Missa Solemnis

With his 'Missa Solemnis', the composer broke with all conventions for the composition of a mass, creating a work that went beyond the normal framework of the liturgy. His treatment and interpretation of the text creates the impression of a coherent set of events, and as such the work distances itself from the normal liturgical procedures, becoming instead the main focus of interest. In his introduction to the performance given in the Cologne Cathedral as part of the World Youth Day 2005, Pope Benedict XVI states: 'The Missa Solemnis bears overwhelming witness to an unceasing search for belief that refuses to turn its back on God'.