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Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart |
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: 1756-1791
Earthbound, Yet Heaven Sent
Evaluating the joyful body of work by a musical genius, it’s hard to imagine Mozart was dissatisfied with how his composing career turned out. Writing sacred music to be offered in church was his favorite enterprise, Mozart told friends, but church commissions alone weren’t enough to support a family or his lavish lifestyle. So this was music he was least able to devote time to, despite his own sincere faith and, as many observed, his gift of divine inspiration.
“It is a great consolation for me to remember that the Lord, to whom I had drawn near in humble and child-like faith, has suffered and died for me, and that He will look on me in love and compassion.” ~~ Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
On Sunday May 7, 2006, Good Shepherd worshipers can share in Mozart’s exuberant expression of praise as the Chancel Choir offers his “Coronation Mass” at both 8:30 and 10 a.m. services. Written when the composer was 23, his Mass in C Major k. 317 is both majestic and joyful, and displays for worshipers Mozart’s early mastery of liturgical composition.
Director of Music Peter Schmidt will conduct the chamber orchestra and choir, accompanied by organist Charles Pugh. The performance will feature a quartet of gifted Good Shepherd soloists: Anne Crawford, soprano; Roberta McFadden, alto; Marlin Strand, tenor; and Mark Antolik, bass. (Note: Holy Communion will be offered at both services. Senior Pastor David A. Sonnenberg Jr. will deliver a sermon at 11:15 a.m. Contemporary worship only.)
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church’s offering of this masterwork coincides with the 250th anniversary year of Mozart’s birth. The composer is being celebrated with concerts and events not only in his hometown of Salzburg, Austria, but also worldwide throughout 2006. If you are anywhere near a concert hall, classical music radio station and especially a church this year, it’s more than likely you’ll be treated to a great deal of Mozart.
Mozart composed this Mass in 1779 for Easter worship at Salzburg Cathedral. The commission was part of his new job as organist and composer for Hieronymous Colloredo, archbishop and temporal head of Salzburg. While the church leader was pleased with Mozart’s work, he wasn’t happy that the prolific young composer also spent his time churning out work for other wealthy patrons and taking commissions to make a sufficient living. He fired Mozart, twice.
The challenge to compose this festive Mass came at a crucial time for Mozart: His mother died just months earlier after a short illness; a potential bride turned him down; and he failed to receive a musical appointment he felt was more suited to his talent and in a city he considered more glamorous and sophisticated. The job he finally secured in his hometown required Mozart to play in church, at court and in the chapel, and to compose sacred and secular works. The composition format dictated by Archbishop Colloredo, as well as the tradition of sacred music in Austria at that time, said this 1779 Mass should play no longer than 45 minutes, not contain operatic touches or elaborate solos, and employ specific instrumentation.
Instead of chafing at the requirements, Mozart delivered a unified, compact and extraordinarily uplifting six-movement Mass suited to Easter’s celebratory liturgical nature. As his soul inspiration, he seems to have let the sacred message take hold during this Mass instead of laboring under frustration in the task. In this his initiation in Mass composition, Mozart delivers characteristic zest, shrewd changes in tempo, and some surprises in “Coronation,” which listeners will agree are rewardingly “all Mozart” in character.
Yet in a final “Ah ha!” to Colloredo’s instructions, the Mass efficiently runs under 30 minutes long! While using his quartet of vocalists superbly to convey the message, Mozart did manage to sneak in a beautifully operatic soprano aria in the “Angus Dei” movement. Twelve years after its premiere, this spiritual masterwork acquired the nickname “Kronungsmesse” (Coronation Mass) in 1791 when it was performed in Prague at the coronation of Leopold II as King of Bohemia.
The Chancel Choir and Good Shepherd instrumentalists have offered many elegant and moving sacred works by Mozart. Our musicians kicked off the 250th anniversary Mozart year on January 29 with the anthem “Alleluia.” Written when the composer was 16, the small masterpiece is taken from the sacred motet “Exsultate Jubilate (k.165).” “Alleluia” is the Allegro (brisk, lively) movement of the motet.
It was first performed on Jan. 17, 1773 during Mass at the Church of San Antonio in Milan, where young Mozart was enjoying the vibrant Italian opera and concert scene. The joyful choral setting and bright organ accompaniment are fitting for the post Christmas and Epiphany season. Translated from Latin, it means: Rejoice, resound with joy! Mozart’s theme of celebration stems from Isaiah 9:2: “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great Light: They that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the Light shined.” For the seasonal liturgy, the composition also draws from the Gospel of John 1:9, where Christ is proclaimed “the true Light, which enlightens everyone, who cometh into the world.”
Another work offered at Good Shepherd showcased Mozart’s genius for depicting Scripture and liturgy in beautiful melodies and with appropriate spirituality -- also during his tenure in Salzburg. “Laudate Dominum,” which Director of Music Peter Schmidt selected for worship this past June, featured member Elspeth Stailey as soprano soloist. The piece is a beautiful and gentle affirmation of God’s kindness. In the Latin text from Psalm 117, the soloist proclaims:
"O praise the Lord, all ye nations;
praise Him, all ye people.
For His merciful kindness is great toward us;
and the truth of the Lord endureth forever."
The choir provides the benediction:
"Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen."
Written at age 24, Mozart’s 1780 composition is excerpted from one of his two settings for vesper psalms, “Vesperae solennes de confessore, K. 339.” The four vocal parts express the text simultaneously in classical church style, but the soaring soprano portion of this movement is beautiful as any aria composed by Mozart for one of his operas.
Unlike the somewhat restrictive format for the Mass, the evening worship setting allowed the composer more freedom of artistic expression. Mozart absorbed and adapted numerous musical styles of sacred composers such as Palestrina, Bach, Handel and Haydn. So it’s not surprising that he set the five psalms and Gospel message of “Vesperae solennes” in five different keys and a wide range of styles and techniques. The result is an optimistic expression of faith that relies on hope and joy instead of gravity and piety.
Born in January 27, 1756 in Salzburg, Austria, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart showed an extraordinary talent and ease for music at a very young age. A music theorist and respected composer, father Leopold Mozart set his own career aside to teach young Wolfgang piano, violin and composition. Mozart composed his first piano concerto at age 4, his first symphony at age 8 and his first opera when he was 11. Beginning at age 6, his concert performance career took him throughout Europe.
Mozart’s earliest church composition was written at age 9 during his first trip to England: A psalm motet “God Is Our Refuge.” Surrounded by church music from boyhood onward, the prodigy wrote masses, psalm settings, litanies, and both choral and instrumental music for the magnificent churches around Europe and cathedrals in Austria.
Mozart was said to have a healthy ego and took pride in his many accomplishments at such a young age. He amazed his musical peers and often himself at how effortlessly he composed for voices, instrumental ensembles large and small, organ, operas, concerti, symphonies, sonatas and serenades. But, he declared: “Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love: That is the soul of genius.”
Mozart’s short and extraordinary life is very well documented, and was even the subject of an Oscar-winning movie “Amadeus.” Filmed in 1984 and starring Tom Hulse as Mozart, it’s filled with intrigue, great music, lavish settings, comedy and a great deal of truth about the exuberant and brilliant composer.
At age 35, Mozart died in Vienna while working on his final sacred composition: “Requiem,” a funeral Mass commissioned by an Austrian nobleman. Completed by his pupils, “Requiem” provides listeners with a weary and ill Mozart’s final perspective on God: Powerful and majestic in making His final judgment of the soul, yet a tender Creator who provides rest in paradise.
Although his contemporaries may have criticized Mozart as flighty, immature, obnoxious, impious or frivolous, they did not doubt his sincerity and genuine attachment to his faith and its emotional expression in music. Theologian Karl Barth’s comment about sacred composer Johann Sebastian Bach offers a compliment to Mozart: “The angels in heaven sing Bach to God the Father, but prefer Mozart among themselves.”
--- Contributed by Penny Risen