Mozarts Unfinished Mass In C Minor K 427 Great Mass

Author : Susan L. Rice
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 306 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (774 download)

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Download or read book Mozart's late liturgical compositional method : the mass in C minor, K. 427 and the mass movement fragments, 1779 - 1791 written by Susan L. Rice and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ABSTRACT Popular lore about Wolfgang Mozart0́9s creative process has promoted the idea that his music was divinely inspired, effortlessly conceived and flawlessly notated. On the contrary, the evidence of his manuscript sources - surviving sketches, fragments and the autograph scores - attests to a compositional method that included distinct notational phases and meticulous revision. Examination of these sources has also led to some changes in our understanding of the chronology of Mozart0́9s music. With the exception of the unfinished Mass in C minor, K. 427, the Requiem and the motet Ave verum corpus, Mozart0́9s liturgical compositions have been traditionally consigned to the Salzburg years; however, supported by more than thirty years of research contributed by Wolfgang Plath, Alan Tyson, Monika Holl and Ulrich Konrad, five isolated mass movement fragments have been situated within the final half-decade of Mozart0́9s life. The existence of these fragments motivates my examination of Mozart0́9s approach to liturgical composition during the Vienna decade, whereby I focus specifically on his revisions to the extant scores in an attempt to reveal the manner in which he sought to refine his musical ideas and meet his aesthetic goals. In order to ensure a relatively homogeneous sample, the pool has been limited to mass movements, complete or fragmentary, dated 1779 or later, scored for chorus and orchestra, and for which the autographs have survived. The fragmentary Kyrie, K. Anh. 12 of early 1779 and Sanctus, K6 296c, placed in 1779/80, both in E-flat major, are included in this examination as a first pillar for study and comparison. The choral movements of the Mass in C minor, K. 427, dated to the early years of Mozart0́9s Vienna decade, represent the second pillar in this study. Finally, the five extant mass movement fragments dated to the last half-decade of Mozart0́9s life stand as a third pillar. Four are incomplete settings of the Kyrie text (K. Anh. 16 in G major, K. Anh 14 in D major, K. Anh. 13 and K. Anh. 15, both in C major); the remaining setting is the Gloria in C major, K. Anh. 20. The study unfolds in four stages. Chapter 1 provides the historical background necessary to an examination of sacred music and its role in Mozart0́9s life during his Vienna decade. Chapters 2 and 3 provide analyses of the musical examples, addressing structural and formal characteristics, as well as examinations of the autograph scores. Chapter 4 isolates the revisions Mozart made to each of the scores and examines them from a number of vantage points: instrumentation, compositional structure and the resultant primary and secondary influences on the musical material. Finally, Chapter 5 offers a summation of the evidence regarding Mozart0́9s notational practices and stylistic ideals.