Written a little over a hundred years ago, this was composed for Gustav Holst and his choir at Thaxted in Essex.
It was premiered in concert by the City of Birmingham Choir in 1922, but RVW’s intentions were that it would be liturgical, and its first performance in a service was at the relatively new Westminster Cathedral. Richard Runciman Terry (what a name) directed the choir there, and oversaw (with Stanford at the Royal College of Music) a resurgence in the singing and study of Renaissance music.
The Mass is scored for unaccompanied double choir, with a quartet of soloists – this echoes the scoring of the Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis composed in 1909.
The Listening Project Blog 