Johann Sebastian Bach's Mass in G major (BWV 236) counts among the series of "little masses" he composed in Leipzig in the late 1730s. They are so designated because of their inclusion of settings of the Kyrie and Gloria only, as opposed to the full setting of the Mass Ordinary (as found in the famous B minor mass -- which, it should be noted, was expanded from an earlier and similarly smaller work). These works observed the alterations to the liturgy and to musical practices imposed by the Reformation in order to be useful in Lutheran services, but also retained the Latin texts, and thus something of the aesthetic impact of the original mass. The G major mass is thought to be the last of the group, composed sometime in 1738 or 1739, although details of the pieces' origins are lacking. As an examination of this final "little mass" shows, however, the practice of extensive musical recycling observed later in the monumental Mass in B minor (and, indeed, in a large portion of Bach's overall output) was already established by the time of the little masses. In fact, Bach scholars have identified a number of the compositions from which Bach borrowed material in composing these pieces. Specifically, the G major mass relies on music from four different Bach cantatas for much of the musical materials of its six sections or movements (the Kyrie, plus the five discrete sections of the Gloria). Bach based the Kyrie on the opening chorus from his Cantata (BWV 179), while a tenor aria from the same work provided the foundation for the penultimate section of the Gloria (Quonium tu solus Sanctus). Similarly, the opening chorus and a soprano/bass aria from the Cantata (BWV 79) reappear in the first section of the Gloria and the Domine Deus, respectively. The remaining sections of the work draw upon the music of Bach's Cantatas (BWV 17 and BWV 138). Though Bach is sometimes criticized for such practices, it can hardly be argued that the G major mass comes off as incongruous or cobbled. Rather, his choices of musical materials lend a deliberate trajectory to the work; and indeed, Bach's catalog by that time was large enough to allow him, even in troping on preexisting materials, a broad expressive palette, while subtle adjustments of instrumentation and texture refine the borrowed music to its new context. ~ Jeremy Grimshaw, All Music Guide
