APPENDIX II. ARRANGEMENTS OF MOZART'S CHURCH MUSIC.
ARRANGEMENTS OF MOZART'S CHURCH MUSIC.
EVEN cantatas which appeared under Mozart's name (Leipzig: Breitkopf and Hartel, and elsewhere) are perhaps, after his operas, the most widely known of his works, and upon them in a great measure rests his fame as a composer of church music. Of these cantatas, however, only one, the second (and that with altered words), was left in its present state by Mozart; the others were all put together after his death from separate portions of various church compositions, often widely differing in the time, the object and the style of their composition, and having undergone arbitrary alterations and additions. Nothing but the newly adopted words holds them together, and these are generally trivial, often in direct contradiction to the spirit of the original words.
The parody of Goethe's song "Der du Leid und Sehnsucht stillest," which in Cantata III. replaces the original "Alma redemptoris," may serve as an example. This double injustice done to the composer may be explained as arising from the tendency of an age which turned to its own immediate convenience any music which came to hand, with little feeling for the work of art as a whole and little respect for the right of the author to the integrity of his work or for the claims of historical accuracy.
The following is the result of a survey of the cantatas and their component parts (Anh., 124-130 K.):—[See Page Image]
Cantata I. consists of the Kyrie (p. i), Panis omnipotent!ae (p. 10), Viaticum (p. 15), and Pignus futurz gloriae (p. 16) of the Litany 125 K-
Cantata II. is the Litany 109 K.
Cantata III. is pot together from the Sanctus of the Mass 259 K. (p. 3); the Benedictus of the Mass 220 K.; the Gloria of the Mass 259 K. (p. 9); the Offertorium 72 K. (p. 15); and the Credo of the Mass 259 K. (p. 25).
Cantata IV. consists of the Kyrie and Gloria of the Mass 220 K. (p. 3); Motetto 277 K. (p. 12); Gratias (p. 19); and Domine (p. 21) of the Mass in C minor 427 K. [employed in the "Davidde Penitente" 469 K. as Chorus 4» "Si pur sempre," and Duet 5, "Sorgi o Signore **]; Magnificat of the Vesper 193 K. (p. 26).
Cantata V. is formed of the Kyrie (p. 1), Et incarnatus, to the close of the Credo (p. 6), Benedictus (p. 12), Agnus Dei (p. 20), and Gloria (p. 25) of the Mass 258 K.
Cantata VI. contains the Dixit of the Vesper 193 K. (p. 1); Laudate Dominum (p. 13) and Magnificat (p. 20) of the Vesper 321 K. Cantata VII. is put together from the Kyrie (p. 1) and Benedictus (p. 5) of the Mass 259 K.; an air from "Davidde Penitente" (469 IL, 3) "Lungi le cure ingrate" (p. 14); the Agnus Dei (p. 26) and Dona nobis (p. 29) of the Mass 259 K.; and the Dixit of the Vesper 321 K. (p. 33).
After this, it was not surprising that the choruses from "Konig Tham os" should have been used as sacred music, or that the "Frei-maurercantaten" (429,471 K.) should have been treated in the same way (Vol. II., p. 407). Nor was it unusual to find an altered text (church-like in character) supplied to sacred compositions. But secular music was also appropriated by the Church. The beautiful adagio of the grand serenata for wind instruments (361 K.) has been turned into an offertory, "Quis te comprehendat" (Anh., 110 K.). The air for Nancy Storace (405 K.),"Ch' io mi scordi di te," has been fitted to the words "In te domine speravi," and the obbligato piano part transferred to the organ (Anh., 120 K.). The air from "Titus" (19),"Deh per questo istante," with the words "O Deus, ego te amo" (Anh., 112 K.), and Adamberger's air, "Per pietà non ricercate" (420), with the words "Omni die die Mariae" (Anh., hi K.), are both used as offertories. V. Novello published the wonderful ensemble from the second finale in "Figaro" "Più docile io sono e dico di si," with the words "O Jesu mi, miserere nobis!" as a motett with organ accompaniment, and has appended the remark: "This motett may be used at Benediction." It is to be hoped that there is no truth in the report that Leparello's "Notte e giorno faticar" and Don Giovanni's "Fin che dal vino," have been travestied as a "Docti sacris" and a "Lauda Sion."
ARRANGEMENTS OP MOZART'S CHURCH MUSIC.
Further than this, however, whole Masses have been arranged from Mozart's operas; and at the beginning of this century a "Missa di Figaro. Don Giovanni" was not unknown to church choirs. One example of the kind may be described as evidence of the fact. In the collection of K. Zulehner of Mayence there was preserved a "Coronation Mass" in C major, with Mozart's name as composer, of which a copy was sent to me by Herr Schott of Mayence. All the movements, with the exception of the Credo, are identical with whole movements or smaller portions of "Cosî fan Tutte," with alterations of key and instrumentation, and here and there the addition or omission of a part, as follows:—
The Kyrie is the terzet (10) "Soave sio il vento," transposed into C major and turned into a four-part chorus by the addition of a tenor part, and with two flutes to fill in the harmonies. Christe eleison is the first movement of the duet (4), "Ah guarda sorella," transposed into G major, for soprano and tenor, with two oboes and two horns, shortened here and there, and the ritomello placed at the end. At the beginning of the Gloria, after a few unimportant bars by the adapter, the motif of the first chorus of the second finale is made use of (p. 230); then follow for the Gratias agimus the first seventy bars of the air (11) "Smanie implacabile" as a soprano solo in F major. The Qui tollis consists of seven bars not borrowed, but at the Miserere occur four bars from the first finale (p. 115), "Ed il polso," and after the repetition of the original Qui tollis at the word "suscipe," the first finale (p. 115), "Ah se tardo," is continued to the end of the movement. "Quoniam tu solus" to the end of the Gloria is the terzet (3) "Una bella serenata," unaltered up to the addition of the fourth part in the tutti passages; the closing ritornello is omitted. In the Gloria, flutes, oboes, horns, and drums and trumpets are employed in the customary alternations. Sanctus and Osanna are the andante of the first finale shortened by six bars, transposed into C major, and the parts rather differently arranged to suit the words. Benedictus is the duet and chorus (21) "Secondate," transposed into F major, and accompanied by stringed instruments flutes, and oboes; the chorus enters at "Osanna." Agnus Dei begins with eleven original bars, then follows "Idol mio" from the second finale, with the part of Despina omitted. Dona nobis is the closing ensemble of the opera. I gather from a letter addressed to G. Weber that Zulehner was of opinion that Mozart wrote the Mass before the opera; that, on the contrary, the Mass was pieced together from the opera by some church musician, no external evidence is required to prove.