Special Music Sunday in Lent
Missa brevis in d
KV 65
by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
On March 26, the Third Sunday of Lent, the St. Mary’s Adult Choir, soloists and string trio will present Mozart’s Missa brevis in d minor at the 10:00 a.m. service.
A Missa brevis (Short Mass) is a musical setting of the Ordinary texts of the Mass – Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei – which provide the liturgical backbone of the service and remain constant each week. In contrast, the Propers of the Mass are the texts that change according to the Sunday of the Church Year. On March 26 the St. Mary’s Choir will sing the Ordinary of the Mass in its liturgical context interspersed throughout the service.
Mozart composed the Missa brevis in d in 1769 when he was only thirteen years old. The work is scored for chorus, soloists and a “church trio” consisting of two violins, cello and organ. The strings both accompany the voices and provide independent motifs that supplement the vocal parts.
The Missa brevis in d is unusual because it is one of only three of Mozart’s nineteen Mass settings written in a minor key (not including the Requiem Mass that was unfinished at his death). The somber character of the Missa brevis in d suggests that it my have been sung at the opening of the Forty Hours, a pre-Lenten prayer-rite in Salzburg’s University Church in February 1769.
As you continue on your Lenten journey this year, please plan to join us at St. Mary’s on Sunday, March 26 for a service of musical and spiritual refreshment.