Le Concert de l’Hostel Dieu & Choeur de Chambre de Namur / Bach & Pergolesi

Exultant music as a hope for better times Bach’s Missae breves from the 1730s remain shrouded in mystery: for whom or for what occasion did he compose these festive ‘Latin’ masses, which undoubtedly borrowed heavily from his Christmas cantatas? Pergolesi’s Roman Mass, written after the devastating earthquake in Naples in 1732, honours Saint Emygdius – who promises protection against earthquakes – with music full of spiritual tension and jubilant sounds.