I sing with the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus and this weekend we are performing Johann Sebastian Bach’s Mass in B Minor. I find it interesting to research what was happening in the jewelry world at the time a composition was written as a cultural reference to the period. Sections of the Mass in B Minor were composed between 1724 and 1733. The piece was assembled in its present form in 1749, a year before Bach’s death.

In the jewelry world, 1725 was a significant year because it marked the discovery of diamonds by alluvial gold miners in Brazil. Prior to this time, diamonds were mined in southern India, but by 1725 that source was almost exhausted. Indian gemologists were skilled diamond cutters. Diamond-cutting technology was eventually brought to Europe by travelers who learned the trade in India. Italian, French, and Dutch gemologists were supplying stones to the ever-increasing demand of the European market by the late 1600s.

Popular diamond cuts during the 1700s were double-cut brilliants (also called Mazarins) and triple-cut brilliants (also called Peruzzi cuts). Referred to as cushion cuts, the stones were cut as squares or rectangles with rounded corners.

Perhaps the German royalty didn’t wear their jewels to church on Sunday where they listened to Bach’s Lutheran church music compositions for organ and choir. But at other times I’m sure the women and men were decked out in diamonds.

Lynne