Short Masses (of the highest quality!)
  • Palestrina
    Posts: 602
    Summers in my part of the world are truly oppressive... very hot and humid!

    Does anyone have any recommendations of very high quality (Latin-texted) Mass settings that are very short?

    My initial instinct was to see what was being doing in Mexico, Guatemala and Brazil in the 1500s and 1600s... surely they needed to get through things without everyone passing out from the heat too? More than happy to showcase obscure composers provided their work is if the highest quality!
  • irishtenoririshtenor
    Posts: 1,456
    Have you tried Christoph Dalitz's Missa Tribus Vocibus? It's fairly short and very nice.
  • rogue63
    Posts: 409
    Terry Short Mass in C. Lovely; I've used it with my choristers.

    Terry_Mass_C.pdf
    414K
  • Daniel Bennett PageDaniel Bennett Page
    Posts: 823
    Casciolini “Student” Mass
    Faure Messe Basse
    Viadana Missa Domenica
  • Jeffrey Quick
    Posts: 2,303
    What are your forces and preferred style? If you want to do Renaissance, di Lasso Octavi toni/Venatorum/Jager was made for just such purposes.

    If you have fewer, most unison masses are pretty compact, though the Benedictus is sometimes dilatory. Try Rheinberger Op. 62. Warning: it's a landsmesse, so the Gloria text is not complete. I have a completion up on IMSLP. Willan St. Teresa is also worthwhile though not exciting, and the music makes a better effect if you don't try to push the tempo. I'm working on a unison mass for St. Sebastian, but the Gloria isn't done.
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,486
    ...oppressive... very hot and humid!
    Ah! So you, too, live in Houston! We must have lunch at the Black Labrador sometime.

    As for brief masses, at the risk of being trite there are the Hassler masses, notably no 2.
    Byrd - mass for three voices.
    Thanked by 1tomjaw
  • Aristotle EsguerraAristotle Esguerra
    Posts: 1,200
    With brevity and modest range requirements being my overarching criteria for our Pontifical Solemn Masses here, may I suggest the following:

    • Messe secunda (3vv), Michael Haller
    • Missa Brevis for Three Voices, Stephanie Martin
    • Missa brevis (4vv), Andrea Rota
    • Missa prima (3vv), Giovanni Matteo Asola
    • Missa prima (3vv), Michael Haller
    • Missa secunda (3vv), Giovanni Matteo Asola
    • Missa secunda (4vv), Hans Leo Hassler
  • ViolaViola
    Posts: 413
    Lotti Missa brevis
  • Palestrina
    Posts: 602
    To answer questions above, I’m looking for SATB (and divisi also possible) Masses... they needn’t be easy. As long as they’re very beautiful.
  • Richard MixRichard Mix
    Posts: 3,027
    One of my mentors remarked that he could never have introduced polyphonic Sanctuses if not for Victoria's conciseness. For those of us in congregational Ordinary positions, OT 5C ("In the year that King Uzziah died") presents an opportunity and the problem of finding an Offertory-length Sanctus. Mozart and Victoria are alike too short, Obrecht too long, neither Beethoven nor Monteverdi entirely to Goldilock's liking. Often I've fallen back on Brahms' Missa Canonica, WoO 18.
  • tomjaw
    Posts: 2,987
    Missa Dixit Maria, Hassler is similar in length to the longer chant settings...
    Byrd Mass for 3 Voices is also quite short.

    Both are very beautiful.
    Thanked by 1rich_enough
  • SalieriSalieri
    Posts: 3,176
    If you wouldn't mind something orchestral, the early Mozart Missae Brevis are really nice, and rather short (some only 15 minutes duration for the whole thing, K, Gl, Cr, S, B, Ag.); and most only need two violins and continuo.
  • BruceL
    Posts: 1,056
    Lassus Missa Octavi Toni. Gloria isn't the best, though.
  • vfdeese2
    Posts: 5
    I'm looking for a mass setting in Latin with an accompaniment of strings, trumpet, timpani, and possibly flute, oboe, and/or clarinet. Any suggestions?
  • maestrodicapella
    Posts: 135
    Missa simile est regnum - Victoria
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • dannyboi0513
    Posts: 49
    The People's Mass
    The Mass by the Franciscan Missionaries
  • davido
    Posts: 1,252
    vfdeese you are probably going to want one of the early Mozart Masses, like K 42 or one of the low 100 numbers. Gonna be strings, tpt, timpani, no winds
  • Xopheros
    Posts: 172
    I'm looking for a mass setting in Latin with an accompaniment of strings, trumpet, timpani, and possibly flute, oboe, and/or clarinet. Any suggestions?

    An obvious suggestion are the masses in B flat major or in D minor by Hummel. If these are too elaborate, you should find something in Manfred Hößl's music pool.
    Thanked by 1StimsonInRehab
  • StimsonInRehabStimsonInRehab
    Posts: 1,983
    Zangl's Ludwigmesse
    Haydn's Sancti Joannes de Deo Mass
    Gounod's [you're welcome, Matthew Roth] Messe Breve #7
  • Chant_Supremacist
    Posts: 371
    Casciolini's Mass in a minor runs about 8-10 minutes with the Gloria and is quite nice. It's also one of the simplest four part masses in a Renaissance style that I've run across.

    Agnus Dei
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 3,840
    Thank you Stimson. Go to Paris and you will hear it in its full 19th century glory at SESC.

    But you really pulled my leg at Zangl. That can’t be real. It sounds like an AI parody.

    The choir did the Haydn last year. Unfortunately no dice for a while. But we have the music.
  • Jeffrey Quick
    Posts: 2,303
    Gregorio Zucchini's Missa Secunda on cpdl is quite concise and easy, but actually has a lot going for it musically.
  • Noctcaelador
    Posts: 31
    I like the Zucchini Missa Secunda a lot, but don't like how his name makes the choir laugh...
    Not like a little levity ever hurt morale though.
    Thanked by 1rich_enough
  • novusgordo
    Posts: 53
    My stand-by recommendation is a bit of a deep cut, but...
    the Missa prima sexti toni of Giovanni Croce.
  • AnimaVocis
    Posts: 247
    I'm loving this. Thank you all for contributing!

    A lovely one that I inherited, but is just sublime!

    The Mass of the Holy Cross (Alois Bartschmid)
    Bartschmid • Mass in Honor of the Holy Cross.pdf
    13M
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 3,840
    The Croce is on my list thanks to earlier threads requesting various Mass settings.
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