Coronation Mass

CORO CORO Mozart: Mass in C minor Harry Christophers & Handel and Haydn Society MOZART Gillian Keith, Tove Dahlberg, Thomas Cooley, Nathan Berg Coronation Mass “…a commanding and compelling reading of an important if often overlooked monument in Mozart’s musical development.” cor16084 gramophone recommended Mozart: Requiem Harry Christophers & Handel and Haydn Society Elizabeth Watts, Phyllis Pancella, Andrew Kennedy, Eric Owens “A requiem full of life…Mozart’s final masterpiece has never sounded so exciting.” classic fm magazine Teresa Wakim cor16093 Paula Murrihy Harry Christophers Thomas Cooley To find out more about CORO and to buy CDs visit Handel and Haydn Society Sumner Thompson www.thesixteen.com cor16104 ne of the many delights of being I feel very privileged to take this august Society towards its Bicentennial; yes, the OArtistic Director of America's oldest Handel and Haydn Society was founded in 1815. Handel was the old, Haydn the new continuously performing arts organisation, the (he had just died in 1809), and what we can do is continue to perform the music of the Handel and Haydn Society, is that I am given past but strip away the cobwebs and reveal it anew. This recording of music by Haydn the opportunity to present most of our concert and Mozart was made possible by individuals who are inspired by the work of the season at Boston's glorious Symphony Hall. Built Handel and Haydn Society. Our sincere thanks go to all of them. in 1900, it is principally the home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, but it has been our primary Borggreve Marco Photograph: performance home since 1900 as well, and it is considered by many, with some justification I would add, to be one of the finest concert halls in the world. It’s that classic ‘shoebox style’ reminiscent of the Musikverein in Vienna; the acoustics are quite superb and, despite its size – c.2500 capacity – perfect for playing on period instruments. On this live recording, we present a programme devoted to monarchs and coronation. Nicknames pervade – Haydn’s extraordinarily vibrant Paris Symphony is called ‘La Reine’ simply because Marie Antoinette claimed it was her favourite, Mozart’s Mass “La Reine is a delicate work, with a first movement that suggests lovers tiptoeing up in C major acquired its nickname ‘Coronation Mass’ a number of years after it was and down stairs … The performance was dramatic and well shaped, with sweetly rustic written – it was most likely performed at one of the coronation celebrations for either oboe solos and a sweetly burbling flute obbligato. Mozart’s “Coronation” Mass is a mass Leopold II or Franz I of Austria, or even both. of war and peace … Christophers was majestic one moment, militant the next; every movement had its own distinctive character.” This disc also sees the debut of soprano Teresa Wakim. Tess has been a member of our Jeffrey Gantz / the boston globe excellent chorus and it is always abundantly satisfying for me to nurture ‘home grown’ talent and in Tess I do believe we have a very special voice. She graces us not only “With commanding stage presence, soprano Teresa Wakim, in her Handel and Haydn with the sublime Agnus Dei from the Coronation Mass but also with the renowned Society debut, sang the jewel, Alleluia of “Exsultate, jubilate, K165” in a ravishing, Exsultate, jubilate, one of the few solo sacred motets Mozart wrote. Believe it or not, pure-toned, crystal clear, lyric voice... Her memorable and regal performance was this was first performed by the castrato, Rauzzini – how thankful I am that we have a indeed a coronation!” soprano singing it on this recording. berkshire review 2 3 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–91) Joseph Haydn Symphony No. 85 in B flat major, (1732–1809) ‘La Reine’ Mass in C major, K317, ‘Coronation’ 1 Adagio – Vivace 11.09 Exsultate, jubilate, K165 2 Romance: Allegretto 7.10 3 Menuetto & Trio: Allegretto 4.02 Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) 4 Finale: Presto 3.27 Symphony No. 85 in B flat major, ‘La Reine’ Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Exsultate, jubilate, K165 (1756–91) 5 Aria: Exsultate, jubilate 5.08 ozart’s 16 completed Mass settings a supposition that appears to gain Teresa Wakim soprano 6 Recitative: Fulget amica dies 0.51 Mall date from his Salzburg years, in substance from a letter he wrote in 1776 7 Aria: Tu virginum corona 6.57 particular from the period during the to his former teacher, Padre Martini, in 8 1770s when, as Konzertmeister to the which he remarked that in the absence Alleluia 2.44 archiepiscopal court, he was required to of operatic opportunities in Salzburg ‘I compose liturgical music both for the am amusing myself by writing chamber Mozart Mass in C major, K317, ‘Coronation’ cathedral and for the local churches. After music and music for the church’. But it his move to Vienna in 1781 to try his luck would certainly be wrong to suppose Teresa Wakim soprano 9 Kyrie 3.07 bl as a freelance composer and performer, that Mozart relaxed his standards in Paula Murrihy mezzo-soprano Gloria 4.19 he attempted only two more large-scale his sacred compositions. It is true that Thomas Cooley tenor bm Credo 6.46 sacred works and finished neither – the little church music dates from the time Sumner Thompson baritone bn Sanctus 1.32 first (the great Mass in C minor, K427) of his greatest maturity, but the best of apparently through loss of interest, and the the Salzburg Masses show the familiar bo Benedictus 3.28 second (the Requiem) because of his death. easy skills in counterpoint and fluid bp Agnus Dei 6.39 vocal melody in works of elegance and Total running time 67.27 That might seem to imply that for Mozart charm which, while not greatly radical, sacred music was not a high priority, nevertheless successfully marry their 4 5 composer’s particular strengths to the the Mass thus became single movements music that was simpler, more direct and the Krönungsmesse. It was heard again accepted Austrian church idiom of the day. which might accommodate both more popular in conception, with what the following year at the coronation contrapuntal and homophonic choral learned elements there were assumed of Franz I, Leopold’s successor as Holy That idiom had its roots in Italy, and the writing, as well as music for solo singers. naturally and without self-consciousness Roman Emperor, and it is possible that so-called ‘cantata’ or ‘Neapolitan’ Mass, in into the music’s frankly lyrical, at times Salieri also directed it at Leopold’s own which the text was set in small chunks, the Other factors, too, were responsible for even song-like manner. Significantly, it imperial coronation in Frankfurt in resulting sections creating a sometimes shaping the Mass in Austria. Reforms was mainly through his church music 1790. The work is a fine example of a uneasy mixture of styles: choruses in the introduced by the Enlightenment- that Mozart was known to the Salzburg Mass which combines Neapolitan and strict contrapuntal manner; homophonic, inspired Emperor Joseph II discouraged general public during the 1770s (his Austrian elements in a varied but concise declamatory choral movements with the indulgences of elaborate church symphonies and serenades having been score. On the Neapolitan side there are busily independent instrumental music, and in Salzburg Mozart found destined for the smaller audiences found declamatory choruses with busy string accompaniments; and unashamedly that his like-minded Prince-Archbishop in courtly circles); it is possible that far accompaniments (for instance in the operatic solo numbers. Such Masses were set more precise limitations still: ‘our from being frustrated by the restrictions Credo, or the ‘Hosanna’ sections of the enormously influential during the 18th church music is very different from that imposed on him by his austere employer, Sanctus and Benedictus) and strikingly century, and in Austria that influence of Italy,’ he told Martini; ‘a Mass with the he was quite happy to tailor his style operatic moments such as the Agnus Dei, was felt as strongly as anywhere. Mozart whole Kyrie, the Gloria, the Credo, the to suit a less high-flown audience. a soprano solo whose kinship to the later was happy to follow these examples in Epistle sonata, the Offertory or Motet, ‘Dove sono’ from The Marriage of Figaro some of his earliest Masses, while the the Sanctus and the Agnus Dei must The Mass in C major, K317, is one of is unmistakable. There is counterpoint, unfinished C minor Mass of 1782–3 is not last longer than three-quarters of his last Salzburg settings, dating from too, though not in the form of fugues a particularly fine example of the genre. an hour.’ Paradoxically, perhaps, Mozart March 1779. Mozart obviously thought but rather in the tuneful, unobtrusive But certain local preoccupations – among seemed to benefit from this situation in well of it, for he used it again on a species of part-writing – found here in them the rise of sonata-based forms such terms of his development as a composer number of occasions during the 1780s, the outer sections of the Credo – which as the symphony – contrived to create a of Masses: his efforts now became more but it was a performance arranged by a came easily to Austrian composers more homogeneous Austrian style, one compact, with the smaller number of famous colleague that brought the work in general and to Mozart especially. in which the sections became fewer and component sections compelling him to its nickname: in 1791 Antonio Salieri less diverse, with contrasts tending to be find more subtle ways – among them the conducted it in Prague at the coronation More clearly Austrian, though, is the established within movements rather than increasing use of sonata procedures – to of Leopold II as King of Bohemia, and quasi-symphonic concern to achieve between them.

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