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Gloria in excelsis Deo – C major
Allegro vivace (“fast, lively”)
Four-part chorus
Soprano section—highest note G
Longest, Leppard (2:52); shortest, Grossmann (2:04)
In contrast to the sober “Kyrie”, this chorus is a joyous rafter-rattling cascade of sound, accompanied right from the start by the full orchestra, heavy on the brass. This wants to be belted out at top volume, no holds barred, and at a brisk pace. Conductors seem to agree, as there is little variation in volume or tempo among recordings: 40 of the 43 are within 30 seconds of the shortest. It also contains enough rapid melismas to test the best singers. Unless the chorus is muddy in its vocal runs, it’s hard to go wrong with a recording.
This may be a Type I chorus, but it is full of close imitation between voices, in a basic ABAB structure. The A section has two repeating fragments, accompanied by rapid vocal runs. The first fragment is the notes that form the harmony of a major chord, first rising, then falling, like the “ghost” theme in “Kyrie”. The second is a “turning” phrase. One additional phrase strongly suggests Mozart had studied Handel as well as Bach at van Swieten’s get-togethers. He certainly knew “Messiah” by 1788, as he revised and performed it with a fuller orchestra at that time. Here is the entire A section.
The B section also lends itself to close imitation, and consists mainly of the rising and falling notes of a scale. The second B section is followed by a lovely orchestral coda of falling scale notes.
Laudamus te – F major
Allegro aperto (“fast, open”)
Solo soprano —highest note high A natural
Longest, Shaw (5:09); shortest, Krivine (4:29)
The modern performance convention is to give “Laudamus te” to Soprano 2 in order to spread the melismas around, but we must assume from Nannerl’s diary that Constanze sang this solo as well.
The movement is in a simple ABA form. It begins with a buoyant, jaunty orchestral introduction. The soprano picks up the tune and, in the best versions, the mood. The music, left to its own devices, is a vivacious dialogue between singer and orchestra which I can only describe as a dance hall or tavern song. This is the second side of Constanze—saucy, playful, earthy, a scamp. The soprano should have fun with this, flirt with the congregation, stomp her feet, and shake her petticoats. She should sing with attitude and moxie and make the people get up out of their pews and dance and drink beer.
I imagine the introduction as Mozart saying musically, “Folks, I’d like to take a break from this evening’s mass to do a little number I worked up for you. Please put your hands together and welcome the little lady who has consented to be my wife: Constanze—Weber—MOZART!” She starts singing. The orchestra comes back: “What did I tell you? Ain’t she great?” She sings again. “She’s available for concerts”. She sings some more (and in this example I’m sure I can hear her lean forward and give a wink and a flounce). “Look at that pout, folks. See why I love her?” Et cetera.
In the middle section, the dialogue becomes a personal aside between Constanze and Wolfgang (as the solo oboe). She asks, “Are you sure about this song?” He answers, “Yes I am”. She says, “Really?” He says, “Absolutely!” Then he asks, “Are you doing all right so far?” She answers, “Yes I am”. He says, “Really?” She says, “I’m doing great! Let’s take it from the top”, and the music recaps.
In several performances, at “Are you sure about this song?” (this one is Bernius), the singer engages in a little extra fun with the oboe, ad-libbing an extra note or two, which the oboe winks right back at her. Singer and oboe will assume a more important and intimate conversation later in “Et incarnatus est”.
Is this one church music? I’m tempted to say we might have to suck in our collective breath and just exclaim, “God, she has a great voice!” Maybe that qualifies. I don’t know. But as out of place as this song might seem in a mass, there is ample precedent in what we have previously heard in the folky, accessible “south German” style. There are the “clog dances” for the “Quoniam” sections of the two Leopold Mozart masses we looked at—the C.1.20 “Mystery Mass” and Leopold’s “Missa Solemnis“. There is the “maypole dance” “Quoniam” in Wolfgang’s “K139“. And there is even a previous dance hall number for “Quoniam” in Joseph Haydn’s “Missa Cellensis” (H XXII 5).
Irreverent but not disrespectful.
Gratias Agimus – A minor
Adagio (“slow, stately”)
Five-part chorus
Soprano 1 section—highest note F
Soprano 2 section—highest note B flat
Longest, Levine (1:37); shortest, Parrott (0:55)
This is sort of a perverse chorale, a short (12 bars), stately, serious, majestic Type I chorus whose big block chords are dissonant and ambiguous as to key until the very end, when it concedes that it is in A minor.
Domine Deus – D minor
Allegro moderato (“moderately fast”)
Soprano 1, Soprano 2, duet
Soprano 1—highest notes high B flat and high A natural
Soprano 2—highest notes high B flat and high A natural
Longest, Paumgartner (3:32); shortest, Langreé (2:35)
In my “family message” model, this is the first meeting of Constanze (S1) and Nannerl (S2), a “battle of equals” (see highest notes above) requiring two sopranos, who should ideally have different vocal timbres or “personalities” that can be easily told apart, as their lines often dovetail or clash.
This is Bolton’s version, which I particularly like because he makes the already strident orchestral introduction sound positively ominous.
The music itself provides clues, but it helps if the singers have the right attitude. They should sound antagonistic at the beginning, discover a common ground in the middle, and come to a harmonious understanding at the end. Mozart’s tune is so versatile that when the sopranos begin to sing nicely together, what previously sounded angry becomes jaunty and playful instead.
S1 starts the dialogue with an entreaty to be friends. S2 should begin singing as if she is circling S1, making direct eye contact and hissing (which might occur naturally anyway in a meeting of two prima donna sopranos). S2 stomps indignantly on S1’s last note and sings her theme upside down—”no way!” S1 protests, S2 remains defiant.
They turn their backs on each other while the orchestra play an interlude. They argue, talking over each other (what a great way to use polytextuality), when suddenly, by accident, they sing the same words at the same time and realize there might be some “harmony” between them.
S1 starts to show off, but S2 quickly says, “Let me go first this time“, picking up her vocal line seamlessly. She sings some fancy melismas while S1 listens attentively and harmonizes unobtrusively. Then S1 does the runs while S2 listens and harmonizes—“I get what you’re saying”.
S1 says, “Can you do this?” and sings a high note. S2 says, “Sure”, and matches it. They do it again (high B flats and As) and realize they sound like one voice. They share a hug—“sisters!”
Qui Tollis – G minor
Largo (“slow, dignified”)
Two four-part choruses
Soprano 1 section—highest note G
Soprano 2 section—highest note G
Longest, Karajan (7:28); shortest, McCreesh (4:03)
As we have seen, when Mozart has the luxury of a longer mass (“K139″,” K66″, “K262”), he makes “Qui tollis” the emotional heart of the Gloria, and that is the case here. The “staggering” effect of the relentless, unvarying double-dotted rhythm in the strings and bass has led a number of commentators, including Alfred Einstein, to see this as the pain and anguish of Jesus on His way to the cross to take away our sins. The chorus represent the plaintive wailing of the crowd, alternating between indignant and resigned. I’m completely on board with this view. It should really hurt to listen to this very serious Type I chorus, but it takes a slow tempo to inflict the pain.
The lamentation commences with the first choral notes of “Qui tollis peccata mundi“, as the two choirs call out to each other.
There is a new theme for the first “Miserere nobis“. The sense of staggering is enhanced by the syncopation of the voices entering just before each beat.
The first theme returns for the second “Qui tollis“.
The syncopated theme of the first “Miserere” returns for “Suscipe deprecationem nostram“.
The original theme returns for “Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris“.
The theme for the second “Miserere nobis” is new, but is syncopated in the same way as the first “Miserere” and “Suscipe”.
A quiet coda ends the movement. Listen especially to the oboe; it plays the same notes that finish “Gloria in excelsis Deo”.
This is the one movement that seems to have invited the most experimentation by conductors. It has the biggest gap between the longest and shortest versions. The older recordings favor longer times, in the 5s and 6s. Christopher Hogwood, in 1988, puts up the first under 5 minutes, at 4:49. This turns into somewhat of a fad, with 3 of the 5 next recordings even faster. Of the 14 recordings preceding Hogwood’s, 13 are longer than 5:40; of the 27 following, only 3 are.
Hogwood’s brisk pace loses the jagged effect of the rhythm, which makes the music sound jaunty and jazzy. Maybe that works as “pure music”, but all I hear is that he has Jesus dancing a cakewalk on the road to Golgotha, and that’s just wrong. “Largo” means approximately 40-60 beats per minute. Karajan is 55 bpm; Gardiner is 60 bpm; Hogwood is 100 bpm; McCreesh is 116 bpm.
Dmitri Shostakovich said, “A great piece of music is beautiful regardless of how it is performed. Any prelude or fugue of Bach can be played at any tempo, with or without rhythmic nuances, and it will still be great music. That’s how music should be written, so that no-one, no matter how philistine, can ruin it”. If he had lived to hear Hogwood and his pals do this piece, he might have changed his mind.
There is one other frequently employed distinctive sound for this movement: smooth, neither painful nor dancelike, sung as a hymn or chorale. Some take it fast, some slow. In this example, Andrew Parrot even employs a prominent organ part, which adds to the effect, and I think Mozart would approve. This sound is growing on me. But not the cakewalk. And the stagger is still the best.
Quoniam – E minor
Allegro (“fast”)
Soprano1, Soprano 2, Tenor, trio
Soprano 1—highest notes high B natural and high A natural
Soprano 2—highest notes high B natural and high A natural
Longest, Gönnenwein (4:55); shortest, Rilling (1991) (3:37)
In “Quoniam”, the sopranos now get along nicely right from the start. After their discussions in “Domine Deus”, S2 sings first this time. The tenor (Wolfgang) walks in, expresses his delight, and they all sing sweetly together, laughing and joking.
There are five episodes of almost identical length built on the fragments of one brief theme. The “a” fragment appears in its entirety (“a1a2”) only in the orchestral introduction and in Episode 4, where it becomes yet another upside down version of the “ghost” theme from “Kyrie eleison”. The workhorse is just the first three notes (“a1”), usually paired with most or all of the “b” fragment. The “b” fragment also appears in a double-speed form.
Each episode has multiple imitative voice entries, giving the illusion of Type II music, though the harmonies are unambiguous and the voices never clash. The voice entries get more crowded and closer together. The net effect is an exuberant, boisterous, animated, rollicking Type I song where all three people begin talking at different times and constantly talk over each other, but are all having the same conversation. I don’t know what they’re saying exactly, but they’re pretty happy about it. Perhaps they’re conspiring to win Leopold over.
Orchestral introduction (21 mm)—(a1a2&b)
Episode1 (21 mm)—S2-S1-T (a1&b); S1-S2-T-S1-S2 (b fast)
Episode2 (21mm)—T-S1-S2-S1 (a1); S1-S2 (almost identical melismas)-T (different melismas)-S2-S1-strings pick up melismas: “let us bail you out; none of you can sing this high”; codetta (8mm)
Orchestral break (11mm)
Episode 3 (24mm)—S1-S2-T-S1-S2-T (a1, syncopated); S1-T (different melismas); S2-S1 (b)
Episode4 (21mm)—S1/S2/T (a1a2); S1-S2-T-S1-S2 (b)
Episode5 (20mm)—T-S2-S1 (a1); S2-S1 (almost identical melismas)-T (different melismas)
Orchestral coda (16mm).
Allowing for about 60 seconds in which the orchestra plays alone, there are 39 imitative voice entrances in a little over 3 minutes of singing, or one entrance about every 5 seconds.
Jesu Christe – C major
Adagio (“slow, stately”)
Four-part chorus
Soprano section—highest note G
Longest, Girolami (0:54), shortest, Bernius ( 0:31)
What would a church work by an avid student of Bach be without a big, round, hummable Type I chorale? This has none of the tonal perversity of “Gratias agimus”, exulting in C major all the way. If there is anything perverse about it, it is that, whereas Bach would make a chorale self-contained, this one cannot stand alone and acts solely as an introduction to the next movement.
Like “Gratias agimus”, there is almost no variability between conductors. Partly this is because it is so short, at only six measures and about forty-five seconds, and partly because it’s loud, majestic, and joyful all the way through and doesn’t offer anything to play with. It sounds great in every recording.
Cum Sancto Spiritu – C major
[Alla breve] (Mozart does not indicate a tempo, but writes for “cut time”, a usually lively rhythm where there are two beats to a measure instead of four.)
Four-part chorus
Soprano section—highest note high A
Longest, Girolami (4:51); shortest, Bolton (3:11)
Like “Kyrie” and “Quoniam”, this movement is episodic and imitative, with cadences and bridges between most voice entrances. Unlike “Quoniam”, which is Type I music masquerading as Type II, this, like “Kyrie”, is true Type II music masquerading as Type I. It’s raucous and boisterous and must be fun to sing.
It sounds important and complicated, though there are really only two themes: the slow, chantlike Theme 1, which is generally belted out by one voice after another, and the fast, ever-busy Theme 2, which centers around a “turning” phrase, often preceded by three “pickup” notes.
Conducting speed is quite consistent: 27 of 43 recordings are between 3:45 and 4:15. There are 29 entrances of Theme 1, or about one every 8 seconds. There’s nothing wrong with the sound at any speed, but at faster speeds it takes a nimble chorus to handle the rapid melismas without muddiness. Also, the sopranos have to guard against the shriekiness that can result from having to hit high A, the first time in any mass that Mozart has required it of the chorus. Several more will follow before the mass is over.
m1—Episode 1 is straightforward, presenting Th1 in all 4 voices, with each taking up Th2 immediately afterward. There is a bridge built on Th2.
B-T-A-S (Th1 & Th2); bridge (Th2)
m35—In Episode 2, only the basses, altos, and tenors (after a slight delay) sing Th1, with everybody chiming in on Th2. This bridge, also built on Th2, leads to a cadence, followed by rapid alternating melismatic notes tossed back and forth, which sound to me like cackling chickens.
B-A…T (Th1 & Th2); bridge/cadence (Th2); chickens
m60—Episode 3 presents Th1 in only the sopranos and basses, again with Th2 in every voice. Another bridge/cadence built on Th2 leads to more chickens.
S-B (Th1 & Th2); bridge/cadence (Th2); chickens
m81—In Episode 4, the basses and tenors sing Th1 in a minor key, with Th2 churning along in the other voices. The bridge here does not contain Th2, but has lots of chickens.
B-T (minor) (Th1 & Th2); bridge (no Th2, but chickens)
m95—Episode 5 is brief, with only the altos singing Th1 against Th2 in the other voices. The bridge here has no Th2 and no chickens.
A (alone) Th1 & Th2; bridge (no Th2)
m105—Episode 6 is where the singers boom or bust. Each voice sings Th1 twice. There is no Th2, but instead, each of the voices also takes a turn at long stretches of the chicken melisma, with the basses having the longest workout. There is no bridge, but near the end the orchestra start to assert themselves with a jolly figure.
B-A-S-T-B-T-A-S (Th1, no Th2, but chickens); no bridge
m138—In Episode 7, the tenors belt out an upside-down version of Th1. Th2 is there as well, but the orchestra start to have so much fun, you don’t hear it. Suddenly the sopranos sing 10 repetitions of the almost missing in action Th2, building in intensity to a cadence that sounds as if there will be three or four more chords and the end of the piece.
T-S-B-A (inverted) (Th1 & Th2); orchestral fun; climactic bridge/cadence (10 repetitions of Th2)
m166—But Mozart is not through with the beleaguered singers. In Episode 8, each voice sings Th1 one more time, very close together, followed by another bridge/cadence built on Th2 that could also end the piece.
S-A-T-B (Th1); bridge/cadence (Th2)
m186—But instead, there is Episode 9, in which all voices sing Th1 in unison, followed finally by a cadence of those 4 chords we have been waiting for.
S/A/T/B (Th1); final cadence
NEXT: CREDO
