Basso (cello/double bass)
(solos: SATB - choir:
SATB - 0.2.0.2. -
0.2.3.0. - timp - org -
str(without va))
SKU:
BR.OB-5329-26
Urtext. Composed
by Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart. Edited by Franz
Beyer. Stapled.
Orchester-Bibliothek
(Orchestral Library).
Mass; Classical. Part.
Composed 1780. 8 pages.
Duration 20'. Breitkopf
and Haertel #OB 5329-26.
Published by Breitkopf
and Haertel
(BR.OB-5329-26).
ISBN
9790004333556. 10 x 12.5
inches.
According
to the date inscribed in
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's
autograph score, the
present mass was composed
in March 1780. The
instrumental setting
(oboes, trumpets and
timpani add color and
festive splendor to the
work) rightly suggests
that the work was in all
likelihood performed with
the Church Sonata K. 336
at the Easter high mass
in the Salzburg
cathedral. Since
Archbishop Hieronymus
Count Colloredo wanted
the mass text to be
treated as succinctly as
possible, Mozart offered
him a richly orchestrated
Missa solemnis in the
terse form of a Missa
brevis.The brilliant,
festive character of the
Mass K. 337 is abruptly
interrupted by a powerful
Benedictus in a harsh A
minor, the most striking
and revolutionary
movement in all of
Mozart's Masses, in the
strictest contrapuntal
style ... (Alfred
Einstein). What could
have inspired Mozart to
such unexpected rigor?
But there is another
surprise yet: while the
dark drama of the Holy
Week seems to radiate
from this Benedictus, the
following Agnus Dei in
the distant key of E flat
major sounds, with its
soprano solo and
concertante oboe, bassoon
and organ, like a song of
thanksgiving filled with
the warmth and light of
Easter.Other features
worth noting are the
three unisons between the
alto and bass heard at
the Deus pater omnipotens
in the Gloria (bars
22-32), the a cappella
illumination of the words
Jesu Christe found a
little later (bar 62) and
the descending
chromaticism evocative of
death at the Crucifixus
in the Credo.
(Incidentally, Mozart had
initially planned a
different movement for
the Credo of this mass,
superscribed Tempo di
Chiaconna; he wrote out
136 bars but, for some
unknown reason, never
completed it.)While the
Coronation Mass K. 317 of
1779 is one of Mozart's
most well-known mass
settings, its later
composed frllow piece K.
337 - Mozart's last
completed mass before the
great C minor fragment K.
427 (417a) - has been
paid less attention, even
though it is an
outstanding example of
the Mozartian mass type
and contains parallels to
the Coronation Mass in
its disposition and in
the structure of its
various movements. The
score and piano reduction
of this new edition were
prepared on the basis of
the autograph
(Osterreichische
Nationalbibliothek/Vienna
, dass. no. Mus. Hs. 18
97512) and the Salzburg
performance material
(Staats- und
Stadtbibliothek/Augsburg,
dass. no. Hl. Kreuz 9).
We wish to thank both
libraries for putting the
source material at our
disposal.Franz Beyer,
Munich, Spring 1998.
