Apparently at the first performance of Handel's Messiah in Dublin, which took place in 1742, a member of the audience was so moved by Mrs Cibber's performance of the aria "He was despised" that he rose from his seat and exclaimed, " Woman, for this, be all thy sins forgiven." I feel similarly about the Agnus Dei from the Missa L'Homme Armé Sexti Toni by the 15th century composer Josquin Des Préz.
This version by the Tallis Scholars was the first I heard. It's from their famous recording of the two L'Hommé Armé masses* but there's another by Oxford Camerata which is a minute longer and possibly even more sublime. It's the third Agnus Dei (starting at 3.41) which is so heavenly. It's 5 minutes of bliss but it's also a technical masterpiece for in it Josquin increases his 4 voices to 6 and then "combines a retrograde canon based on the armed man cantus firmus with two other canons moving at one beat's distance."
* The whole recording of the two masses is here.
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