Six Masses in Full Score (Dover Music Scores)

Mozart was hardly a religious man, notwithstanding his time in the employ of the Archbishop of Salzburg, but his settings of the Mass, however mercenary the conditions of their composition, still resonate with a deep spirituality. This Dover edition provides six settings in the order in which they were composed (between 1774 and 1783): the Missa Brevis in F Major, K.192/186F; the Missa Longa in C Major, K.262/246A; the Missa Brevis in C Major, K.258; the "Coronation" mass in C Major, K.317; the Missa Solemnis in C Major, K.337; and the Mass in C Minor, K.427/417A. Dover editions, which are reprints of out-of-copyright volumes originally issued by other publishers, are invaluable for observing how Mozart constructed these compositions. Because they're in full score and are thus difficult to realize on the piano or organ, the compositions are less useful to the average working musician who wants to perform the work in question. They are also apt to be short on English translations; happily, the words of the Mass are both standard and easy to find elsewhere.