Hummel’s small but important corpus of sacred works belongs to a period of unparalleled richness in the history of church music. Between 1796 and 1808 first Haydn, then Hummel and Beethoven composed an extraordinary series of Masses for Prince Nicolaus II Esterházy. Hummel’s Missa Solemnis in C, written in 1806 to celebrate the marriage of his daughter Princess Leopoldina is a work of surpassing beauty and nobility.

Allan Badley