Messa (Puccini)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Giacomo Puccini's Messa or Messa a quattro voci (once incorrectly entitled Messa di Gloria) was composed in 1880 as his graduation exercise at the Istituto Musicale Pacini. He never published it, and though well received it was not performed again until 1951. However, he re-used some of its themes in other works, such as the "Agnus Dei" in his opera Manon Lescaut and the "Kyrie" in Edgar.

Strictly speaking the piece is not a true messa di Gloria (which contains only the Kyrie and Gloria and omits the Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei), but a full mass.