlier version he composed just eight movements, but when he reworked the piece he inserted a separate Et incarnatus est to make sure that the Crucifixus was indeed the middle of the whole Credo.45 The Crucifixus is the oldest movement in the entire Mass. Bach composed it in 1714 in Weimar for the Cantata Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen (BWV 12), and reworked it for his Mass. Some scholars have identified the repeated quarter notes in the bass of the Crucifixus as the hammering of the nails, and the flutes as drops of Christ's blood. But even without these metaphorical explanations, the movement, with a chromatic voice leading, dissonant harmonies, and a sigh-motive at the end of the word crucifixus, reflects the text, telling the death and suffering of Jesus Christ, in an exemplary manner. |
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