Mass in D minor, K. 65


The Missa brevis in D minor, K. 65/61a, is a mass composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and completed on 14 January 1769. It is scored for SATB soloists and choir, violin I and II, 3 trombones colla parte, and basso continuo.
It is thought that this mass was performed in the University of Salzburg's Kollegienkirche to open a forty-hour vigil. As a Lenten mass, it is likely that the Gloria could not have been performed on this occasion, and would have been composed for subsequent use. This is Mozart's shortest setting of the Order of Mass, and his only missa brevis set in a minor key.
The mass is divided into six movements.
  1. Kyrie Adagio, D minor, common time
  2. : "Kyrie eleison" – Allegro, D minor, 3/4
  3. Gloria Allegro moderato, D minor, common time
  4. Credo Allegro moderato, D minor, 3/4
  5. : "Et incarnatus est" Adagio, D minor, cut common time
  6. : "Et resurrexit" Allegro moderato, D minor, 3/4
  7. : "Et vitam venturi saeculi" Più mosso, D minor, cut common time
  8. Sanctus Adagio, D minor, cut common time
  9. : "Pleni sunt coeli et terra" Allegro, D minor, common time
  10. : "Hosanna in excelsis" Allegro, D minor, 3/4
  11. Benedictus Andante, G minor, common time; soprano/alto duet
  12. : "Hosanna in excelsis" Allegro, D minor, 3/4
  13. Agnus Dei Andante, D minor, common time
  14. : "Dona nobis pacem" Vivace, D minor, 3/8