Mass for 5 treble voices

Francesco Gasparini composed his Mass for Five Treble Voices for the figlie di coro (a famous all-female ensemble) at the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice. Gasparini had become the Pietà’s first full-time maestro di coro in 1701, and the mass was likely written early in his tenure. It is unusual in its lack of a bass part (scored for CCCAA with organ) and its inclusion of all five parts of the mass Ordinary (by 1700 most Venetian concerted masses fit the profile of the missa brevis, consisting solely of a Kyrie and Gloria).

The work offers valuable insight into the ospedale repertoire, since a great deal of Venetian sacred music from this period has been lost. Based on an autograph manuscript, this edition makes Gasparini’s mass available to scholars interested in sacred music of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries and enriches the repertoire for treble and women’s choruses.