Georg Reutter d. J., Kyrie in D
sorted in:
Georg Reutter d. J., Kyrie in D
sorted in:
The autograph manuscript of the Kyrie in D, KV Anh. A 26 stems from Mozart’s final Vienna years, when he turned increasingly to church music again. The manuscript comprises the first 22 bars of a composition by Georg Reutter the Younger in Mozart’s handwriting. Maximilian Stadler, who helped Constanze Mozart organize the estate of her deceased husband, considered it a fragment of an original Mozart composition. He added 13 bars to “complete” the work, as he had done with a number of other autograph Mozart fragments. In the 19th century, the autograph collector Aloys Fuchs recognized that two scribes had worked on it, but believed the addition to be by Mozart’s pupil Franz Xaver Süßmayr. The first edition of the Köchel Catalog (1862) mistakenly counted the work among the original compositions by Mozart and regarded it as an early piece due to its archaic style. It was not until the 1980s that the composition was discovered to be by Georg Reutter, who was Kapellmeister at St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna until 1772.
The celebration of Mass is the central element of the Roman Catholic Liturgy. Musical settings of the Ordinary of the Mass consist of Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus (with Osanna), Benedictus (and Osanna), and Agnus Dei. In Salzburg, a highly differentiated system developed over time to determine which celebrations required which type of composition. Some of the earliest masses by Wolfgang Amadé Mozart were composed for special occasions such as the consecration of priests or churches. After his appointment as concertmaster, he began composing music for Salzburg Cathedral on a regular basis and, in the 1770s, he was the most prolific composer of church music in the city. The use of trumpets and timpani indicates that most of these settings were intended for feast days when the Mass was held by the Prince-Archbishop himself. Masses in Southern Germany and Austria do not ordinarily include viola parts. After his move to Vienna, Mozart never held a church position again. Nonetheless, he began to write a number of masses there, although they remain as fragments. In April 1791, Mozart’s application to serve as substitute for Leopold Hofmann, the ailing capellmeister at St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, was granted, but he did not live to assume this position. The Requiem, a mass for the dead offered for the repose of the soul, uses a particular form of the Roman Missal. In Salzburg and Vienna, musical settings of the Requiem were written only for special occasions.
Autograph, 1774
[Aloys Fuchs:] Kyrie/ a 4 Voci da Capella/ comp. da/ W. Amadeo Mozart./ Partitura autographa.
Partitur: 2 Bl. (3 beschr. S.)
Abschrift
Partitur
Abschrift
[Titelblatt:] Kÿrie / in D-dur / für / 4 Singstimmen, Violine, Orgel und Bass. / von W: A. Mozart.
Partitur (3 Bl. mit 6 bestr. S.)