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Benedictus – A minor
Allegro comodo (“comfortably fast”)
Soprano 1, Soprano 2, Tenor, Bass, quartet
Solo soprano 1—highest note high B flat
Solo soprano 2—highest note high A natural
Longest, Grossman (6:25); shortest, Bernstein/Hempfling (4:15)
Finally, in “Benedictus qui venit”, the bass soloist, representing Leopold, who has not spoken at all up till now, joins the trio. Constanze, Nannerl, and Wolfgang have somehow melted his heart and he offers his welcome into the family to Constanze. When the soloists sound as if they enjoy singing with each other, it makes for a jaunty, bouncy, joyful, playful rhapsody. The structure is a broad A-B-A’.
The two women and the two men sing the same phrase as duets at times and all four sing the same phrase together at times, but largely the individual voices repeat phrases, one right after another. All four soloists have difficult melismatic runs.
There are 60 voice entrances in about 4:30 of singing, or one about every 4.5 seconds, but, like ”Quoniam”, this is a type I song.
Also like “Quoniam”, “Benedictus” is based on variants of just a couple of theme fragments. Theme 1 works so hard it has two parts, Th1a and Th1b, which often appear independently of each other. Theme 2 appears only twice, at the beginnings of the A sections. The “ghost” theme makes two more appearances.
m1—Orchestral introduction
A (25 entrances)
m13—Th1a & 1b (S1-S2); Th2 (T/B-S1/S2-T/B-S1/S2-T/B)
m21—“Ghost” theme from “Kyrie” (B-T-S2); melismas (S1/S2-S1-S2-T-T/B); cadence
m37—Th1b (B-S1-B-S1-B-T-S2-S1); Th1a, abridged, & Th1b (S1/S2/T/B X 2 cadence); orchestral bridge
B (8 entrances)
m52—Th 1a & 1b (S1/S2-T/B); *** Th1a & 1b (S1/S2-T/B) ***
***After each of these theme statements, there is a prominent line of 6 notes in the strings which some conductors (as here) take as detached, some as legato, and some as a combination. To my ear, the detached phrasing maintains the jaunty, bouncy sound and the mushy phrasings spoil it to the point where I physically wince. It feels like hitting patches of thick mud when you’re driving. The nuances of orchestral phrasing are far beyond my expertise, but I looked into this one. Many of the phrase markings in printed scores where we don’t have a manuscript have been changed or added by editors. These two phrases are marked with a slur that has a crosshatch through it, meaning, “phrase as desired”. An awful lot of conductors make the wrong choice.
m59—Th1a & 1b, compressed (S1-T-S2-B); choral bridge
A’ (27 entrances)
m65—Th1a & 1b (T-B); Th2 (S1/S2-T/B-S1/S2-T/B)
m73—“Ghost” theme (S1-S2-T-B); melismas (S1-S2-B-T-S2); cadence
m89—Th1b (B-T-B-T-B-T-S2-S1); Th1a, abridged, & 1b (S1/S2/T/B); Th1a, abridged (S1/S2/T/B X 2); Th1a, abridged, & 1b (S1/S2/T/B); orchestral bridge to “Hosanna” reprise
Hosanna – C major
This is a foreshortened version of “Hosanna”, just the coda. It makes a rousing finish.
Sadly, in reality Leopold would remain a jerk to the end of his days. We cannot know Wolfgang’s intentions in writing this mass, but if he was trying to send a message of hope for reconciliation, it was at least a good shot.
We are fortunate to have what we do, as the torso of “K427” stands on its own, liturgically unfinished, but musically complete.
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