The Great Masses

What’s a Mass in music? What is its liturgical context? What are the six movements of the Mass and the different nature of each one? Why did composers write (and still do write) music for the text of the Mass? This lecture is a trip back in time to the different movements and perspectives of composers throughout history — Palestrina, William Bird, J. S. Bach, Vivaldi, Mozart, Schubert, and Puccini — on the central Christian prayer text.