Mass (Bernstein)

Mass (formally: MASS: A Theatre Piece for Singers, Players, and Dancers) is a musical theatre work composed by Leonard Bernstein. The text includes the Latin mass text, with additional lyrics by Bernstein and by Stephen Schwartz. Commissioned by Jacqueline Kennedy, it premiered on September 8, 1971, directed by Gordon Davidson, conducted by Maurice Peress and choreographed by Alvin Ailey. The production used costume designs by Frank Thompson. The performance was part of the opening of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Mass premiered in Europe in 1973, with John Mauceri conducting the Yale Symphony Orchestra in Vienna.

The work is based on the Tridentine Mass of the Catholic Church. The liturgical passages are sung mostly in Latin, though the "Sanctus" includes portions in Hebrew. Mass also includes additional texts in English written by Bernstein, Stephen Schwartz, and Paul Simon (who wrote the first quatrain of the trope "Half of the People"). The work is intended to be staged theatrically, but it has also been performed in a standard concert setting. Music critic Peter G. Davis in an analysis of the work's musical merits described Mass as a "work [of] vertiginous stylistic gamut with acid rock and 12-tone serialism, Renaissance polyphony and Mahler, jazz, Broadway and down-home Americana. ... Yes, Bernstein could manipulate a 12-tone row with the best of them."

Initial critical reception, including a review in The New York Times, was largely negative. The Columbia Records recording of the work enjoyed excellent sales, and in 2025 Richard Morrison commented at BBC Music that in recent years it has undergone something of a revival, with listeners more open to its chaotic blend of styles.