The Kyrie of Bach's B Minor Mass: Music for the 1733 Leipzig Erbhuldigung?1

The origins of Johann Sebastian Bach's B minor Mass have long been a matter of great interest in Bach research. The questions surrounding the work concern not only its final form of 1749 but also its early history, especially the genesis of the Kyrie-Gloria Missa (BWV 232(I)), for which a set of parts was delivered to the Dresden court in July 1733. Different scenarios for a possible performance of this piece have been proposed: Christoph Wolff has suggested that a liturgical performance took place on the Eighth Sunday after Trinity, in connection with Bach's trip to Dresden, while Arnold Schering speculated that it may have been performed as part of the Leipzig Erbhuldigung (hereditary homage) celebrations for the new Saxon elector in April 1733. This latter scenario was not endorsed by later scholarship, on the grounds that Saxony was still in State Mourning at the time and so performances of music were generally prohibited. The present article, however, revisits Schering's argument, drawing upon new source material for the Erbhuldigung of 1733 to consider once more the possibility of a Leipzig performance.