Mass in D minor, K. 65

The Missa brevis in D minor, K. 65/61a, is a mass composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (12 years old at the time) and completed on 14 January 1769.^[1] It is scored for SATB soloists and choir, violin I and II, 3 trombones colla parte, and basso continuo.

Missa brevis in D minor
Mass by W. A. Mozart
Key	D minor
Catalogue	K. 65/61a
Composed	14 January 1769 (1769-01-14): Salzburg
Movements	6
Vocal	SATB choir and soloists
Instrumental	3 trombones 2 violins continuo

The long held belief, based on Sigismund Keller's assertion in 1873,^[2] that this mass was first performed on 5 February 1769, the pre-Lenten Sunday of Quinquagesima, in the University of Salzburg's Kollegienkirche to open a forty-hour vigil,^[3][4][5] has later been shown as untenable.^[6] As a Lenten mass, the Gloria could not have been performed.^[3]

This is Mozart's shortest setting of the Order of Mass, and his only missa brevis set in a minor key.^[4]

The mass is divided into six movements.

1. Kyrie Adagio, D minor, common time

   "Kyrie eleison" – Allegro, D minor, 3/4

2. Gloria Allegro moderato, D minor, common time
3. Credo Allegro moderato, D minor, 3/4

   "Et incarnatus est" Adagio, D minor, cut common time

   "Et resurrexit" Allegro moderato, D minor, 3/4

   "Et vitam venturi saeculi" Più mosso, D minor, cut common time

4. Sanctus Adagio, D minor, cut common time

   "Pleni sunt coeli et terra" Allegro, D minor, common time

   "Hosanna in excelsis" Allegro, D minor, 3/4

5. Benedictus Andante, G minor, common time; soprano/alto duet

   "Hosanna in excelsis" Allegro, D minor, 3/4

6. Agnus Dei Andante, D minor, common time

   "Dona nobis pacem" Vivace, D minor, 3/8