“Et incarnatus”: An Afterthought? Against the “Revisionist” View of Bach's B-Minor Mass

Abstract

Although it is the current viewpoint among scholars that the separate choral “Et incarnatus” of Bach's B-Minor Mass was an afterthought, considerations of symmetry, tonal structure, and traditions of Roman Catholic mass composition suggest that Bach must have planned the independent “Et incarnatus” from the beginning. This conclusion is reinforced by a study of the autograph and by a musical analysis of the “Et in unum” duet and its parody. It would seem that Bach deliberately inserted the choral “Et incarnatus” in the autograph on an extractable leaf in order to provide his missa tota with alternative performing options, both Lutheran and Roman Catholic. A performance that avoids the structural and musical weaknesses of both these confessional alternatives is both possible and preferable, and would be fully in line with Bach's old-age universalist orientations. This calls for a change in the prevailing performance practice.