Mozart's Awesome Coronation Mass or Krönungsmesse

Today, I will be concentrating on "Mozart's Awesome Coronation Mass".

It seems that no other Mass composed by Mozart is as popular as "The Coronation Mass".

It was performed on "Easter Sunday" for the first time on the 4th of April 1779. It was also performed for the Coronation Services of two Austrian Emperors Francis I and most likely Leopold, The Second.

Check out these awesome Links to learn more on this Mass which is short in nature and in which there is the use of "Wind Instruments" in this Mass.

It is celebratory in nature as is expected of a Mass on Easter Sunday to celebrate the Resurrection of Christ, Our King.

1) Mass in C Major "Coronation" K.317

From: http://www.aylesburychoral.org.uk/concerts/works/mozart_coronationmass.htm

Mass in C Major "Coronation" K.317 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791)

Not composed for, but performed at Coronation of Francis I in Prague, 1792 and probably Leopold II, 1791.

1. Kyrie
2. Gloria
3. Credo
4. Sanctus
5. Benedictus
6. Agnus Dei

Of the sacred works that Mozart composed in Salzburg none is as well known or as popular as the Mass in C K. 317. In 1779 Mozart returned from his disastrous trip to Paris and, partly out of material necessity and also to please his father, he took up a position in the Archbishop's service in Salzburg. He was to "unbegrudgingly and with great diligence discharge his duties both in the cathedral and at court and in the chapel house, and as occasion presents, to provide the court and church with new compositions of his own creation". At the first opportunity Mozart fulfilled this demand, composing the mass for the Easter Day service on 4th April 1779.

The musical style of the piece corresponds to the hybrid form that was preferred by the Archbishop: its use of wind instruments suggests a "Solemn Mass", and its length suggests a "Short Mass". Mozart himself described his task in a letter: "Our church music is very different to that of Italy, all the more so since a mass with all its movements, even for the most solemn occasions when the sovereign himself reads the mass [e.g. Easter Day], must not last more than 3 quarters of an hour. One needs a special training for this kind type of composition, and it must also be a mass with all instruments - war trumpets, tympani etc." It therefore had be a grand ceremonial setting, but the mass also needed to have a compact structure. Mozart therefore omits formal closing fugues for the Gloria and Credo, the Credo with its problematic, vast text is in a tight rondo form, and the Dona nobis pacem recalls the music of the Kyrie.

Read More at:

http://www.aylesburychoral.org.uk/concerts/works/mozart_coronationmass.htm

2) "For an All Comprehensive Perspective on this Awesome Mass composed by Mozart"

http://www.bostoncecilia.org/prognotes/mozart-coronation.html

3) "For a Perspective which is insightful on this Mass"

http://www.rydechorus.org.uk/concerts/Mozart_CoronationMass_etc.htm#Coronation


Enjoy.