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Exsultate, jubilate
Motet by W. A. Mozart
Mozart in the 1770s
Catalogue	K. 165
Language	Latin
Composed	1773 (1773): Milan
Performed	17 January 1773 (1773-01-17)
Movements	4
Scoring	soprano orchestra

Exsultate, jubilate (Exult, rejoice), K. 165, is a 1773 motet by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

History

This religious solo motet was composed when Mozart was staying in Milan during the production of his opera Lucio Silla which was being performed there in the Teatro Regio Ducale. It was written for the castrato Venanzio Rauzzini, who had sung the part of the primo uomo Cecilio in Lucio Silla the previous year. While waiting for the end of the run (from 26 December 1772 to 25 January 1773), Mozart composed the motet for his singer, whose technical excellence he admired. Its first performance took place at the Theatine Church on 17 January 1773, while Rauzzini was still singing in Mozart's opera at night. Mozart made some revisions around 1780. On 30 May 1779, a Trinity Sunday, a revised version was performed by Francesco Ceccarelli at the Holy Trinity Church, Salzburg. Another revised version was intended for Christmas. The manuscripts of the two Salzburg versions were discovered in 1978 in St. Jakob, Wasserburg am Inn. While in modern times the motet is usually sung by a female soprano, it was also recorded by a number of countertenors, including Michael Maniaci, Franco Fagioli and Arno Raunig [de].

The autograph manuscript of the motet is preserved in the Jagiellonian Library.

Structure

External audio
Performance by Kiri Te Kanawa, London Symphony Orchestra, Colin Davis conducting (1971); via Internet Archive

It has four sections:

1. Exsultate jubilate – Allegro (F major)
2. Fulget amica dies – Secco recitative
3. Tu virginum corona – Andante (A major)
4. Alleluja – Allegro (F major)

Musicologist Stanley Sadie called the final section, "Alleluia", "a jewel of a piece with its high spirits and its wit ... like no other piece of Mozart's; its music speaks unmistakably of his relaxed high spirits at the time he wrote it and of the elation and confidence that his opera-house success had brought him".

Although nominally for liturgical use, the motet has many features in common with Mozart's concert arias, such as those drawn from his operas. Mozart also used elements of concerto form in this motet.

Instrumentation

The motet is scored for soprano solo, 2 oboes (or 2 flutes), bassoon, 2 natural horns in F, organ, 1st and 2nd violins and violas, cello, and double bass.

The occasionally divided viola section gives the orchestra a richer sound. This is something Mozart did more often, for example in his Sinfonia Concertante KV 364 in E-flat major for violin, viola and orchestra.

Libretto

Written in Latin, the author of the text is unknown but may have been Rauzzini.

Revisions

The text of the first Salzburg version differs in the first and second section.

The second Salzburg version differs from the previous only in the first section.

Recordings

• On Great Mass in C minor, K. 427, 1990 CD and DVD, Arleen Auger, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Bernstein conducting

References

1. ^ Konrad Küster (1996). Mozart: A Musical Biography. Translated by Mary Whittall. Clarendon Press. ISBN 9780198163398 – via Internet Archive.
2. ^ Richard Hamilton; Paul F. Zweifel. "The Three Versions of Mozart's Exsultate, jubilate". pzweifel.com. Archived from the original on 15 July 2011. Retrieved 27 February 2008.
3. L. Schenbeck (1996). Joseph Haydn and the Classical Choral Tradition, Hinshaw Music, p. 235
4. P. Barbier (1989). The World of the Castrati: The History of an Extraordinary Operatic Phenomenon, transl. M. Crosland, Souvenir Press, p. 179
5. Feldman, Martha (2007). Opera and sovereignty: transforming myths in eighteenth-century Italy. New York: University of Chicago Press. p. 56 n. 36. ISBN 978-0-226-24113-5.
6. Hermann Abert, Mozart, (1909), transl. and revised by Cliff Eisen, Yale University Press, 2007, pp. 150–151
7. C. Eisen, S. Sadie. The New Grove Mozart Macmillan (2002), p. 11
8. Sadie, Stanley (2006). Mozart: The Early Years (reprint ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 292. ISBN 9780198165293.
9. Paul Corneilson (2006). "Arias, Concert", The Cambridge Mozart Encyclopedia, Cliff Eisen, Simon P. Keefe (eds.), Cambridge University Press, p. 21
10. "Review (Judith Raskin, Cleveland Orchestra, George Szell)". Hi-Fi/Stereo Review. Vol. 19. 1967. p. 80.
11. K-165, Britannica.com

External links

• „Motetto” : „composte in Milano nel giannaio 1773”: Mozart's autograph manuscript in the Jagiellonian Library
• Exsultate, jubilate: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
•  Exsultate, jubilate: Score and critical report (in German) in the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe

• Classical music

• Motets by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• 1773 compositions
• Compositions in F major