In the autumn of 1819, refreshed from a three-month stay in the Austrian
countryside, Franz Schubert returned to Vienna to begin one of his major choral
works, the great Mass in A-fiat Major. Completed three years later, this work has
been praised as a grand harmonic adventure with deeply affecting moments of rare
poignance. Along with the Mass No. 6 in E-flat Maior, it is the most performed of
Schubert's masses. The latter work--composed in 1828, the year of his death was
among the final musical achievements of Schubert's brief life. It is especially
memorable for its touching commemoration of the birth of Christ in a haunting
lullaby, and its powerful evocation of the cruel spectacle of the crucifixion.
Both masterworks of church music have been reprinted from the definitive Breitkopf & Hartel Critical Edition of 1884-1897. Separate English translations of the Latin texts are provided.
