FRANZ SCHUBERT
Mass No. 6 in E-flat major, D. 950

I. Kyrie
II. Gloria
III. Credo
IV. Sanctus
V. Benedictus
VI. Agnus Dei

“Franz Schubert’s Mass in E-flat major, written in the last year of his life, offers keen insight into this composer’s musical world. Just as we find in many of his late works, the music of this Mass expands to ‘heavenly lengths,’ which is how Robert Schumann described Schubert’s extraordinary ability to make time seem to stand still.

In many respects, Schubert’s final Mass reflects on the social, religious, and philosophical upheavals ignited during the Age of Enlightenment. In it, Schubert seems to have taken the liturgical Mass off of its high pedestal and placed it squarely on earth, focusing on human emotion and our personal relationship with the divine.

Schubert did not live to see the first performances of the Mass in E-flat major, led by his older brother Ferdinand in Vienna’s Alserkirche. As a result, some have suggested that this work, completed four months prior to his death at age 31, serves as the composer’s own requiem. Indeed, one can find melancholy resignation in this work, but also a deep understanding of the human condition. A concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic once told me: ‘This piece cannot last long enough! For me, it could last forever.’ How very true.” — Franz Welser-Möst