MOZART in Beccles
MOTET: Ave Verum Corpus K618
In the last few months of his life, Mozart was involved in the composition of two operas, the Magic Flute and La Clemenza di Tito. These two very different works dominated his last year before embarking on the unfinished Requiem.
In May 1791, Mozart’s wife was in the final stages of her sixth pregnancy, and left the increasingly uncomfortable heat of the city of Vienna to stay at nearby Baden with a friend, the local school master and the music director of the local parish church, Anton Stoll.
When Mozart visited his wife in the middle of June, Stoll asked him to write a new Eucharist hymn for his choir for the Feast of Corpus Christi on June 23rd. In gratitude for the kindnesses the director had extended to him and his wife, he responded with this beautiful and peaceful motet for choir and strings. Written only six months before his death, Mozart called it his “little funeral motet”, it is one of the most loved jewels of the choral repertoire.
If you would like a clean copy of the Ave Verum Corpus please visit the website below and download a copy. It is free to copy, use and distribute.
https://www.cpdl.org/wiki/images/4/4d/K618_Ave_verum_VS_PML.pdf
VESPERAE SOLENNES DE CONFESSORE K. 339
Vespers is a service of evening prayer and the word for this prayer time comes from the Latin “vesper,” meaning “evening”. The Latin word vesperas became “evensong” in modern English, an Anglican variant of the service. Usually prayed around sunset, as dusk begins to fall, the service and gives thanks for the day just past and is a praise to God. It typically follows a set order that focuses on the saying/singing of psalms and ends with the biblical canticle, “Magnificat” from Luke’s gospel, in which the Blessed Virgin Mary praises God.
Mozart spent his early career in the service of Hieronymous Colloredo, the Prince Archbishop of Mozart’s home city, Salzburg. Colloredo’s scanty appreciation for Mozart’s talents made that time a deeply unhappy one for the composer. During this period, he created a large amount of sacred choral music, including two sets of Vespers—music for the early evening Roman Catholic church service—to be sung at Salzburg Cathedral with the participation of the Court Orchestra.
After the death of his mother in Paris in 1778, Mozart returned to Salzburg and in 1780 his final work for the cathedral was the “Vesperae solemnes de confessore” to celebrate a saint’s day. Each of the six movements are brief, in keeping with Colloredo’s wish for conciseness in church music. The most familiar and well-loved movement is the fifth, the sweet and consoling “Laudate Dominum” for soprano solo, choir and orchestra.
Mozart wrote this sacred choral work, scored for choir and 4 soloists and orchestra, in 1780 for liturgical use in Salzburg Cathedral. It is not known who added the title “de confessore” to the manuscript at a later date. It is Mozart’s final choral work composed for the cathedral and is similar structurally to his earlier Vesperae solennes de Dominica (K. 321), composed a year earlier.
There are 6 movements, with a final “Gloria Patri” concluding each one.
- Dixit Dominus (Psalm 110)
- Confitebor tibi Domine (Psalm 111)
- Beatus vir qui timet Dominum (Psalm 112)
- Laudate pueri Dominum (Psalm 113)
- Laudate Dominum omnes gentes (Psalm 117)
- Magnificat: Et exultavit (The song of the Blessed Virgin Mary)
The first three psalms are marked allegro and scored in a bold, exuberant manner. However, the fourth Psalm, Laudate pueri Dominum, is written in a strict contrapuntal style, using all the various fugal devices that Mozart could conjure up, and contrasts with the tranquility of the fifth movement, Laudate Dominum. This movement is well known and often performed on its own. The strings with their lilting accompaniment, and an obbligato bassoon, give an atmosphere of great peace and tranquillity. The serenely flowing soprano line reaches heavenwards and then the choir tenderly take up the music, singing warm, eternal praise, before the soprano re-joins them to bring the work to a restful close. The Magnificat, a canticle for Vespers, returns to the style of the opening movements.
The recording that Geoff recommended by the Insula Orchestra is found here:
I N T E R V A L
REQUIEM K626
Requiem aeternam (choir & soprano solo)
Kyrie (choir)
Dies Irae (choir)
Tuba Mirum (solo quartet)
Rex tremendae (choir)
Recordare (solo quartet)
Confutatis Maledictis (choir)
Lacrymosa (choir)
Domine Jesu (choir & solo quartet)
Hostias (choir)
Sanctus (choir)
Benedictus (solo quartet) & Hosanna (choir)
Agnus Dei (choir & soprano solo)
Considered the most profound music that Mozart ever wrote, his Requiem Mass for the Dead (K626) is regarded as the pinnacle of his emotional genius.
Shortly after Mozart accepted the commission from Count Walsegg-Stuppach in the summer of 1791 to compose a setting of this highly spiritual subject, long term illness finally overcame him before he could complete the work. The mass was realised by one of his pupils at the invitation of Mozart’s wife Constanze. While there are compositional elements that are academically dubious, Franz Xavier Sussmayr’s dedication to “complete” the work enabled it to become one of the most performed pieces in Mozart’s catalogue.
It is scored for Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass soloists, choir and orchestra. There are no flutes or oboes, instead a pair of basset horns (replaced in many performances by modern day clarinets) and bassoons lend an austere and solemn colour to the choral texture. This haunting effect is most clearly audible in the opening theme of the mass, and veils the sound of the voices throughout until the final chord.
An unusual feature of the orchestration is the trombone solo in the Tuba Mirum, which complements the bass soloist. The mass is soaked in a sense of oneness with the inevitable; every section remorselessly drives the composer, the deceased and the listener towards the grave edge. As a devout catholic, Mozart recognised salvation and encapsulates his own and humanity’s fate in majesty and reverence.
Mozart’s last breath of musical clarity has touched the hearts and souls of audiences and worshippers for over two centuries, and has inspired writers, film makers, painters and, of course, composers. Why is this work considered to be so profound? Maybe because every note of every chord of every bar of this powerfully elegiac masterpiece penetrates and then overwhelms the emotional core of anyone who hears it. One cannot fail to be moved by the tragic and yet awesome power of this music.