Felix Mendelssohn's Bach revival

Johann Sebastian Bach is considered to be one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music. However, the modern audience might not realize that it took almost 70 years after Bach’s death for his music to emerge as a part of an important cultural heritage. Even though some of Bach’s organ pieces were continually played in smaller settings, the wider audience only became exposed to his music after the success of Felix Mendelssohn’s performance of the St. Matthew Passion in 1829. It was this concert that catapulted Bach among the ranks of the important Baroque composers such as Georg Frideric Handel or Antonio Vivaldi.