The House of Esterházy commissioned what are probably some of the most important masses to be written at the turn of the 18th to the 19th century: Joseph Haydn’s last, six great masses, Beethoven’s Mass in C major and the masses of Johann Nepomuk Hummel. The resonance in the contemporary musical press upon the publication of the B flat major Mass of 1816/17, Hummel’s first Esterházy mass, was exceptionally positive.

In addition to the rather simply constructed wind parts, which can also be pl...