Written by Anna Vorhes

Born
January 27, 1756, Salzburg, Austria

Died
December 5, 1791, Vienna, Austria

Duration
approximately 72 minutes

Composed
begun in July, 1782

World Premiere
October 26, 1783, at St. Peter's Church, Salzburg

Instrumentation
two solo sopranos, solo tenor, solo bass, mixed chorus, flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, organ and strings

Something to listen for
Mozart wrote this mass for a number of reasons.  One of the strongest and best documented was his intention to fulfill a promise to his new bride, Constanze, to write a mass for her.  She was a trained soprano, and there is ample evidence that the soprano solos were written to suit her voice.  Listen for the soprano solos and imagine Constanze's desire to impress her new in-laws.  The first place the soprano soloist takes stage is the Christe eleison section of the Kyrie.  Also listen for the trombones as they support the male singers.  The historic form of trombone, called a sackbut, was developed for use in the medieval church to support singers.  Mozart used the trombone of his day to support the male singers in this composition.

Program Notes

Masses are a traditional genre of music and perhaps the oldest regular genre preserved in writing.  The nature of medieval religious houses allowed the energy, materials and manpower to write down the music of worship before it was common to make a written record of music so it could be performed again.  Over the centuries, most important (and many lesser) composers have tried their hands at writing masses of various types.  Mozart grew up in Catholic Salzburg and his father was employed by the Archbishop Colloredo.  Early in his career, at the request of the Archbishop, Mozart wrote fifteen masses for regular liturgical use.   These were practical compositions, based on the scripture readings of the day, not too long and nothing unusual in instrumentation.  The mass we hear tonight falls into another category.  It is a votive mass, intended to celebrate and honor his marriage.  Votive masses are independent of the lectionary readings of the church year and are intended for specific purposes.

The effects of a number of developments in Mozart's life are evident in this work.  The first is the choice to write a mass of this nature.  His inspiration was his new wife, Constanze Weber, a soprano.  She wanted Mozart to practice his Catholic religion more faithfully, and there is evidence that he attended church more often in the early years of his marriage than he had previously.  She also admired the music of Bach and Handel and other Baroque composers.  These older composers were considered outdated, and their output dusty old music, but she convinced her new husband to consider their style and techniques.

In addition to his wife enjoying the older style, one of Mozart's Viennese patrons, Baron von Swieten, provided the opportunity for Mozart to study Bach especially, including the score of Bach's Mass in B minor, one of the crowning glories of that composers' output.  Mozart was intrigued by the techniques and started experimenting with some of them as he constructed this mass.  Can you imagine only having a score to use to "hear" music of the past?  This was not an unusual skill in Mozart's time, and trained musicians today can do so without the assistance of recordings.  But to study the scores of Bach's complex polyphony which were no longer performed regularly required a special skill in Mozart's time.

Mozart started his mass on a grand scale.  He asks for a double choir.  He wrote large scale movements, though he did not complete them.  He uses the polyphony of the fugue to present several ideas.  He begins with the expected movements of the ordinary of the mass: Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, Credo, Agnus Dei, and Benedictus.  Unfortunately, for reasons unknown to us, he never completed work on the mass.  Perhaps he believed he had learned what he needed from the exercise.  Perhaps he ran out of time to finish before the visit to Salzburg was scheduled.  For whatever reason, we have many fragments that have been assembled in different versions of this mass.

The Kyrie and Gloria were completed by Mozart, and he would use themes from them later as part of his cantata David Penitente.  These movements are as the composer wrote them.  The Kyrie is in three parts, as would be expected.  Two Kyrie Eleison sections bracket the Christe Eleison section that offers the soprano the first time to stand out.  A Credo is made up of various parts that form the statement of beliefs of the church.  Some of the sections of Mozart's Credo are finished, and others aren't complete.  One of the most beautiful sections is an aria for soprano Et incarnatus est ( and was incarnate by the Holy Sprit of the Virgin Mary ) that Constanza sang at the Salzburg performance.  Gloria offers a double fugue for the Osana, dividing the choir into two choirs.  Orchestrations are missing in the Sanctus, though the vocal parts are complete.  Given how the strings work with the vocal parts, many people have given credible attempts to finish the Credo.  There is no existing sketch or incomplete movement for the Agnus Dei.  Benedictus adds the Osana from the incomplete Sanctus to the end of the work.

Due to the number of scholars who have set out to complete this incredible work, program annotator Lindsay Kemp notes, "You'll hardly hear this masterpiece done the same way twice."  For tonight's performance, music director Delta David Gier has chosen the completion by Ulrich Leisinger, who has been the editor of New Mozart Edition since 2005 and edits the Digital Mozart Edition published by the Mozarteum Foundation.

The premier took place on the occasion of Mozart and his new wife traveling to Salzburg to meet his family, including a first meeting with a disapproving Leopold who had not given permission for the marriage.  The father wasn't sure his talented son should allow himself to be distracted by the joys of marriage, and he didn't trust Constanze's family.  While the mass is unfinished, enough was complete to allow a performance in October 1783 including the Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus and Benedictus.  The work was not a complete success, with Leopold and sister Nannerl showing no signs of being impresses with Constanze's voice.  The trip to Salzburg was cut short and the young couple went back to Vienna.

Had he finished the work in the style he had written thus far, the entire work would have taken more than an hour and a half, far longer than usual liturgical use would allow.  While it might have helped Mozart's career to complete the mass, it wasn't a strong enough incentive to make him put aside the operas and other works that came after work on the mass.  The first publication of the mass didn't happen until 1825.