It is scored for soprano, alto, tenor and bass soloists, SATB choir with divisi, violin I and II, viola, flute, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones colla parte, timpani and basso continuo (cello, double bass and organ).

[8] Schubert revised his original setting in 1826, producing a shorter, simplified fugue for the Cum Sancto Spiritu section of the Gloria, and changing the Osanna.

[9] In 1827, Schubert used this revision as an audition for the position of deputy kapellmeister in the Imperial Court Chapel, an ultimately unsuccessful venture.

[5] The Hofkapellmeister Joseph Eybler denied Schubert's request for a court performance of the mass, on the grounds that it was not in the Kaiser's preferred style; Eybler may have invented this excuse as he favoured the court composer Joseph Weigl, and did not wish to pay Schubert the honorarium the performance would incur.

[13] In a December 1822 letter to his friend Joseph von Spaun, Schubert contemplated dedicating the mass to the Emperor or Empress, "for it has turned out well".