The Missa Brevis in D, K 194 by W.A. Mozart (b.Salzburg1756; d.Vienna1791) is a wonderful “brief mass” composed in August of 1774, when Mozart was 18 years old. At that time he served as a musician at the Court of the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, where his father Leopold Mozart was the Deputy Kapellmeister. It is one of the younger Mozart’s nine missa brevis and is scored for chorus, soloists, and a smaller chamber orchestra. Despite the adherence to Prince-Archbishop Hieronymus Graf Colloredo's strict rules of simplicity and brevity, this Mass is inventive, melodious and powerful. The listener gets a glimpse of things to come from this young composer in the complex but beautiful fugue in the Sanctus and again in the Benedictus on the text, “Hosanna in excelsis.” The poignant Agnus Dei is the most frequently presented portion of the Mass.