Sacred Music /
The Great Mass in C Minor, K. 427 (K. 417a), is a musical setting of the Mass of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It was composed in 1782 and 1783 in Vienna. The large scale work remained unfinished. It was set for two soprano soloists, a tenor and a bass, double chorus and large orchestra. The Mass was written as a result of a vow Mozart made with himself in relation to Constanze, his wife, and his father, Leopold Mozart. At that time, his relationship with his father was strained.
As a thanksgiving offering after his marriage to Constanze Weber, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed this "great" Mass in C in 1782 and 1783. The mass was first performed in the Church of St. Peter's Abbey in Salzburg, October 26, 1783. It took place in a Roman Catholic Mass context, with the performers, the Hofmusik, employed at the court of Salzburg's Prince-Archbishop Count Hieronymus von Colloredo. At this premiere the soprano solos were sung by Constanze Mozart.
In a letter written to his father, Leopold Mozart (January 4, 1783), Wolfgang mentioned the score of "half a mass lying on his desk bearing witness to the promise". Later that year in St. Peter's Salzburg (October 26), the completed sections of the mass were performed - the Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, and Benedictus, had been completed, but the Credo was not set in full. It was scored in Mozart’s usual draft, and the Agnus Dei was not even begun.
Orchestral masses compositions had fallen out of favour in Austria during the reign of Emperor Joseph II, and Mozart composed it during this time. Even the older Joseph Haydn did not compose any orchestral masses between 1782 and 1796.
Of the remainder of the mass, the Credo was never completed, the Sanctus and Benedictus, although complete, subsequently became partially lost, and the Agnus Dei had never been contemplated by Mozart beyond some sketches he made for the Dona nobis pacem.
Perhaps Mozart's Great Mass's incompleteness rightly symbolizes the failure of its underlying purposes: to express filial piety (respect to his father), to evidence devotion to religious music in an age of reform, and especially to serve as an emblem of Mozart's reconciliation with his father and sister, conditioned upon their acceptance of his wife, whose worthiness Mozart expressed by the sublimity of the 'Great Mass in C' itself.
Suggested Listening:
Great Mass in C minor - Kyrie - K. 427- W. A. Mozart - Bernstein - Delacroix. Uploaded by codonauta. Accessed Octoboer 25, 2010. Leonard Bernstein - Conductor. Arleen Auger - Sopran. Frederica von Stade - Mezzo sopran. Frank Lopard - Tenor. Cornelius Hauptmann - Bass. Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks. Symphonie orchester des Bayerrischen Rundfunks. Pictures: Delacroix
Mozart: Great Mass in C Minor, KV 427 - John Eliot Gardiner. YouTube, Uploaded by Huckleberry Finn. Accessed October 25, 2014. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Mass in C minor, KV 427 Barbara Bonney, soprano. Anne Sofie von Otter, mezzo-soprano. Anthony Rolfe Johnson, tenor. Alastair Miles, bass. Monteverdi Choir. English Baroque Soloists. John Eliot Gardiner, conductor. Barcelona, December 1991.
Mozart: Mass in C minor Kv. 427: Kyrie (1785). Uploaded by Azael Hernandez. Accessed August 25, 2016. (effectively dismantled and used as a cantata, Davidde Penitente K. 469). Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra & Monteverdi Choir. Conducted by John Eliot Gardiner.
Trivia
(Added: April 4, 2019). For 2019 Easter offering, our Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and the visiting Capella St Crucis from Hannover will fill the Sydney Opera House with the glorious and uplifting sounds of J.S. Bach's Magnificat and Wolfgang A. Mozart's Great Mass in C minor. The concert: "Bach and Mozart: In the Imagination of their Hearts" will be conducted by Florian Lohmann, for Mozart, and Brett Weymark, for Bach. It will also include Anotny Pitts new setting of 'Mente cordis sui' (in the imagination of their hearts), as he takes inspiration from Bach. Saturday April 20 at 2pm. Sydney Opera House Concert Hall.
Video Credit:
Mozart - Great Mass in C minor, Nathalie Stutzmann, Conducting. Accessed August 25, 2017.
Resources:
Bras, Jean-Yves; 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).
Mozart, W. A.; Holl, Monika (preface), Thalmann, Gabriele (transl.) (2006). Mass in C minor (Urtext). Bärenreiter-Verlag. pp. VII. ISMN M-0006-20223-2
Solomon, Maynard. (1995) Mozart: a Life. Harper Collins Publishers.
(c) Posted Oct. 25, 2010. Updated Aug. 25, 2017. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.
Great Mass in C of Mozart premieres in Salzburg, October 26, 1783.
The Great Mass in C Minor, K. 427 (K. 417a), is a musical setting of the Mass of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It was composed in 1782 and 1783 in Vienna. The large scale work remained unfinished. It was set for two soprano soloists, a tenor and a bass, double chorus and large orchestra. The Mass was written as a result of a vow Mozart made with himself in relation to Constanze, his wife, and his father, Leopold Mozart. At that time, his relationship with his father was strained.
As a thanksgiving offering after his marriage to Constanze Weber, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed this "great" Mass in C in 1782 and 1783. The mass was first performed in the Church of St. Peter's Abbey in Salzburg, October 26, 1783. It took place in a Roman Catholic Mass context, with the performers, the Hofmusik, employed at the court of Salzburg's Prince-Archbishop Count Hieronymus von Colloredo. At this premiere the soprano solos were sung by Constanze Mozart.
In a letter written to his father, Leopold Mozart (January 4, 1783), Wolfgang mentioned the score of "half a mass lying on his desk bearing witness to the promise". Later that year in St. Peter's Salzburg (October 26), the completed sections of the mass were performed - the Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, and Benedictus, had been completed, but the Credo was not set in full. It was scored in Mozart’s usual draft, and the Agnus Dei was not even begun.
Orchestral masses compositions had fallen out of favour in Austria during the reign of Emperor Joseph II, and Mozart composed it during this time. Even the older Joseph Haydn did not compose any orchestral masses between 1782 and 1796.
Of the remainder of the mass, the Credo was never completed, the Sanctus and Benedictus, although complete, subsequently became partially lost, and the Agnus Dei had never been contemplated by Mozart beyond some sketches he made for the Dona nobis pacem.
Perhaps Mozart's Great Mass's incompleteness rightly symbolizes the failure of its underlying purposes: to express filial piety (respect to his father), to evidence devotion to religious music in an age of reform, and especially to serve as an emblem of Mozart's reconciliation with his father and sister, conditioned upon their acceptance of his wife, whose worthiness Mozart expressed by the sublimity of the 'Great Mass in C' itself.
Suggested Listening:
Great Mass in C minor - Kyrie - K. 427- W. A. Mozart - Bernstein - Delacroix. Uploaded by codonauta. Accessed Octoboer 25, 2010. Leonard Bernstein - Conductor. Arleen Auger - Sopran. Frederica von Stade - Mezzo sopran. Frank Lopard - Tenor. Cornelius Hauptmann - Bass. Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks. Symphonie orchester des Bayerrischen Rundfunks. Pictures: Delacroix
Mozart: Great Mass in C Minor, KV 427 - John Eliot Gardiner. YouTube, Uploaded by Huckleberry Finn. Accessed October 25, 2014. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Mass in C minor, KV 427 Barbara Bonney, soprano. Anne Sofie von Otter, mezzo-soprano. Anthony Rolfe Johnson, tenor. Alastair Miles, bass. Monteverdi Choir. English Baroque Soloists. John Eliot Gardiner, conductor. Barcelona, December 1991.
Mozart: Mass in C minor Kv. 427: Kyrie (1785). Uploaded by Azael Hernandez. Accessed August 25, 2016. (effectively dismantled and used as a cantata, Davidde Penitente K. 469). Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra & Monteverdi Choir. Conducted by John Eliot Gardiner.
Mozart Mass in C minor K.427 Gardiner. YouTube, uploaded by vse vsad. Accessed April 1, 2019. (Monteverdi Choir.
Eric Ericson. Chamber Choir.
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra.
Mia Persson soprano.
Ann Hallenberg mezzo-soprano.
Helge Rønning tenor.
Peter Mattei bass.
Nobel Prize Concert 2008.)
Trivia
(Added: April 4, 2019). For 2019 Easter offering, our Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and the visiting Capella St Crucis from Hannover will fill the Sydney Opera House with the glorious and uplifting sounds of J.S. Bach's Magnificat and Wolfgang A. Mozart's Great Mass in C minor. The concert: "Bach and Mozart: In the Imagination of their Hearts" will be conducted by Florian Lohmann, for Mozart, and Brett Weymark, for Bach. It will also include Anotny Pitts new setting of 'Mente cordis sui' (in the imagination of their hearts), as he takes inspiration from Bach. Saturday April 20 at 2pm. Sydney Opera House Concert Hall.
Video Credit:
Mozart - Great Mass in C minor, Nathalie Stutzmann, Conducting. Accessed August 25, 2017.
Resources:
Bras, Jean-Yves; 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).
Mozart, W. A.; Holl, Monika (preface), Thalmann, Gabriele (transl.) (2006). Mass in C minor (Urtext). Bärenreiter-Verlag. pp. VII. ISMN M-0006-20223-2
Solomon, Maynard. (1995) Mozart: a Life. Harper Collins Publishers.
(c) Posted Oct. 25, 2010. Updated Aug. 25, 2017. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.