Zesty,
playful,
radiant.

Mozart in Salzburg

Missa brevis (in F)

Vesperae solennes de confessore

Between the ages of sixteen and twenty-four, Mozart was in the service of the Archbishop Hieronymus von Colloredo of Salzburg. He wrote a wide variety of Catholic sacred music—litanies, vespers, and smaller Latin works—and his series of shorter mass settings followed the models of his senior colleague Michael Haydn (brother of Joseph). Michael Haydn and Mozart often collaborated, and each occasionally finished and arranged the works of the other. The young Mozart chafed to incorporate more contemporary and operatic elements into his music, but his Salzburg works prove his melodic genius and fluency in setting Latin text. These works are excellent examples of middle European sacred music of the day, and they conform perfectly to the rather conservative tastes of Archbishop, who stipulated no fugues, no virtuosic solo sections, and no works longer than 45 minutes. Mozart was proud of his Salzburg mass and vesper settings, recommending them to colleagues in Vienna, Prague, Mainz, Dresden, and Austrian parish churches throughout his lifetime.

Mozart’s Missa brevis in F, K. 192/168f is notable for its sublime lyricism and grace. The Credo quotes a four-note theme (do-re-fa-mi) also later used by Mozart in his “Jupiter” symphony. The eighteen-year-old composer finished the work in 1774, just after returning from an early visit to Vienna, where the “Viennese church trio” of two violins and continuo was common. Although he later added parts for two trumpets and three trombones, Mozart was careful to omit long operatic passages for vocal soloists and to eschew the concluding fugal passages prohibited by his employer. He described the situation in a 1776 letter to Padre Martini in Bologna: “Our church music is very different that of Italy, since a mass with the whole Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, the Epistle Sonata, the Offertory or Motet, the Sanctus, and the Agnus Dei must not last longer than three quarters of an hour. This applies even to the most solemn mass said by the Archbishop himself.”

In his twenties, Mozart wrote two complete settings of the six-part Latin vesper service, including the one heard tonight, K. 339. The Biblical texts quote parts of Psalms 110, 111, 112, 113, 117 (the famous “Laudate Dominum” soprano solo with choir), and the Magnificat, quoting Mary’s hymn from the Gospel of Luke 1:46-55. Each movement ends with the doxology (Gloria patri). This beautiful Vesperae solennes de Confessore (Solemn Vespers) of 1780, foreshadows the two great unfinished religious works of his Vienna period, the Mass in C Minor and the Requiem. Its six movements would have been interspersed with readings and other formalities appropriate for a festive religious occasion. According to Emmanuel Music’s Craig Smith, “The work shows all of the stylistic tendencies of the Austrian Baroque, bright and shining brilliant Allegros, and an impressive nod to Austrian liturgical counterpoint as practiced by the early eighteenth-century composer, Fux.” This was Mozart’s final work composed for the Salzburg Kapelle.

Mozart’s seventeen church or “Epistle” sonatas featured the best of Salzburg’s professional church musicians: the full Kapelle roster listed over 75 musicians, many of whom performed daily. During a Mass, church sonatas were single instrumental movements played between the Gloria and the Credo, as the celebrant moved from one side of the choir, where he has read the Epistle, to the other side, where he reads the Gospel. Mozart wrote the three church sonatas heard tonight in 1767/72 (K. 69/41k in E-flat) and in 1776 (K. 224/241a in F, performed after the Gloria tonight; and K. 263). Fourteen of these youthful works only require two violins, cello, and organ, whereas the last heard tonight adds two festive trumpets. Shortly after Mozart left Salzburg, the Archbishop decreed that choral motets or congregational hymns would replace church sonatas during Mass.

Contributors: Laura Stanfield Prichard and Kevin Leong