Post by erik on Apr 24, 2021 17:20:50 GMT -5
For all the questions surrounding Mozart's actual belief in a Higher Power, he wrote a fair amount of religious music in his time, indeed quite early on. Case in point: his seventh setting of the Latin Mass, which is in this week's Classical Works Spotlight.
Mozart: MASS NO. 7 IN C MAJOR, K. 167 (TRINITY)
Although he didn’t really run the table when it came to religious works in his short life, Mozart, because of the need for money, frequently did commissions of a decidedly churchly nature. His very first masterpiece of any kind came with his motet “Exsultate Jubilate”, scored for soprano and small orchestra, in 1773, which he composed while on a visit to Milan (a trip that also seemed to give him ideas of how to do Italian-language operas, which would eventually fire up his considerable musical imagination). Just a few months after the premiere of “Exsultate Jubilate”, the then 17 year-old Mozart composed a Mass setting for the Archbishop Colloredo in his hometown of Salzburg. Because the Mass, his seventh in this form, was believed to have been composed for Trinity Sunday for use in Salzburg’s Trinity Church, it is known in Latin as “In Honorem Sanctissimae Trinitatis”, and in English-speaking circles as the “Trinity” Mass. The most unusual thing about the work is that there are no vocal soloists involved; it is entirely choral, distinguishing itself from all such settings Mozart had done before and would do thereafter, done on the Archbishop’s instructions to achieve brevity. The work, averaging out to 25-30 minutes in length, is in the traditional six-section Mass setting (Kyrie; Gloria; Credo; Sanctus; Benedictus; Agnus Dei), with the Credo section being the longest part of the work, taking up 10-12 minutes. The orchestral forces required were considered traditional for the time, with four trumpets (two of the high clarion variety), strings, two oboes, timpani, and basso continuo (usually organ). As it is a work so early in Mozart’s life, it has been obscured by the three choral masterpieces to come later on, the “Coronation” Mass (#16), the “Great C Minor” Mass (#17), and, of course, the D Minor Requiem, which was left unfinished because of Mozart’s untimely passing near the end of 1791.
Vienna State Opera Chorus
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra/KARL MUNCHINGER (London/Decca)
Included:
Haydn: MASS NO. 7 IN B FLAT MAJOR (LITTLE ORGAN MASS) (Soprano: ELLY AMELING) (Organ: PETER PLANYAVSKY)
Mozart: MASS NO. 7 IN C MAJOR, K. 167 (TRINITY)
Although he didn’t really run the table when it came to religious works in his short life, Mozart, because of the need for money, frequently did commissions of a decidedly churchly nature. His very first masterpiece of any kind came with his motet “Exsultate Jubilate”, scored for soprano and small orchestra, in 1773, which he composed while on a visit to Milan (a trip that also seemed to give him ideas of how to do Italian-language operas, which would eventually fire up his considerable musical imagination). Just a few months after the premiere of “Exsultate Jubilate”, the then 17 year-old Mozart composed a Mass setting for the Archbishop Colloredo in his hometown of Salzburg. Because the Mass, his seventh in this form, was believed to have been composed for Trinity Sunday for use in Salzburg’s Trinity Church, it is known in Latin as “In Honorem Sanctissimae Trinitatis”, and in English-speaking circles as the “Trinity” Mass. The most unusual thing about the work is that there are no vocal soloists involved; it is entirely choral, distinguishing itself from all such settings Mozart had done before and would do thereafter, done on the Archbishop’s instructions to achieve brevity. The work, averaging out to 25-30 minutes in length, is in the traditional six-section Mass setting (Kyrie; Gloria; Credo; Sanctus; Benedictus; Agnus Dei), with the Credo section being the longest part of the work, taking up 10-12 minutes. The orchestral forces required were considered traditional for the time, with four trumpets (two of the high clarion variety), strings, two oboes, timpani, and basso continuo (usually organ). As it is a work so early in Mozart’s life, it has been obscured by the three choral masterpieces to come later on, the “Coronation” Mass (#16), the “Great C Minor” Mass (#17), and, of course, the D Minor Requiem, which was left unfinished because of Mozart’s untimely passing near the end of 1791.
Vienna State Opera Chorus
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra/KARL MUNCHINGER (London/Decca)
Included:
Haydn: MASS NO. 7 IN B FLAT MAJOR (LITTLE ORGAN MASS) (Soprano: ELLY AMELING) (Organ: PETER PLANYAVSKY)