Mass in C major KV 337

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The Mass in C major KV 337 is a mass by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart . It is Mozart's last complete mass setting.

Although the mass is also known by the (not original) surname Missa solemnis, it is only through the festive orchestra that it shows similarities with the genre of the Missa solemnis . Due to the short and concentrated nature of the music, it can otherwise be characterized as a Missa brevis . In the autograph of the score it is dated March 1780. Following the title of a non-autograph transcript of parts from Eisenstadt (approx. 1790/95), the mass is occasionally referred to by the (also not original) surname Missa aulica (“princely mass”).

occupation

The performance lasts approx. 25 minutes.

Work structure

  • Kyrie : Andante
  • Gloria : Allegro molto
  • Credo : Allegro vivace
  • Sanctus : Adagio - Allegro non troppo
  • Benedictus: Allegro non troppo
  • Agnus Dei : Andante sostenuto - Allegro assai

Work description

Compared to the Coronation Mass KV 317, which was written a year earlier and in the shadow of which the work is wrongly placed, the Mass KV 337 shows a stricter church music-liturgical stance, but a comparable ingenuity.

The brief, worn Kyrie breaks away from the traditional three-part structure dictated by the text. The formally tight Gloria is based on the sonata scheme , the Credo on the ritornello principle . The Benedictus is a strict fugue , the only one in Mozart's Salzburg masses. With the Agnus Dei , an aria for solo soprano, the style changes to a poetic grace that goes well beyond the framework of a Missa brevis.

Fragmentary first Credo setting and its completion

In the autograph, after the Gloria, there is a setting of 136 bars that extends to the words “non erit finis”. It is not known why Mozart did not continue writing this credo, but began a new composition on the next page. The reason given on various occasions is a lapse in the text: Mozart forgot to set the words “sub Pontio Pilato” to music. Dr. Murl Sickbert completed the fragment in 1989 and 2003 and performed it at Hardin-Simmons University in 2006.

literature

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