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Returning to our comparison of Bach's music with a baroque building, we see another similarity: the central position of this duet, expressing the concept of humanity's relationship to God, corresponds with a central theological idea of this time.
The Gloria consists of nine movements. Again, this section of the Mass is framed by two huge movements for choir and orchestra which in this case are stylistically equivalent. Both are inspired by instrumental concertos of the eighteenth century.28 The first movement, Gloria in excelsis Deo, even starts as an instrumental concerto, with the orchestra presenting the musical material before the voices develop this motivic material in a dense dialogue with the instruments. The jubilation of the angels is expressed by the use of trumpets and drums. The last movement of the Gloria, the Cum Sancto Spiritu, has the same character, again a concerto, and again the sound is shaped by the use of trumpets and drums. These two side wings frame the rest of the Gloria, which, as we will see, again revolves around a central piece. The second movement is the Et in terra pax (And peace on earth). Since the text talks about people on earth, the human element, the voice, is emphasized by Bach. While in the Gloria in excelsis the music was shaped by musical material presented and developed by instruments in the long instrumental introduction, now the voices start in a quiet four part setting without the instruments. Those only enter one measure later, using the motivic material of the vocal choir (see Example 5). 
After this juxtaposition of heavenly orchestra and earthly voices, the solo soprano and a solo violin enter in the Laudamus te with a virtuoso aria. Some Bach scholars have argued that this movement was also composed to fit the taste of the court in Dresden, and that the composer might have had in mind one particular soprano, Faustina Bordoni (1697-1781), when he wrote the piece.29 Indeed, what we know of her singing from Bach's contemporary Johann Joachim Quantz (1697-1773), fits perfectly the demands of this aria:
Just as the transition from Kyrie to Gloria is full of contrast, so is the Gratias agimus stylistically different from the preceding aria. Bach turns back again to the a cappella style of the Renaissance, which had already shaped the second Kyrie. The vocalists are accompanied by instruments, and Bach's aim is to reach the highest degree of transparency in polyphonic texture by supporting every human voice with a different instrumental timbre. He is reusing here a polyphonic movement from the cantata Wir danken dir Gott (BWV 29),31 composed in 1731, overlaying it with the Latin text. Interestingly, Bach not only parodies an older movement—something he does in many other pieces32—but the older cantata movement has nearly the same text as the movement in the Mass. Gratias agimus tibi and "Wir danken dir Gott" both mean "We thank you." Although we have no sources, very likely the music of the Domine Deus was taken from an earlier composition as well, perhaps from the now lost cantata Ihr Häuser des Himmels (BWV 193a) from 1727 (see Example 6).33 It is a movement for a solo instrument, this time the flute, which begins a concerto-like dialogue with the orchestra, until soprano and tenor enter to engage with the instrumental soloist and the orchestra. With its many parallel thirds and sixths, the movement has again the character of a "love-duet," like the Christe eleison; in both movements the text speaks directly to Jesus Christ. Domine Deus is similar to the Christe in another way: in both cases the love-duet is the central movement of a larger work. 
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