PREVIOUS: HIGH NOTES
With that in mind, what if Mozart intended a personal twist in this music?—not so much a peace offering as an opportunity to present a wish-fulfillment storyline to his father and sister hidden within the structure of a mass. In the sixteen previous masses, we have seen evidence of personal teases toward his friend Cajetan Hagenauer (“K66” and “K262”) and various digs directed at the archbishop, using the music itself.
In “K427”, the choruses of “Kyrie eleison”, “Gloria in excelsis Deo”, “Gratias agimus”, “Qui tollis”, “Jesu Christe”, “Cum Sancto Spiritu”, “Credo in unum Deum”, “Sanctus”, and “Hosanna” are gloriously and impeccably churchy. These are where Bach and Handel meet Mozart and get along splendidly.
The sections involving the soloists do not reflect Bach and Handel and are harder to pin down. The three soprano solos—”Christe eleison”, “Laudamus te”, and “Et incarnatus est”—are often called “operatic”, because they involve high notes, big interval jumps, and melismatic runs. The remaining sections—”Domine Deus” for two sopranos, “Quoniam” for two sopranos and tenor, and “Benedictus” for two sopranos, tenor, and bass—are not talked about so much, though the word “Italianate”, whatever that means, crops up from time to time.
I think that all six sections involving the soloists contain subliminal messages for Leopold and Nannerl which can be conveyed by the way the music is sung. In operas before Mozart, arias and ensembles were more or less interchangeable with each other regardless of text—pretty beads on a string intended primarily to show off the singers. Mozart was a master at giving personalities and depth to his opera characters by the music he wrote for them. When a character sings, “I am alone”, “I am in love”, “I am betrayed”, “I am enraged”, “I am bereaved”, “I am at peace” (not a bad opera plot right there), the music matches the mood. In a mass, the words are no help in sending personal messages. But if the soloists subtly represent members of Mozart’s family, I believe messages could be sent by the style of delivery of the music alone, which would be guided by the conductor’s influence. And of course he was the conductor.
The key to this interpretation is that Mozart wrote this mass for two solo sopranos, not soprano and alto.
That’s it—end of argument.
I cannot think of another mass by any composer with that configuration, so it must mean something. Salzburg certainly had plenty of altos who would have been only too happy to sing solos and ensembles in a work by the city’s prodigal son. I think that it was crucial to Mozart that he have a woman for Soprano II and that he consciously wrote Ceccarelli’s vocal range out of contention. My money is on Magdalena Haydn, Michael’s wife, who was still singing at St. Peter. In the first performance of Mozart’s opera “Il Re Pastore” in 1775, she had sung Tamiri, whose arias require repeated high A flats, As, and B flats.
Soprano I represents Constanze, and the three solos, properly sung, show three sides of her personality. Soprano II represents Nannerl, and only by her part also being a soprano can Mozart present a clash of equals beginning their duet and resolving at its end. For this sound, the sopranos must begin as if they are circling each other.
The tenor represents Wolfgang and the bass, Leopold. The trio, with the two sopranos and the tenor, and the quartet, adding the bass, represent the two families learning to get along and finally to enjoy each other’s company. For a harmonious sound in these ensembles, the soloists must sing as if they’re smiling and making eye contact with each other and not just waiting for their entrances.
All three of the ensembles are in minor keys, which suggests sobriety and churchiness, but that is largely a ruse to help disguise that they are really bouncy, jolly, good-humored tunes that coax the soloists to have a good time singing together. I will elaborate on each of these movements below under their individual headings.
NEXT: CONCLUSIONS
