CCCLXXIV. MOZART, Wolfgang Amadeus (1756-1791)
The child prodigy was accompanied by his father all through Europe in his youth, and upon reaching adulthood couldn't wait to get away from papa.
He married Constanze (Maria Constanze Cäcilia Joepha Johanna Aloysia, née Weber; [1762-1842]) on August 4, 1782.
The name Weber might ring a bell to music lovers.
The name Weber might ring a bell to music lovers.
Constanze's father was Fridolin Weber, and his half-brother was the father of Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826).
**
Shortly after his arrival in Vienna in 1781, Mozart found himself in the Weber household and was soon courting Constanze, who was 19. For the sake of propriety, Mozart moved again, but they continued to see each other.
In April of '82, they had a huge fight because Constanze had permitted another man to measure her calves in a parlor game. But the real obstacle was Leopold, who refused to give his blessing to a marriage.
It appears that they were "living together." The horror! [even today that sort of thing still brings a shock to certain communities or cultures.]
Shortly after his arrival in Vienna in 1781, Mozart found himself in the Weber household and was soon courting Constanze, who was 19. For the sake of propriety, Mozart moved again, but they continued to see each other.
In April of '82, they had a huge fight because Constanze had permitted another man to measure her calves in a parlor game. But the real obstacle was Leopold, who refused to give his blessing to a marriage.
It appears that they were "living together." The horror! [even today that sort of thing still brings a shock to certain communities or cultures.]
Mozart writes to Leopold:
"All the good and well-intentioned advice you have sent fails to address the case of a man who has aleady gone so far with a maiden. Further postponement is out of the question."
Constanze's sister Sophie declared to her:
"Mother will send the police if you do not return home."
August 4th. Mozart wrote to a friend:
"Can the police here enter anyone's house in this way? Perhaps it is only a ruse of Madame Weber to get her daughter back. If not, I know no better remedy than to marry Constanze tomorrow morning or if possible today."
and today it was.
Leopold's grudging consent arrived in a letter the next day!
Leopold's grudging consent arrived in a letter the next day!
**
The work is incomplete. Mozart never finished the Credo after the Et incarnatus est (which he composed specifically for Constanze) and their is no Agnus Dei.
The work is incomplete. Mozart never finished the Credo after the Et incarnatus est (which he composed specifically for Constanze) and their is no Agnus Dei.
Kyrie
C Minor requires heft, and Mozart provides it by doubling the choir with four trombones -- all written in the same clef's as the choir -- soprano, alto, tenor, and bass.
The opening is sublime:
The opening is sublime:
The voices open in canon, followed by the soprani in augmentation:
followed by the solo soprano:
Five fermatas create suspense:
The movement ends with the soprani singing the original melody, accompanied by the other three voices in shifting part-writing, until the final breathy 1/8th-notes:
Gloria
a. Gloria in excelsis deo
Glorious, indeed. The voices enter on a canon at the fifth.
And doesn't this sound like something else? Replace the text with Hallelujah! (Handel's Messiah) ...
b. Laudamus te
A virtuosic soprano solo; this crunchy lick in the violins appears frequently:
c. Gratias agimus tibi
This short five-voiced choral movement skirts around the A minor tonality until the final bars:
D Minor, two soprani ...
They first sing separately then join in delightful counterpoint; the high-point (so to speak) is when they trade high B-Flats in consecutive bars:
e. Qui tollis
An intense Largo for double-choir in G Minor. The string accompaniment is in the dotted-rhythm style of the French overture.
f. Quoniam tu solus
E Minor to G Major and back ...
For two soprani and tenor. This passage is particular memorable with the First Soprano holding a high B against the one-bar delay of the Second Soprano, singing an octave and semi-tone below, creating beautiful suspended dissonance.
g. Jesu Christe
A forty-five second blast of full orchestra and chorus:
h. Cum Sancto Spiritu
An amazing fugue with staggered entrances of six bars, seven, and then five:
Credo
a. Credo in unum Deum
The score has the word bruchstück (fragment) before this section.
Firmly in C Major at the start, check out this nice modulation to G Major:
b. Et incarnatus est
Constanze's big moment at the premiere:
F Major; 6/8 ... the delicate accompaniment of solo flute, oboe, bassoon and light strings allows to soprano to cut through the texture, her voice the main event. Mozart wrote several high C's for her ...
F Major; 6/8 ... the delicate accompaniment of solo flute, oboe, bassoon and light strings allows to soprano to cut through the texture, her voice the main event. Mozart wrote several high C's for her ...
Sanctus
a. Sanctus Dominus
After six bars of an exclamatory, triadic opening, the strings begin playing rapid figurations against the slow underlying beat:
b. Hosanna in excelsis
A typically sunny hosanna -- look at this melisma with the soprani, alto and tenor in unison a third above the basses:
Benedictus
A final benediction, as it were ... the soloists intertwine like identical quadruplets:
Nobody really knows why Mozart left this great work incomplete. In 2005, Robert D. Levin reconstructed and "composed" missing sections for a Carnegie Hall performance.
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