F2D The Bach B Minor Mass
Art, Music & Theater | Registration opens 9/2/2026 12:00 AM
This course will be the first of two devoted to J.S. Bach's great (greatest?) masterpiece known popularly as the Mass in B Minor (although in fact most of it isn't!). The fall semester will focus on the Kyrie and Gloria movements, (which Bach originally composed in 1733 as a unit for the Dresden court). In addition to considering the music—representing an enormous range of contemporary styles and drawn largely from pre-existing music—there will be consideration of the political situation in Lutheran Saxony in this period, which was ruled by a Catholic monarch, as well as of the historical development of the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Mass.
- Image courtesy of Shutterstock
Raymond Erickson
Presenter
Raymond Erickson, PhD, has given previous LLI courses dealing with both Bach and Debussy. He is professor emeritus of music at Queens College and the Graduate Center, CUNY, and has also taught at Rutgers University and The Juilliard School. He earned his PhD in the history of music at Yale University and is a widely traveled keyboard performer. He is on the Bard College Conservatory of Music faculty in chamber music, harpsichord, and piano.