Franz Schubert

Messe As-dur D 678

Striving for the highest of art - with these words Franz Schubert had announced his Mass in A-flat major in 1828, which he called Missa solemnis in the autograph. The story of its creation alone shows the importance the work had for the composer. Schubert wrote the score between 1819 and 1822, an unusually long period for him, and he later fundamentally revised the Mass when he ultimately applied in vain for the position of Vizehofkapellmeister in Vienna. Schubert finally discarded his original intention to consecrate the Mass to the Emperor or Empress after this disappointment. With the Breitkopf Urtext edition by Peter Jost, Schubert's Missa solemnis, the final version of which was first published in 1887 in the Schubert Complete Edition by Breitkopf & Härtel, is once again a gem in the publisher's catalog. Previously, Jost had already edited Schubert's Mass in E-flat major D 950 in an equally exemplary manner.