Great Mass in C minor (Mozart)

Great Mass in C minor (Mozart)

The Große Messe (German, lit. "Great Mass") No. 17 in C minor K. 427 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozartis the best-known and most widely performed of Mozart's mass settings, and is considered one of the composer's major works. It is often referred to as the "C Minor Mass".

Background

The work was composed in 1782-3. It embodies all of the pomp and solemnity associated with the Salzburg traditions of the time, but it also anticipates the symphonic masses of Haydn in its solo-choral sharing. The mass shows the influence of Bach and Handel, whose music Mozart was studying at this time (see Gottfried van Swieten).cite book |title=Mass in C minor (Urtext) |last=Mozart |first=W. A. |authorlink= |coauthors=Holl, Monika (preface), Thalmann, Gabriele (transl.) |year=2006 |publisher=Bärenreiter-Verlag |location=Kassel |isbn= |pages=p. VII-X |url= ISMN M-0006-20223-2]

Premiere

The Mass was written as a result of a vow Mozart made with himself in relation to his wife Constanze and his father Leopold and their strained relationship. The Mass was first performed in the Church of St. Peter's Abbey in Salzburg on 26 October 1783.cite book |title=Mass in C minor (Urtext) |last=Mozart |first=W. A. |authorlink= |coauthors=Holl, Monika (preface), Thalmann, Gabriele (transl.) |year=2006 |publisher=Bärenreiter-Verlag |location=Kassel |isbn= |pages=p. VII-X |url= ISMN M-0006-20223-2] The premiere took place in its natural context of a Roman Catholic mass, and the performers were members of the "Hofmusik", that is the musicians employed at the court of Salzburg's ruler, Prince-Archbishop Hieronymus Colloredo. [Deutsch 1965, 219] The soprano solos at the première sang Mozart´s wife Constance.cite book |title=Mass in C minor (Urtext) |last=Mozart |first=W. A. |authorlink= |coauthors=Holl, Monika (preface), Thalmann, Gabriele (transl.) |year=2006 |publisher=Bärenreiter-Verlag |location=Kassel |isbn= |pages=p. VII-X |url= ISMN M-0006-20223-2] [cite album-notes |title=Mass in C minor (La Chapelle Royale, Collegium Vocale Gent, Orchestre des Champs-Éllysées, cond. Philippe Herreweghe) |albumlink= |bandname=Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart |year=2006 |notestitle=A Mass of Thanksgiving |url= |first=Jean-Yves |last=Bras |authorlink= |coauthors=transl. Derek Yeld |pages=p. 31 |format=CD |publisher=Harmonia Mundi |publisherid=HMX 2961393 |location=Arles |mbid= ] There was a rehearsal in the nearby Kapellhaus on 23 October. [Deutsch 1965, 219]

Fragmentary status

The work is incomplete, missing all of the Credo following the aria "Et incarnatus est" (the orchestration of the Credo is also incomplete) and all of the "Agnus Dei". The Sanctus is partially lost and requires editorial reconstruction. There is a good deal of speculation concerning why the work was left unfinished. Given the absolute necessity of a complete text for liturgical use, it is likely that Mozart spliced in movements from his earlier Masses for the premiere. [Solomon 1995] For purposes of modern performances, the editions and completions available are those by H. C. Robbins Landon (Eulenburg), Helmut Eder (Bärenreiter), Richard Maunder (Oxford University Press), Philip Wilby (Novello) and Robert Levin (Carus Verlag).

Mozart later reused the music from the Kyrie and Gloria, almost without changes except for the text, in the cantata "Davidde Penitente" K. 469.

tructure

* 1. Kyrie (Andante moderato: Chorus and Soprano)
* 2. Gloria: Gloria in excelsis Deo (Allegro vivace: Chorus)
* 3. Gloria: Laudamus te (Allegro aperto: Soprano II)
* 4. Gloria: Gratias agimus tibi (Adagio: Chorus)
* 5. Gloria: Domine Deus (Allegro moderato: Sopranos I and II)
* 6. Gloria: Qui tollis (Largo: Double choir)
* 7. Gloria: Quoniam tu solus (Allegro: Sopranos I and II, Tenor)
* 8. Gloria: Jesu Christe (Adagio: Chorus)- Cum Sancto Spiritu (Chorus)
* 9. Credo: Credo in unum Deum (Allegro maestoso: Chorus)
* 10. Credo: Et incarnatus est (Andante: Soprano I)
* 11. Sanctus (Largo: Double choir)
* 12. Benedictus qui venit (Allegro comodo: Quartet and Double choir)

Recordings

One noted recording of the Mass was conducted by Leonard Bernstein for Deutsche Grammophon in live performance, about seven months before Bernstein's death.

Use in film and television

The mass is included in the soundtrack for the Academy Award nominated animated feature, "The Triplets of Belleville" for a scene when the characters are at sea. It uses the opening Kyrie movement, and evokes the distressed state of the characters, while capturing the turmoil of a storm at sea. It is also used in "A Man Escaped". [Donald Richie, "Bresson and Music" "Robert Bresson" ed. James Quandt. Toronto: Toronto International Film Festival Group (1998): 300. "He employed Mozart, the Kyrie Elieson [sic] of the Mass in C Minor, music which had a "colour," he said, matching that of the film. ... The music is heard in seven sequences, in all of which the prisoners are communicating with the condemned man, when they are no longer alone."] It occurs throughout the Channel 4 drama A Very British Coup; the Credo was used as the theme music.

Parts of the Kyrie are used in two separate scenes in the 1984 film "Amadeus", winner of 8 Academy Awards including Best Picture. Qui tollis is also used in a deleted scene that was included in the director's cut DVD.

ee also

* Ordinary of the Mass
* List of works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Footnotes

References

*Deutsch, Otto Erich (1965) "Mozart: A Documentary Biography". Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
*Solomon, Maynard (1965) "Mozart: A Life". Harper Collins.

External links

*
* [http://www.hartfordchorale.org/mozart-texts.htm#MASS%20IN%20C%20MINOR Text and translation]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A2930393 H2G2 article on the Große Messe]


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