The Messe Hyemalis in A, by Franz Xaver Richter (1709--1789): A first performance edition

Composers such as Mozart or Beethoven needn't any introduction, nor do their works require strong cases for publication. But what of those composers whose rather innominate standing over the centuries has placed much of their life's work and legacies in a time capsule of music which hasn't any "to be opened on" date? Such is the work and life of Franz Xaver Richter(1709-1789), a composer with whom Mozart was well acquainted and one who flourished as an archetypal musician from the Mannheim School.;Over the past decade or so, a few of Richter's works have been creeping into the publishing fold grazing along with the likes of other Mannheim composers: Eberlin, Stamitz and Holzbauer, to name just a few. Besides flute sonatas and smaller-scaled symphonies, nothing much has surfaced...until now. The Messe Hyemalis in A is a sacred choral work of great magnitude and representative of music performed during services in France's Strasbourg Cathedral, where Richter worked for over twenty years as Domkapellmeister. It was there that Richter wrote the Messe Hyemalis in A. It was also there that it ceased to be performed for over 200 years. This dissertation serves in two capacities: (1) It is an academic research document that represents a modern-day edition of the aforementioned composition based upon several years of study, traveling, manuscript comparisons and careful editorial work. (2) It also serves as a practical first performance edition of this particular work available for commercial sale. The German publishing firm of Carus-Verlag in conjunction with Boston University is publishing this edition as part of their broad music catalogue. This dissertation/performance edition will serve to inform, enlighten and inspire those who are all too familiar with mainstream classical composers to seek out those who have unabashedly been left in those dark recesses of the forgotten. It is quality music representing a unique hybridism between the late Baroque and early to middle Classical periods.