ABSTRACT
When, in the late 1740s, Johann Sebastian Bach decided to expand to a complete Mass one of the Kyrie-Gloria Masses he had written in the 1730s, he turned to the most ambitious work among the five: the Missa of 1733 which he had dedicated to the Dresden court. This work, BWV 232 1 , scored for five rather than four voices and for a particularly large orchestra (including a full brass section and three pairs of woodwinds), represented the type of 'missa solemnis', whereas the other pieces, BWV 233–236, fell into the 'missa ferialis' category. Naturally, the choice of such a grand-scale work as a point of departure had to have a major impact on the overall plan of the eventual composition.
