One thousand people in Memorial Church wouldn't have been surprised if the world ended yesterday. In the 15 seconds of breathless silence after the University Choir's performance of the B Minor Mass, many thought that they had heard all of the music that they would ever need to hear.

Under the direction of choirmaster John Ferris, the Choir performed Bach's Mass, maybe the greatest piece of music ever written, as few had ever heard it.

J. S. Bach himself could have been there, playing furiously at the organ and pumping the pedals while nodding time to the choir and conducting the instrumentalists.

The composer spoke so clearly yesterday that it was easy to see how much we miss him. At every corner and question, we seem far short of the answers that Bach seems to have held in his hand. Fidel Castro once said that he missed Che as a man. In the same sense, we miss J. S. Bach.

Last Saturday, March 21, was Bach's birthday, and Cambridge streamed into Mem Church to pay tribute. As in the opening scene of Notre Dame de Paris,