Missa solemnis (or Missa solennis)

Title sometimes used by composers for a Mass of a particularly festive or elaborate kind, such as Beethoven's Op. 123. Schubert also used it, and it occurs in French as Messe solennelle (Gounod). The title is now used particularly for Beethoven's work, composed 1818–23; first performed in St Petersburg on 7 April 1824. Three sections were given in Vienna on 7 May 1824, in the concert with the first performance of the Choral Symphony.