Missa brevissima
after fragments and sketches arranged by Johann Simon Kreuzpointner
When Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart returned to Salzburg in January 1779 from his journey to Paris, his luggage contained a single church music work – an unfinished Kyrie in E flat major (KV 296a) together with sketches for the Sanctus and Benedictus (KV 296c). In 2015, at the suggestion of the late Armin Kircher, Johann Simon Kreuzpointner set about compiling a five-movement setting of the mass from this material, also drawing on an unfinished cantata in E flat major (KV 429). For the orchestration and text underlay, Kreuzpointner took his cue from Mozart’s church music works. With this edition Kreuzpointner, an experienced church musician and composer, created a convincing and stylistically assured work, which he tried out in several performances.
The result is a concise setting of the mass, good to sing, which does not present any great difficulties for soloists, chorus, or orchestra.
The title "Missa brevissima" does not come from Mozart, but was chosen because of the brevity of the mass setting with its missing Credo. It also underlines the special status of this setting of the mass.
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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
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Arranger
Johann Simon Kreuzpointner
| 1968
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