Bach Vespers at Westminster

Content of the vesper services

Each Vesper service opened with a major prelude, toccata, or fantasia. Traditionally, a strophic version of Phos Hilaron is sung, or a Vesper Proclamation. Scriptural texts were then chanted by the cantor or recited antiphonally by the congregation; these are selected according to the Liturgical Calendar. The congregation was also led in singing hymns ("chorales"); each chorale is then followed by an organ chorale prelude by Bach, written on that chorale. At the apex of the liturgy, a passage from the Gospel was chanted as trope, while the congregation stands. At the close of the liturgy, a large-scale fugue was played, while the lights are gradually dimmed. At the end, the sanctuary was dark, with only candles burning.

Structure of the two-year cycle of Bach Vespers

There were four segments in the cycle. Each segment focuses on a particular paradigm in historic worship. For instance, Segment I reflected the Orthodoxy and Classical Greek Christianity; Segment III centered on Lutheran theology and doctrines; Segments II and IV followed the Liturgical Year.

I. A STORY OF GOD: Six days of Creation - six segments of the Liturgical Calendar
The segment "A Story of God" told the story of six days of Creation through Bach's Six Trio-Sonatas for organ; it also narrated the story of Christ through Great Eighteen Chorale Preludes.

II. LITURGICAL YEAR A: From Advent to Pentecost
This segment of "Liturgical Year A" incorporated twelve organ Preludes and Fugues and Das Orgelbüchlein, the collection of chorales preludes outlining the Liturgical Year.

III. THE LUTHERAN MASS
This segment centered on the development of liturgical and theological thought that crystallized during the Protestant Reformation. Drawing from Bach’s collection of chorales from Clavier-Übung III, sometimes referred to as “The Lutheran Mass,” each Vesper service focused on a particular segment of the Protestant worship service, doctrine, article of faith.

IV. LITURGICAL YEAR B: From Advent to Pentecost
The last segment of the Liturgical Year incorporated remaining Preludes, Toccatas, Fantasias with corresponding Fugues, as well as miscellaneous organ pieces and chorale preludes by J. S. Bach, arranged to follow the cycles of The Liturgical Calendar, from Advent to Pentecost.

Organ music as an Icon

The organ composition of J. S. Bach were used in Bach Vespers in the same way icons are used in the worship of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Just as the icons reveal the invisible, so did organ compositions intend to connect the two worlds, the hidden and the revealed. This "orthopraxis" position rejects the status quo of music as a mere enhancement or edification to worship; instead, in Bach Vespers music was restored to its rightful place as "a window into heaven."