BEAUTY IS OBJECTIVE:

Bach's Mass In B Minor: A Cathedral In Sound (Ted Libbey, 4/07/09, The NPR Classical 50)

The Mass in B minor is as lofty in design, scope and expression as anything written by the hand of man. It's one of several instances in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach in which a piece is created as an ideal type, rather than crafted for a practical use. As such, it represents an attempt to both summarize the tradition of the mass in a single perfect specimen and leave a statement on the nature of sacred music as a bequest to the future.