Mass in C

Mass in C, Op. 86, is a mass by Ludwig van Beethoven composed in 1807. The work is a liturgical choral-orchestral setting in C major that employs soloists, choir and orchestra, featuring dramatic dynamic contrasts, contrapuntal textures and an increasingly adventurous harmonic language, and it occupies a transitional place in Beethoven's sacred output between his earlier church pieces and his later, more expansive liturgical writing.