Carl Friedrich Christian Fasch and his Mass for Sixteen Voices with performance edition

This study demonstrates how Carl Friedrich Christian Fasch (1736-1800) significantly influenced the development of choral music by founding the Berlin Sing-Akademie and composing his Mass for Sixteen Voices---a hybrid virtuosic choral work unmatched by contemporaries. This document also provides a modern engraved edition of the Mass to facilitate its future performance. Primary sources are the foundation for the biography. Mass manuscripts and the 1839 edition published by Trautwein are the basis for the performance edition.;Part One discusses Fasch's early years and employment under Frederick the Great, founding of the Berlin Sing-Akademie, composition of the Mass for Sixteen Voices, reception and criticism, and posthumous influence on national and international choral singing. Part Two examines the Mass' general characteristics and individual movements. Part Three is a complete score of the Mass in modern notation with a realized basso continuo.