Bach's Mass in B minor is a World Heritage Site
The autograph of Johann Sebastian Bach's Mass in B minor, BWV 232, together with documents on Luther's life and work from the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin - Preussischer Kulturbesitz (Berlin State Library - Prussian Cultural Heritage), has been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage Register.
The autograph mass is part of the library's large Bach collection, which contains around 80 percent of all of the master's surviving compositions. The music collection also contains the autograph of Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, which was inscribed on the World Heritage Register in 2001.
He completed the Mass in B minor, Bach's last choral work, shortly before the end of his life in 1748-49, thus completing his mastery. Bach used historical and modern movement types, forms and compositional techniques in his mass. Bach's exploration of traditional patterns on the one hand and the use of modern compositional techniques on the other in a single work, the Mass in B minor, is a unique feature.
This only complete score from Bach's lifetime is written in ink on paper; Bach used 99 leaves and four title pages. It is not dated by the master himself, but it can be determined by comparing the handwriting.
Among the twelve documents newly added to the Unesco register are also those that bear witness to Martin Luther's work as a pioneer of the Reformation in the early 16th century: one of the rare poster prints of the 95 Theses on Indulgence and Luther's hand copy of the Hebrew Bible edition. They are also in the possession of the Berlin State Library.
