Koor en Orkest Collegium Vocale Gent . Philippe Herreweghe

In 1817, the Swiss critic and publisher Hans-Georg Nägeli proclaimed that Bach's Mass in B minor was 'the greatest piece of music of all times and all peoples'. It is a very remarkable statement, made at a moment when Bach was known, at best, for his keyboard fugues. Mendelssohn's revival of the 'Matthew Passion' would not take place for another thirteen years. Apparently, there were some who suspected that Bach's religious music was a hidden treasure. It was certainly no accident that Joseph Haydn, in his old age, went to great lengths to secure a manuscript copy of the B minor mass. And Beethoven took Nägeli's claim more than seriously, as a challenge to try and equal Bach's mass, which he took up in his own 'Missa Solemnis'. Actually, Bach's 'Hohe Messe' was not created as one whole: the manuscript consists of four separate sheaves, written between 1733 (Kyrie and Gloria) and 1749 (Credo). The mass plays a double role in Bach's oeuvre: it is both the conclusion of his religious oeuvre and a summary of its essence.