The work remains a mystery to this day. Why did Bach, a Protestant, write this great Catholic mass towards the end of his life and thus leave a kind of compositional legacy? Hans-Christoph Rademann, director of the Gaechinger Cantorei, has long been concerned with this pinnacle of vocal art, with the question of the reason for its composition, but also with the fractures that result from its enormous stylistic range. It is all the more astonishing, almost incomprehensible, that such a great whole should emerge from it," marvels the conductor and Bach expert in view of the work's heterogeneous individual parts. For the director of the Stuttgart Original Sound Ensemble, this combination of contrasting elements has a strong symbolic power: "It is a global work, and the ending with the prayer for peace is particularly topical. We need that today.

Magdalena Harer

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Mar 27, 2026

J. S. Bach, H-moll-messe · Alte Oper Frankfurt

Future and recently performed repertoire

Singer in Mass in B minor by Bach

Alte Oper Frankfurt

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