Why did Felix Mendelssohn’s 1829 performance of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion matter for the revival of older music?

Felix Mendelssohn’s 1829 performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. Matthew Passion is widely recognized as the pivotal moment that inaugurated the 19th-century Bach revival. By conducting this large-scale work at the Berlin Sing-Akademie, Mendelssohn successfully reintroduced a masterpiece that had been largely forgotten since the composer's death in 1750.12

This event is historically significant for several reasons:

• Inception of Historicism: The performance is conventionally dated as the first conspicuous example of the deliberate exhumation and revival of older music, establishing a model for future efforts to recover and perform historical works.34
• Catalyst for Publication: The success of the 1829 performance spurred the publication of both the St. Matthew Passion and the St. John Passion in 1830, followed by the Mass in B Minor, which helped make Bach’s vocal works accessible to a wider audience.4
• Inspiration for Scholarship: The revival was accompanied by growing biographical and critical interest in Bach’s life and art, eventually leading to the founding of the Bach-Gesellschaft in 1850 to publish his complete works.4