More or less a contemporary of Corelli and Pachelbel, Romanus Weichlein (1652-1706) shares the fate of so many composers: widely-known while alive, he fell into oblivion when he died. But Weichlein still remains in the memories of many monasteries in which he was hired as a musician, in addition to his religious obligations since he was a Benedictine monk, especially in Salzburg but also in other lesser-known cities. He composed these masses for liturgical use around the years 1690-1700; and as you would imagine, at the time the soprano sections were sung by children. This is therefore precisely the case for this recording which is so authentic (or so we imagine) that the Latin is pronounced with a slight Austrian accent, rather distant from what we are used to hearing in the “Italian-style” liturgies. The audience is notified, of course, that these are boys’ choirs who sing here, as it happens the St. Florianer Sängerknaben (not everyone likes boys’ choirs…), which accompanies the Ars Antiqua Austria ensemble. It is also worth noting that some acts are preceded by a short moment of plainsong, probably as it was done at the time. © SM/Qobuz