Franz Schubert Mass in A flat (Missa Solemnis), D. 678 IV. Sanctus video

Franz Schubert Mass for solos, chorus, orchestra & organ in A flat major (Missa Solemnis), D. 678 IV. Sanctus Performed by Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra with Francisco Araiza, Helen Donath, Brigitte Fassbaender, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau Conducted by Wolfgang Sawallisch It took Franz Schubert, a man who could throw three or four songs onto paper in a matter of hours, three full years (1819-1822) to come up with a version of the Mass No. 5 in A flat major, D. 678 that pleased him—seven years if we include the revision of the mass that he made in 1826 when he used it to audition (unsuccessfully) for a position within the Imperial Court Chapel. At one point he chose to call the work a Missa Solemnis; he eventually decided against that title but it has nevertheless continued to appear over the years. Schubert himself felt this to be possibly the finest of his six Latin masses, and it is not difficult to understand why. Neither the most expansive or imposing of the masses (No. 6 in E flat can claim that distinction) nor the most immediately endearing of them (the simple charm of No. 2 in G seems to strike people rather faster), it is probably the finest and most perfectly balanced fusion of traditional sacred style with Schubert's own radiant songfulness and astonishing inventiveness among the composer's choral pieces. The A flat major Mass may or may not have been performed during Schubert's lifetime; the records simply do not exist. It remained unpublished for decades ...