The 29-year-old Franz Schubert composed his German Mass (D 872) in 1826 at the request of Johann Philipp Neumann, who also wrote the text with the original title “Songs for the celebration of the holy sacrifice of the Mass”. Its name derives from the the fact that – unlike most sacred works of that time – the German language is used. Its great popularity can be explained primarily by the straighforward and memorable music of Schubert; in addition, the German texts, in contrast to the traditional Latin Mass texts, focus on people with their earthly worries and needs, which certainly reflected Schubert’s own religious convictions. Performance advice: This three-part edition may be performed with the composer’s original organ part or his accompaniment for woodwind, brass and timpani (with organ and double bass ad lib.). The movements may also be performed a cappella, as is now the tradition in many places; in that case the bracketed rests (the instrumental inter- and postludes) are to be skipped.

The name SAM-Klang takes the three voice parts from the arrangements – Soprano, Alto and Men – and combines it with the Scandinavian and German words for ‘sound’ to create the portmanteau word ‘sound together’ or ‘harmony’. The SAM-Klang series offers basic and advanced choral repertoire arranged for soprano, alto and one male voice- part. In addition to new repertoire and new arrangements, you will also find essential parts of the classical German, Scandinavian, French and English SATB repertoire, carefully and considerately reworked for SAM. The arrangements retain the characteristic features of the original movements and have almost the same richness of timbre, resulting in works which sound nearly unchanged to an audience. Piano reductions of all choral movements facilitate rehearsal preparation. The arrangements offer development opportunities for all voice sections, bringing new life and new quality to SAM choir work. SAM-Klang enables youth choirs to gain access to classical choral literature and ensures that mixed choirs who face challenges in finding singers for all male voice parts continue to have access to well-loved repertoire.