Joseph Hartmann Stuntz was born in 1793, not far from Basel, but it was in Munich that he found his musical home. During his lifetime, he was mainly popular as a composer of cheery songs for male voices. However, as director of music at the Bavarian court, he also left us many important sacred musical works. His Latin Mass in A minor was composed for the consecration of the new chapel at the royal court (Court Church of All Saints), and it was on this occasion that it received its first performance on 1 November 1837. Unlike the early orchestral masses, this a-cappella mass (with organ accompaniment ad lib) reflects the efforts, current at the time, to reform church music by a return to the vocal polyphony of the Renaissance, which was regarded as pure and immaculate. At the same time, however, the work is characterized by powerfully expressive melodies and harmonics typical of the early Romantic period, so that Stuntz succeeds in uniting these two epochs in a most fascinating manner.