Marianna Martines (1744-1812) was an eighteenth-century Viennese composer who was recognized as a talented and accomplished composer during her lifetime. She was publicly acknowledged as a composer in ways that were uncommon for women of the time and was respected in professional circles and the aristocracy as an influential musical figure in Vienna. The first major success for Martines was the premiere of her third mass, Terza messa, at St. Michael’s Church in Vienna on September 29, 1761. The 1761 premiere performance marked the starting point of her public recognition as a composer at the age of seventeen. It would also lead to other accomplishments, including Martines becoming the first female member of the Accademia Filarmonica di Bologna in 1773 and the first woman to premiere an oratorio, Isacco figura del redentore, with the Tonkünstler-Societät in 1782. Her earliest known teachers were Joseph Haydn, Nicola Porpora, and Giuseppe Bonno.

Terza messa is one of the few works by Martines to have a documented performance and likely the first work by her to be performed for a public audience. Of the four masses Martines composed, Terza messa has the largest number of surviving sources. Starting in the summer of 2021, I began my search to gather all the manuscripts available for Terza messa to create a critical edition of the work. This research culminated in my lecture recital and document and a performance and recording of the mass by the University of Arizona Symphonic Choir under the direction of Dr. Elizabeth Schauer in May of 2024, the first time the work had been performed in full in 263 years. This recording was captured during the dress rehearsal for that performance.

Martines’ four masses were composed between 1760 and 1765 in a concerted style that was popular in Vienna from 1740 to 1780. Terza messa is a high solemn mass composed for the 1761 feast day celebration of the Archangel Michael at St. Michael’s Church. Terza messa is scored for SATB concertato soloists, SATB ripieno chorus, two clarini, two flutes, two oboes, two trombones, two violins, and a continuo group consisting of organ, cello, and two violone. Notably absent from Terza messa are timpani, usually a feature of solemn masses. The lack of a timpani part does not mean they were not used in a performance, and it was common practice for timpanists to improvise from the clarini parts, although timpani were not used on this recording.

Based on evidence from Terza mesa manuscripts and the practice in Vienna at the time for sacred choral works, alto and tenor trombones would have been used throughout as colle parte instruments doubling the alto and tenor ripieno parts, respectively. In this performance, trombones were not used in any movements as colle parte instruments. For the Benedictus movement which includes obbligato trombones, horns were used instead.

The archives still hold a treasure trove of unpublished music by Marianna Martines. I am grateful to have contributed to bringing this delightful work out of the shadows and look forward to the emergence of more works by this outstanding and overlooked historical composer.