Mass in C Minor - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791)

It is a strange twist of fate but two of Mozart’s greatest liturgical works – his Requiem and his Mass in C Minor – were never completed by the composer. The Requiem was unfinished because Mozart died before its completion (historic myth has it that he had a premonition of his own death) but the Mass in C Minor seems to have been neglected because of major crises in his life. These were caused by his resignation from the service of the Archbishop of Salzburg and his marriage to Constanze Weber. This marriage, in 1782, took place against the wishes of his father.

Before the wedding, Mozart had vowed that he would write a Mass in thanksgiving for marrying Constanze and for her recovery from illness and by the time of the ceremony he reported to his father that had already completed half of the work. It is believed that he intended to perform the work in his home city Salzburg during a visit to his father and sister with Constanze. However, this visit was postponed and it was not until a year later, in October 1783, that the performance took place at St Peter’s in Salzburg. Constanze sang the soprano solo parts in the unfinished work.

For that performance. Mozart had completed the Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, Osanna and Benedictus. Two other movements, Credo in Unum Deum and Et In Carnatus Est had been drafted but not completed and not performed. Mozart never resumed work on the Mass. Why? No-one really knows. However, he did return to it briefly to re-use parts of the Kyrie and Gloria as the Italian oratorio Davidde penitente to new words, possibly by Lorenzo da Ponte. Further work was apparently carried out on parts of the score by Pater Matthaus Fischer (1763- 1840) of Augsburg but even this work was left incomplete. Further work at the beginning of the last century has made the incomplete movements performable, for which we are thankful as the Mass is certainly, even in its incomplete version, one of Mozart’s great compositions. Indeed, it is called the “Great Mass”.

In style, the Mass reveals Mozart’s love of – and study of – the great Baroque composers, with the influence of Bach, Handel, Scarlatti and Pergolosi recognisable in the choral writing. However, just as Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony is a great work in its own right, so Mozart’s Mass in C Minor has lasted through the centuries as a loved and much performed masterpiece.


[Note to other societies: you are welcome to use the whole or parts of this text in your own programmes, but if you do please (i) let us know, and (ii) include an acknowledgement to the Aylesbury Choral Society and this website in your programme.]

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