Great Mass in C minor

The Great Mass in C minor (German: Große Messe in c-Moll), K. 427 (K. 417a), is a musical setting of the Mass by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The mass in C minor was composed in 1782 and 1783 in Vienna. The large-scale work, set for two soprano soloists, a tenor and a bass, double chorus and large orchestra, remained unfinished.

Autograph of the first two pages of the Mass ("Kyrie")

Larger version of page 1 and page 2

Contents

History

The work was composed during 1782-83. In a letter to his father Leopold dated 14 January 1783, Mozart alluded to a vow he had made "in the depth of his heart" to write a work of thanksgiving for the recovery from illness of his (then) fiancée Constanze, also mentioning that the work was already half-finished. The Kyrie, Gloria and Sanctus were first performed in the Church of St. Peter's Abbey in Salzburg on 26 October 1783.[1] The premiere took place in 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 Count Hieronymus von Colloredo.[2] Mozart's wife Constanze was the soloist for the first soprano at the premiere.[1][3] There was a rehearsal in the nearby Kapellhaus on 23 October 1783.[2]

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.[4] 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). A new completion of the Credo and Agnus Dei based solely on original sources was prepared by Benjamin-Gunnar Cohrs in 2010 (Musikproduktion Höflich).[5] Robert Xavier Rodriguez has also completed the Agnus Dei.[6]

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

Structure

Influence

The work embodies pomp and solemnity associated with the Salzburg traditions of the time, but it also anticipates the symphonic masses of Joseph 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).[1]

Recordings

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.[7] 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. Qui tollis is also used in a deleted scene that was included in the director's cut DVD.

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c Mozart, W. A.; Holl, Monika (preface), Thalmann, Gabriele (transl.) (2006). Mass in C minor (Urtext). Kassel: Bärenreiter-Verlag. pp. VII–X.  ISMN M-0006-20223-2
  2. ^ a b Deutsch 1965, 219
  3. ^ Bras, Jean-Yves; transl. Derek Yeld (2006). "A Mass of Thanksgiving", p. 31 [CD]. Album notes for Mass in C minor (La Chapelle Royale, Collegium Vocale Gent, Orchestre des Champs-Éllysées, cond. Philippe Herreweghe) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Arles: Harmonia Mundi (HMX 2961393).
  4. ^ Solomon 1995
  5. ^ Preface to the score by Benjamin-Gunnar Cohrs (32 pages, German, English)
  6. ^ See the G. Schirmer score: http://www.schirmer.com/Default.aspx?TabId=2420&State_2874=2&workId_2874=35027#
  7. ^ 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."

References

External links

Missa Brevis in G, K. 49/47d · Missa Brevis in D minor, K. 65/61a · Dominicus Mass in C, K. 66 · Waisenhaus Mass in C minor, K. 139/47a · Missa Brevis in G, K. 140/235d · Missa Brevis in F, K. 192/186f · Missa in honorem Sanctissimae Trinitatis, K. 167 · Missa Brevis in D, K. 194/186h · Sparrow Mass in C, K. 220/196b · Credo Mass in C, K. 257 · Picolominimesse in C, K. 258 · Organ Solo Mass in C, K. 259 · Missa Longa in C, K. 246a · Missa Brevis in B-flat, K. 275/272b

Great masses: Coronation Mass in C, K. 317 · Missa Solemnis in C, K. 337 · Great Mass in C minor, K. 427/417a · Requiem in D minor, K. 626