Johann Sebastian Bach
- Mass in B Minor
- St. Matthew Passion (Matthäus-Passion)
- St. John Passion (Johannes-Passion)
- Christmas Oratorio (Weihnachtsoratorium)
- The Well-Tempered Clavier
- Goldberg Variations
- Toccata and Fugue in D Minor
- Cello Suites
- The Art of Fugue (Die Kunst der Fuge)
George Frideric Handel
- Messiah
- Judas Maccabaeus
- Israel in Egypt
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Requiem in D Minor (K. 626)
- Mass in C Minor (K. 427)
- The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte) — Masonic opera; initiatory allegory
Ludwig van Beethoven
- Symphony No. 9 in D Minor (Ode to Joy)
- Missa Solemnis
- Piano Sonata No. 14 (Moonlight Sonata)
- String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp Minor
Richard Wagner
- The Ring Cycle (Der Ring des Nibelungen):
- Das Rheingold
- Die Walküre
- Siegfried
- Götterdämmerung
- Parsifal — Grail opera; the Wounded King, the sacred spear, the restoration of the wasteland
- Tristan und Isolde — love-death, the Liebestod, mystical union
- Lohengrin — the Grail knight
Franz Liszt
- A Faust Symphony
- Dante Symphony
- Via Crucis (The Way of the Cross)
- Piano Sonata in B Minor
Anton Bruckner
- Symphony No. 8 in C Minor
- Symphony No. 9 in D Minor
- Te Deum
- Mass No. 3 in F Minor
César Franck
- Symphony in D Minor
- Panis Angelicus
- Prelude, Chorale and Fugue
Gabriel Fauré
- Requiem in D Minor
Johannes Brahms
- A German Requiem (Ein deutsches Requiem)
- Symphony No. 4 in E Minor
Hector Berlioz
- Grande Messe des Morts (Requiem)
- L'Enfance du Christ
- The Damnation of Faust
Claudio Monteverdi
- L'Orfeo — mythic descent and return
- Vespers of 1610 (Vespro della Beata Vergine)
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
- Missa Papae Marcelli
Orlando de Lassus
- Penitential Psalms (Psalmi Poenitentiales)
Tomás Luis de Victoria
- Tenebrae Responsories
- O Magnum Mysterium
Heinrich Schütz
- Christmas Story (Historia der Geburt Jesu Christi)
- Seven Last Words
Gregorio Allegri
- Miserere
Plainchant & Early Sacred Music
- Gregorian Chant — the foundation
- Hildegard von Bingen — Ordo Virtutum (morality play in music); visionary mystical compositions
- Anonymous 4 — interpretations of medieval sacred polyphony
20th Century
- Arvo Pärt — Tintinnabuli style; Spiegel im Spiegel, Tabula Rasa, Passio, Te Deum
- John Tavener — The Protecting Veil, Song for Athene
- Olivier Messiaen — Quartet for the End of Time, Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jésus
- Ralph Vaughan Williams — A Sea Symphony, Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
- Gustav Mahler — Symphony No. 8 (Symphony of a Thousand); Das Lied von der Erde
- Richard Strauss — Death and Transfiguration (Tod und Verklärung); Also Sprach Zarathustra