Missa Solemnis (Bruckner)

Missa solemnis
Mass by Anton Bruckner
The young Bruckner
Key	B-flat minor
Catalogue	WAB 29
Dedication	Elevation of Friedrich Mayer
Performed	1854 (1854): St. Florian Monastery
Published	1930 (1930)
Recorded	c. 1980 (c. 1980)
Movements	6
Vocal	SATB choir and soloists
Instrumental	Orchestra and organ

The Missa solemnis WAB 29, by Anton Bruckner is a setting of the mass ordinary for vocal soloists, chorus, orchestra and organ.

Following the death of Michael Arneth, Friedrich Mayer was appointed abbot of St. Florian. The Missa solemnis was premiered in the St. Florian Priory on September 14, 1854, the day of Mayer's installation.

"Bruckner's Missa Solemnis is a musical summa of the first thirty years of his life."Robert Führer saw the score and suggested to Bruckner to study with Simon Sechter. Bruckner showed Sechter the mass and Sechter accepted him as a pupil. The Missa solemnis was the last major work Bruckner wrote before concluding his studies with Sechter, who did not allow his students free composition while studying with him.

The quartet of vocal soloists consists of a soprano, an alto, a tenor, and a bass, while the choir consists of sopranos, altos, tenors, and basses. The orchestra consists of 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, alto, tenor and bass trombones, timpani, and strings.

According to the Catholic practice – as also in Bruckner's following Mass No. 1 and Mass No. 2 – the first verse of the Gloria and the Credo is not composed and has to be intoned by the priest in Gregorian mode before the choir is going on. On the contrary to Bruckner's earlier Choral-Messen, the Gloria and the Credo of the Missa solemnis contain the extensive text usually associated with these sections of the Mass.