A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Solennis
SOLENNIS, i.e. Solemn. 'Missa solennis' is a term employed to designate a mass on a grand scale. Those of Beethoven in D, Schubert in A♭ (no. 5), and Liszt's 'Graner-Messe' are so entitled. Four of Cherubini's—in C, E, G, and B♭—are called 'Messe Solennelle,' but not that in A for the coronation of Charles X., which is for 3 voices only. Gounod's Mass in G, and Rossini's in A minor, have the same title. The term answers to the 'Hohe Messe' of Bach.
[ G. ]