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Missa brevis in G major
Mass by W. A. Mozart
The composer in 1770
Key	G major
Catalogue	K. 49/47d
Composed	1768 (1768): Salzburg
Movements	6
Vocal	SATB choir and soloists
Instrumental	two violins viola continuo

Mozart's Mass in G major, K. 49/47d), is his first full mass. It is a missa brevis scored for SATB soloists and choir, violin I and II, viola, and basso continuo.

Mozart wrote the Mass in G major at the age of 12. It was however neither his first setting of a part of the mass ordinary – two years earlier he had already composed a Kyrie (K. 33) —, nor was it his largest composition with a religious theme up to date: his sacred musical play Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots had been premiered in the previous year.

History

Composed in Vienna in the autumn of 1768, this mass is Mozart's only missa brevis to feature a viola part. It is not clear what occasion it was composed for, and it has been confused with the Waisenhausmesse, composed in the same year.

Religious music at the time was increasingly influenced by opera and Baroque embellishments in instrumentation; Mozart's early masses, such as K. 49/47d, have been seen as a return to the more austere settings of the pre-Baroque era.

Movements

The six movements of the mass follow the traditional Order of Mass:

Kyrie Adagio, G major,

"Kyrie eleison" Andante, G major,
₄

Gloria Allegro, G major,

Credo Allegro, G major,
₄

"Et incarnatus est" Poco adagio, C major,

"Et resurrexit" Allegro – Adagio – Allegro, G major,

"Et in Spiritum Sanctum" Andante, C major,
₄; bass solo

"Et in unam sanctam" Allegro – Adagio – Allegro – Adagio, G major, and
₄

"Et vitam venturi" Allegro, G major,

Sanctus Andante, G major,
₄

"Pleni sunt coeli et terra" Allegro, G major,
₄

"Hosanna in excelsis" Allegro, G major,
₂

Benedictus Andante, C major,
₄; soloist quartet

"Hosanna in excelsis" Allegro, G major,
₂

Agnus Dei Adagio, E minor,

"Dona nobis pacem" Allegro, G major,
₈

Recordings

1988: Edith Mathis (soprano), Rosemarie Lang (contralto), Uwe Heilmann (tenor), Jan-Hendrik Rootering (bass) — Rundfunkchor Leipzig, Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra, Herbert Kegel — Philips Classics Records (later reissued in 1991 as part of The Complete Mozart Edition, Volume 19 "Missae and Requiem").

References

1. Einstein, Alfred (1945). Mozart: His Character, His Work. p. 326. ISBN 978-0-19-500732-9. Archived from the original on 27 March 2017.
2. Eisen, Cliff; Keefe, Simon, eds. (2006). The Cambridge Mozart Encyclopedia. p. 272. ISBN 978-1-139-44878-9. Archived from the original on 18 August 2020.
3. Melograni, Piero (2007). Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: A Biography. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-226-51956-2. Archived from the original on 18 July 2018.
4. Maragh-Ablinger, Renate. Wolfgang Amade Mozart. p. 51. Archived from the original on 24 July 2017. Retrieved 22 September 2016.

External links

•  Missa brevis in G K. 49 (47d): Score in the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe
• Free scores of Missa Brevis No. 1 in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
• Missa Brevis No. 1: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project

• Masses by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• 1768 compositions
• Compositions in G major