mass in b minor
friend bought me a very good CD of Bach's Mass in B minor from america where she was holidaying. performed by boston baroque, telarc digital recording.
and one word to describe it is, WHOA.
really regret not being able to have bought tickets for the live performance by viennese academie earlier this year. :( they were sold out.
BUT - now i know exactly why they were sold out.
because the mass in b minor is truly bach's magnum opus in sacred music, a work of stunning complexity, power, emotion, and faith.
a work like this, i think, could be a religious experience when performed.
***
it is said that when the pagan grand prince vladimir of kiev sent emissaries to constantinople they were overwhelmed by what they saw:
They led us to the buildings where they worshipped their God, and we knew not whether we were in heaven or on earth. For on earth there is no such splendor or such beauty, and we are at a loss to describe it. We know only that God dwells there among men, and their service is fairer than the ceremonies of other nations. For we cannot forget that beauty. Every man after tasting something sweet, is afterward unwilling to accept that which is bitter.
and this missive converted the russians to orthodox christianity.
many historians (who can be quite a cynical bunch - this comes of studying humans too much) attribute this quote to invention by later hagiographers romanticizing the conversion of a pagan prince much given to sexual debauchery. (incidentally he is now a saint of the russian church.) his conversion, they say, was more a result of cynical calculation; aligning himself with the growing power of basileus basil ii of the byzantine empire, and moving his principality into the orbit of civilized europe, thus earning recognition and respect from the foreign merchants who flocked to the prosperous city of kiev to buy russia's furs and honey.
but i'd like to think that the beauty of the hagia sophia - the great church of justinian, and the majesty of byzantine liturgy and church ceremony played a part in this; that aesthetics and not just pure calculations have the power to move men to courses which change the history of this world.
and one word to describe it is, WHOA.
really regret not being able to have bought tickets for the live performance by viennese academie earlier this year. :( they were sold out.
BUT - now i know exactly why they were sold out.
because the mass in b minor is truly bach's magnum opus in sacred music, a work of stunning complexity, power, emotion, and faith.
a work like this, i think, could be a religious experience when performed.
***
it is said that when the pagan grand prince vladimir of kiev sent emissaries to constantinople they were overwhelmed by what they saw:
They led us to the buildings where they worshipped their God, and we knew not whether we were in heaven or on earth. For on earth there is no such splendor or such beauty, and we are at a loss to describe it. We know only that God dwells there among men, and their service is fairer than the ceremonies of other nations. For we cannot forget that beauty. Every man after tasting something sweet, is afterward unwilling to accept that which is bitter.
and this missive converted the russians to orthodox christianity.
many historians (who can be quite a cynical bunch - this comes of studying humans too much) attribute this quote to invention by later hagiographers romanticizing the conversion of a pagan prince much given to sexual debauchery. (incidentally he is now a saint of the russian church.) his conversion, they say, was more a result of cynical calculation; aligning himself with the growing power of basileus basil ii of the byzantine empire, and moving his principality into the orbit of civilized europe, thus earning recognition and respect from the foreign merchants who flocked to the prosperous city of kiev to buy russia's furs and honey.
but i'd like to think that the beauty of the hagia sophia - the great church of justinian, and the majesty of byzantine liturgy and church ceremony played a part in this; that aesthetics and not just pure calculations have the power to move men to courses which change the history of this world.
posted by zhongkai at 9:50 PM
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