Mozart’s Missa in C K. 317, erroneously dubbed the “Coronation Mass,” is among the most popular and most often performed works in this genre. The autograph of the Mass, which in many respects is very enlightening, was regarded as having been lost following the end of World War II, but was discovered at the end of the 1970s, it is preserved among the musical treasures contained in the Biblioteka Jagiellonska in Kraków. Ulrich Leisinger, the editor, prepared the edition based upon what is, without a doubt, the only authentic source, although additionally in the Critical Report he has also consulted an early copy of the Mass (by Fügerl), since such later copies often help to clarify questions concerning historical performance practice.
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Composer
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
| 1756-1791As the son of the deputy Kapellmeister to the Salzburg Prince-Archbishop, Mozart was constantly surrounded by church music in his youth. On his travels Mozart became familiar with Italian church music, and later in Vienna he studied the works of Bach and Handel. After moving to Vienna he was faced with the new challenges of composing opera and piano concertos, and significantly the “C Minor Mass” KV 427, the greatest sacred work of the first Vienna years, remained unfinished. The last period of his life again shows a change of direction to church music: Mozart successfully applied to succeed the terminally ill Leopold Hoffmann as Kapellmeister at St Stephen's Cathedral, but he was unable to take up the position as he died before Hoffmann. A gem such as the “Ave verum” KV 618 and the incomplete Requiem KV 626 give us an idea of what Mozart might have achieved as a composer of sacred music if he had taken up this important position. Personal details