Mass No. 1 (Bruckner)

Mass No. 1 in D minor, WAB 26 by Anton Bruckner, is a setting of the Mass ordinary for soloists, mixed choir and orchestra, and organ ad libitum.

History

Bruckner composed it in 1864, and revised it in 1876 and 1881/82. The (small) differences among the versions concern mainly annotations about tempo, etc. For the original organ intermezzo of the Credo (after "et sepultus est") Bruckner composed an alternative with woodwind instruments, so that the conductor could choose between these two options.

After he had ended his eight-year study period with Sechter and Kitzler and he had composed a few smaller works, such as the Festive Cantata (1862) and Psalm 112 (1863), Bruckner composed his first grand Mass, the Mass in D minor. He completed the work on 29 September 1864.

The premiere of the Mass in the old Linz Cathedral on 20 November 1864 was successful. A laudatory review in the Linzer Zeitung described Bruckner's potential as a symphonic composer and ranked the D minor Mass in the highest echelon of church music.

Mass No. 1

Mass No. 1 may refer to:

Mass in G major, K. 49

The Mass in G major (K. 49/47d) is the first full mass composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It is a missa brevis scored for SATB soloists, SATB choir, violin I and II, viola, and basso continuo.

Mozart wrote the Mass in G major at the age of 12. It was however neither his first setting of a part of the mass ordinary — two years earlier he had already composed a Kyrie (K. 33) —, nor was it his largest composition with a religious theme up to date: his sacred musical play Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots had been premiered in the previous year.

History

Composed in Vienna in the autumn of 1768, this mass is Mozart's only missa brevis to feature a viola part. It is not clear what occasion it was composed for, and it has been confused with the Waisenhausmesse, composed in the same year.

Religious music at the time was increasingly influenced by opera and Baroque embellishments in instrumentation; Mozart's early masses, such as K. 49/47d, have been seen as a return to the more austere settings of the pre-Baroque era.

Mass No. 1 (Schubert)

Mass No. 1 in F major, D 105, is a mass composed by Franz Schubert in 1814. It is scored for two soprano soloists, two tenor soloists, alto and bass soloists, SATB choir, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, 2 horns, violin I and II, viola, and basso continuo (cello, double bass and organ). It was the first of Schubert's masses to be performed, and is of the missa solemnis type.

Background

The mass was composed for the centennial celebration of the parish church of Lichtental, now part of Vienna. The Schuberts' family church, it is also known as Schubertkirche (Schubert church). Schubert received an invitation to compose a mass for the anniversary in May 1814. The premiere was conducted on 25 September with an estimated 62 performers, a large contingent for contemporary performances. The composer's brother Ferdinand played the organ, Michael Holzer served as choirmaster, Joseph Mayseder served as concertmaster, Therese Grob sang the soprano solo, and Schubert conducted. Schubert's teacher Antonio Salieri may have attended the premiere; afterwards, he is said to have embraced his student with the words "der mir noch viele Ehre machen wird" ("You will bring me yet more honour").