Mozart: Great Mass in C Minor & Exsultate, Jubilate

Featuring

Masaaki Suzuki
Carolyn Sampson
Olivia Vermeulen
Makoto Sakurada
Christian Immler
Bach Collegium Japan

Bach Collegium Japan Chorus
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Did you know?

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Composer's Artistic Vision

Mozart's Mass in C minor, K 427, is considered an important document of his conscious entry into the 'higher pathetic style of church music,' a concept identified by his biographer Georg Nikolaus Nissen.

Composition History

Mozart promised to write the Mass in C minor, K 427, before his marriage to Constanze Mozart, as a personal obligation.

Notable Performances

Parts of Mozart's Mass in C minor, K 427, were performed on October 26, 1783, in St Peter's Abbey in Salzburg, with his wife Constanze Mozart singing the prominent soprano solo parts.

Composition History

Mozart's Mass in C minor, K 427, was likely written in part as a votive mass related to his marriage plans with Constanze Mozart and a planned journey to Salzburg.

Compositional Technique

The Mass in C minor, K 427, employs unusual key changes, such as F major, A minor, D minor, G minor, and E minor within the C minor/C major tonality, to achieve exceptional expressive intensity.

Recording & Production

The incomplete sections of Mozart's Mass in C minor, K 427, on this recording are based on the arrangement by Franz Beyer, who completed the Credo, Et incarnatus est, Sanctus, Benedictus, and Hosanna.

Compositional Technique

The Mass in C minor, K 427, features an unusually rich wind instrument scoring for Mozart's sacred works, including two trumpets, timpani, two horns, three trombones, one flute, two oboes, two bassoons, strings, and organ.