Mozart's Great Mass in C Minor- Kyrie

This piece was written to be performed during the traditional Mass. Because the structure of the Ordinary of the Mass survived the Second Vatican Council, this piece may be performed at non-Latin Masses as well.

The Ordinary of the Mass is as follows:

1. Kyrie - "Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy."
2. Gloria - "Glory to God in the Highest..."
3. Credo - "We believe in one God..."
4. Sanctus - "Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of power and might..."
5. Benedictus - "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord..."
6. Agnus Dei - "Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world

Mozart's Mass has been given the name "Great Mass" because, more so than any other work of the eighteenth century, it summarizes everything that had happened in religious music until its composition in 1782-1783.

John Eliot Gardiner conducts the English Baroque Soloists and the Monteverdi Choir in the Kyrie of Mozart's Mass in C Minor, K.427.