Possibly the finest illustration of the essential difference between church-music and religious music is to be found in Bach’s incomparable B minor Mass. It is church-music in no sense of the word, for it was written without any reference to the liturgic significance of the text or to the fitness of the music for church service, and it has never been used as real liturgic music. It is the expression of Bach’s individual conception of the tremendous religious meaning of the words, expressed in musical terms that are wholly emancipated from all ecclesiastical restraint or ritualistic consideration. Though he used the same words that are found in the Roman Mass, Bach, as a devout Lutheran, was wholly out of sympathy with the Roman service itself, of which these words form so vital a part. And yet as a piece of religious music, it probably has no equal among choral masterpieces, unless it be Beethoven’s ‘Mass in D.’ It touches the most exalted religious emotions and voices the common spiritual hopes and aspirations of humanity; it is religious music, but it is non-sectarian. This colossal work was written between 1733 and 1738, the _Kyrie_ and the _Gloria_ having been completed in 1733 and the other parts by 1738. The work was conceived on stupendous lines which outclassed any previous effort either of his own or of any other composer of masses. Bach gave one or two parts of this mass now and then at some of the regular services at Leipzig and these occupied as much time as could be allotted to the musical portion of the service, for, indeed, in this work each portion had in itself the dimensions of a cantata. Unimportant texts were developed into large arias or complicated fugal choruses, and the variety and abundance of musical material used is incredible.