On 17 November 1868, Verdi made a proposal to Tito Ricordi to form a commission to select thirteen of the most representative composers of the era, asking each of them to compose a movement of the mass to be performed on the first anniversary of the death of the composer from Pesaro. The first performance, scheduled for the following November in Bologna, had to be cancelled because of disputes and organizational differences. The manuscript of the Rossini Mass lay largely forgotten in the archives of Casa Ricordi until 1970, when it caught the attention of the musicologist David Rosen. This was followed by various studies aimed at reconstructing the performance materials, carried out by musicologists, musicians and institutions, including the Istituto Nazionaledi Studi Verdiani and Casa Ricordi itself.

Composers include: Antonio Buzzolla, Antonio Bazzini, Carlo Pedrotti, Antonio Cagnoni, Federico Ricci, Alessandro Nini, Raimondo Boucheron, Carlo Coccia, Gaetano Gaspari, Pietro Platania, Lauro Rossi, Teodulo Mabellini, Giuseppe Verdi.