Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791): ‘Great’ Mass in C minor, K.427
Gloria
Laudamus te, Gratias, Domine, Qui tollis, Quoniam, Jesu Christe/Cum Sancto Spiritu
Credo
Et incarnatus est
Sanctus
Osanna
Benedictus
It is a lasting disappointment for the sake of the choral canon that Mozart did not complete his two greatest liturgical works, the Requiem and the C minor Mass. While the Requiem was left unfinished due to Mozart's untimely death, the C minor Mass appears to have been hindered by the upheaval in Mozart’s life following his resignation from the service of the Archbishop of Salzburg and his marriage to Constanze Weber in 1782. A youthful and short-lived romance in 1777 with Aloysia Weber, elder sister of Constanze, had been nipped in the bud by his outraged father, Leopold Mozart.
The marriage also met with his father's disapproval but there is no doubt of Mozart's commitment. He vowed that if Constanze married him, he would have a new mass performed in Salzburg, saying in a letter to his father, "I have made a promise in my heart of hearts and hope to be able to keep it.... The score of half a mass, which is still lying here waiting to be finished, is the best proof that I really made the promise."
When the newlyweds returned to Salzburg in 1783, Mozart brought the incomplete score of the Mass with him, intending to complete it. However, the Mass remained unfinished (had it been finished, would have been of a length comparable to Bach’s B minor Mass), missing the Agnus Dei, most of the Credo movements, and some of the orchestration in the existing Credo and Sanctus.
It is known that the Mass was first performed on August 25, 1783, at St. Peter’s Church in Salzburg, with Constanze singing one of the soprano solo parts. It remains unclear how the missing sections were handled during this performance—possibly they were omitted, spoken or sung with alternate music but alas we will never truly know.
The Mass has been through several subsequent editorial efforts by Schmidt (1901) and H. C. Robbins Landon (1956), aimed at making the incomplete movements performable. In terms of style, the Mass shows a significant influence from Mozart’s study of the Baroque masters—echoes of Bach and Händel are evident in the grand choral movements, while the Domine Deus and Quoniam recall Alessandro Scarlatti and Pergolesi respectively.
After a brooding orchestral introduction, each choral voice in turn sings Kyrie eleison to the notes of the C minor chord. The grandeur grows via downward sliding harmonies characteristic of much of the work, before an aerobatic soprano aria takes flight to brighten the mood. The chorus then returns for a sumptuous repeat of the Kyrie.
The Gloria consists of seven contrasting movements: a jubilant Gloria, followed by a disturbingly subdued Et in terra pax; an Italianate coloratura soprano aria (Laudamus te) leads into a sliding five-part chorus (Gratias). The Domine Deus, introduced by another impressive orchestral passage, is an extravagant duet or duel for two sopranos and strings, followed by a French overture-style Qui tollis, featuring a double chorus, very reminiscent of Bach’s B minor Mass. The Italianate trio Quoniam is succeeded by a fugal Cum Sancto Spiritu.
The two existing movements of the Credo are dramatically different: the lively Credo in unum Deum recalls Mozart's earlier masses, while the Et incarnatus is a lilting siciliana, showcasing some of Mozart’s finest writing for woodwind in the final cadenza for soprano, flute, oboe and bassoon.
The eight-part Sanctus (reconstructed by Schmidt) is expansive, contrasting with the light, fugal Osanna.
Unusually for this period, the extended Benedictus is not the usual gentle and devout aria. Mozart instead, maybe in emulation of Bach and Handel, exercises his contrapuntal skills for over 100 bars. Under the four weaving solo lines, the running semiquavers from the Osanna keep reappearing in the orchestra until they are smoothly picked up by the chorus again in a final rousing return to the Osanna fugue.
There is no Agnus Dei.
