Annum per annum was commissioned in 1980 by the Südwestfunk in Baden-Baden for the 900th anniversary of the Cathedral in Speyer, and was played by the cathedral organist Leo Krämer on October 12 of that year. The piece consists of five sections (variations on a sequentially changing cantus firmus), an introduction and a coda. Each variation has one of the letters K- G- C- S- A, the initials of the five sections of the ordinary (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei). They symbolize the mass which annum per annum and day after day has been celebrated for nine centuries in the Cathedral at Speyer. (Thomas Daniel Schlee)