This sheet music is a long story. A first version was written with André Messager for Villerville, Normandie in 1881. He was happy to write a song for adult choirs, because he was used to compose for a children’s choir. He wrote that he went on holiday in Villerville and that his friends are great musicians and singers. That’s how he came up with the idea of performing a mass he would have composed, accompanied by a small orchestra. He also explained that they had so much fun during rehearsals and that because of that or maybe thanks to that, their performance was perfect and that he was relaxed. This mass can be sung by female choirs or children's choirs. In 1907, the Gloria was removed, and André Messager’s Kyrie was replaced by Gabriel Fauré’s.
