Glagolitic.
Not, as you might assume, a language, but an alphabet.
St. Constantine (aka St. Cyril) and his brother Methodius created it for the Slavs of Great Moravia (Cyril is, of course, most famously credited with the creation of the Cyrillic alphabet which, unlike Glagolitic, is still very much in use).
Janáček, with his passion for things Slav, decided he would compose a mass setting using not the usual Latin but Old Church Slavonic, which was originally written, as you might have guessed, using Glagolitic lettering.
Hence the title – settled on after several variants – Mša glagolskaja (Glagolitic Mass).
Written between 1926 and 1927, towards the end of Janáček’s life, the work has – despite the large forces it requires – become (together with his Sinfonietta) one of the composer’s most popular concert works.
00:39 Intrada
02:26 Úvod – Prelude
04:39 Gospodi pomiluj – Kyrie
08:17 Slava – Gloria
14:59 Vĕruju – Credo
27:07 Svet – Sanctus
33:38 Agneče Božij – Agnus Dei
38:50 Varhany sólo [Postludium] – Organ solo
41:34 Intrada [Exodus]
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