Little is known about the origin of the Mass No. 6 other than that Schubert wrote it in 1828, just a few months before his death. He does not seem to have had a specific performance in mind, and the work was only premiered in November 1829, a year after his death. Critics have since given the Mass an honored place among the composer's great works, many ranking it as his finest church composition. Schubert's E flat major Mass was recorded at the Court Music Chapel ("Hofmusikkapelle") in Vienna in June 1976 with the eminent conductor Karl Böhm.