On 10 December 1852 Robert Schumann wrote that his Missa sacra was a work ‘of medium size, not difficult to perform’ and ‘suited for church and concert use’. But the composer himself never saw a performance of the complete mass, and it was not until 1863 that the work was printed. Contemporary reviews criticized that it flouted liturgical conventions. The
work was said not to be religious enough because of its ‘romantic rapture’ and ‘peculiarly colourful splendour of imagination’. In fact, Schumann’s mass differs from the common pattern of mass compositions with regard to form. The numerous changes and omissions in the text as well as the three-part structure of the text-heavy parts of the mass – Gloria and Credo – are often put down to the fact that Schumann was a Protestant and there-fore felt able to handle the Roman-Catholic text more freely.
Instrumentation:
choir and orchestra
op. 147