Robert Blocker, Dean
Nate Widelitz choral conducting Doctor of Musical Arts Degree Recital November 14, 2021 | 7:00 p.m. | Marquand Chapel
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1756–1791 ed. Frieder Bernius & Uwe Wolf
Great Mass in C minor, K. 427 I. Kyrie eleison Amalia Crevani, soprano II. Gloria in excelsis Deo Laudamus te Anna Kelly, mezzo-soprano Gratias agimus tibi Domine Deus Amalia Crevani, soprano Anna Kelly, mezzo-soprano Qui tollis peccata mundi Quoniam tu solus sanctus Amalia Crevani, soprano Anna Kelly mezzo-soprano Jordan Costa, tenor Jesu Christe Cum Sancto Spiritu III. Credo in unum Deum Et incarnatus est Amalia Crevani, soprano IV. Sanctus/Hosanna V. Benedictus/Hosanna Amalia Crevani, soprano Anna Kelly, mezzo-soprano Jordan Costa, tenor Benjamin Ferriby, baritone
Great Mass in C Minor, K. 427 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Yale Recital Chorus and Orchestra Amalia Crevani, soprano Jordan Costa, tenor Anna Kelly, mezzo-soprano Benjamin Ferriby, baritone Nate Widelitz, conductor
Though it does not enjoy the currency in popular culture that the Requiem does, Mozart’s Mass in C Minor is every bit the monument the Requiem is. Composed between late 1782 and mid-1783, the work’s history and style bear some similarities to those of the Requiem: both were left unfinished and both exemplify Mozart’s mature sacred style, which incorporates many elements of Baroque music. We do not know why Mozart wrote the Mass in the first place, as there was no commission to motivate its composition. The only evidence we have on the subject is an oblique reference in a letter Mozart wrote to his father in January 1783 about “the score of half of a Mass” that supposedly serves as proof of his intent to “fulfill a vow” he made while Constanze Weber, then his fiancée, was lying ill. It is therefore speculated that Mozart wrote the Mass as a votive offering to God for Constanze’s recovery. We know of only one performance of the work during Mozart’s lifetime: at St. Peter’s Abbey in Salzburg on October 26, 1783. Records of this performance are tragically scant; we have only an incomplete set of parts and a diary entry by Mozart’s sister Nannerl upon which to rely for details. Among other information, Nannerl’s entry reveals that Constanze herself sang the soprano I solos. Our current understanding of the score has taken years of research, several fortuitous discoveries, and a good deal of inference to achieve. Piecing together numerous primary and secondary sources, we have managed to reassemble what we believe is as much of the Mass as Mozart ever wrote – the entire Kyrie and Gloria, the first two movements of the Credo, and the Sanctus and Benedictus with their accompanying Hosannas. It appears that Mozart never got around to setting the Credo beyond the Et incarnatus or the Agnus Dei. What’s more, he never got past drafting several movements; for example, he wrote only the choral, continuo, and key fragments of the wind parts of the Credo. We will likely never know why Mozart left the Mass unfinished. Various musicologists have conjectured that Mozart abandoned the project upon the death of his infant son Raimund Leopold in August of 1783. This is certainly plausible; the Credo abruptly breaks off after the radiant Et incarnatus, an unmistakable lullaby that sets the text discussing the incarnation of Christ. Perhaps, following the fragment’s performance in 1783, Mozart simply felt satisfied enough to move onto other business. It is clear that by 1785, if not before, Mozart had definitively given up on the idea of completing the work in its original form, as he reused the Kyrie and all seven movements of the Gloria in his cantata Davidde Penitente, K. 469. Reuse of music in this manner was not uncommon at that time, but it was typically done only to works that had little chance of ever being heard again after single, usually event-specific, performances. The ecclesiastical reforms implemented across the Austrian Empire in the 1770s and 1780s forbade the use of large-scale Mass settings, so Mozart had to know that there was little hope of the Mass ever seeing another performance. We are therefore left with the torso of a breathtaking masterwork, and there have been sharp differences of opinion over the years about how best to address this issue. Editors of the Mass have
fallen into one of two camps: those who believe that the missing movements should be supplied in some way and those who do not. Of course, the incomplete nature of the movements that have survived also presents some dilemmas, not to mention the fact that the secondary sources from which we derive several movements almost certainly contain some rewrites of Mozart’s original material. Given these issues, it should come as no surprise that there have been no fewer than eight editions of the Mass issued by major publishing houses since 1985. The version you are about to hear was edited by Frieder Bernius and Uwe Wolf and published by Carus-Verlag in 2016. This edition has several advantages over competing editions published in the last fifteen years, all of which benefit from the latest research and scholarship. First and foremost, it does not attempt to supply the six movements that Mozart never wrote, so it avoids the problem of composing music wholesale. It is also faithful to Mozart’s style and orchestrational techniques, to which several newer editions are not, striking the right balance between transparency and fullness of sound. This version is, to the best of our current knowledge, musicologically sound, eminently performable, and allows the subtle genius of Mozart to shine through. It is our pleasure to present this edition of this clever, masterful work. The Mass opens in somber fashion, with plodding strings outlining falling figures reminiscent of the action of genuflection upon arrival at the Abbey. These give way to rising figures in the winds and then the choir, perhaps giving musical form to the clouds of incense that would have risen slowly to the roof of the church as Mass began. The Kyrie text lends itself perfectly to the quintessential Classical structure, the sonata-allegro form, in which material is introduced, developed, and finally brought back in its original form. Mozart does not miss this opportunity, sandwiching a virtuosic soprano solo in E♭ major petitioning Christ for mercy between choral petitions to God the Father in the home key of C minor. This movement introduces a motif that will recur in many others: a chromatic descent, which lends a subtle air of lament to the work. Kyrie eleison. Christe eleison. Kyrie eleison.
Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
The next section of the Mass, the Gloria, is divided by Mozart into seven movements, as was standard practice at the time. The first movement dispels the Kyrie’s dark C minor with an explosive, upbeat C major that recontextualizes the Kyrie’s rising tonic triads, eventually opening out into a wave of polyphony. Mozart follows this opening section with a complementary setting of “And on Earth peace to men of goodwill,” consisting of more falling lines, before repeating these two sections over. Gloria in excelsis Deo, Et in terra pax hominibus bonæ voluntatis.
Glory be to God in the highest, And on Earth peace to men of goodwill.
Following is the Laudamus te, whose bright “allegro aperto” unfolds, like the Kyrie, in sonata form. However, Mozart—ever the brilliant innovator—sneaks in a remarkable twist: the soprano soloist anticipates the recapitulation of the opening material by three measures, sustaining a long C that will eventually become the second note of the main theme while the rest of the orchestra catches up. Laudamus te; benedicimus te; adoramus te; glorificamus te.
We praise you; we bless you; We worship you; we glorify you.
After breezing through the Gratias agimus text in twelve measures, Mozart presents the two soprano soloists together for the first time in the Domine Deus. The two interweave three main themes with each other and the strings in a businesslike rondo. The melodic material in this movement again consists of falling figures, though without the chromaticism of the previous movements, providing some respite before the onslaught of the weighty Qui tollis. Gratias agimus tibi propter magnam gloriam tuam. Domine Deus, Rex coelestis, Deus Pater omnipotens. Domine Fili unigenite Jesu Christe. Domine Deus, Agnus Dei, Filius Patris.
We give thanks to you for your great glory. Lord God, heavenly king, God the Father Almighty – Lord Jesus Christ, only begotten Son – Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father –
The Qui tollis makes chromatic descent the centerpiece of its musical argument, taking the form of a passacaglia on the Baroque “lament” motive, which hearkens back to the Crucifixus of J.S. Bach’s Bminor Mass. Intentionally or not, Mozart makes unavoidable the image of the weight of humanity’s sins piling up and forcing the Redeemer to the ground as He carries the cross. This movement unfolds in three largely similar sections opening with several of these chromatic descents in the continuo that lead down to extended pedal tones, over which are heard dissonant chromatic descents in various upper voices before the harmony converges back toward the home key of G minor. Qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis. Qui tollis peccata mundi, suscipe deprecationem nostram. Qui sedes ad dextram Patris, miserere nobis.
You who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. You who takes away the sins of the world, receive our prayer. You who sits at the right hand of the Father, have mercy on us.
We hear the tenor soloist join the two sopranos for the first time in the Quoniam, a bustling trio again in sonata form. Though Mozart omits the brass from this movement, it is not without its share of drama, as the soloists navigate long runs of eighth notes, thickets of syncopation, and at-times intense chromaticism to lend proper weight to their invocation of the singularity of God. Quoniam tu solus Sanctus; tu solus Dominus; tu solus Altissimus, Jesu Christe.
For you alone are holy; you alone are the Lord, you alone are most high, Jesus Christ.
Like the Gloria, the Cum Sancto Spiritu dispels the dark mood of the previous movement. Following a brief invocation of the name of Christ, this soaring fugue demonstrates Mozart’s contrapuntal prowess. Returning to the Gloria’s C major—thus creating a closed harmonic loop—it develops a theme consisting of long notes ascending in fourths, which is complemented by a countersubject consisting of shorter notes ascending in sequence. After developing these themes side-by-side, Mozart brings the fugue to a rousing conclusion, first by inverting the subject and layering statements on top of one another, and then with every voice exclaiming the main theme in unison one final time. Cum Sancto Spiritu in gloria Dei Patris. Amen.
Together with the Holy Spirit in the glory of God the Father. Amen.
The next section, the Credo, opens with the same bombastic C major with which the Gloria opened and closed. Mozart moves between several different styles in rapid succession in this movement. Opening with galloping figures and fanfare-like flourishes in the orchestra and homophonic passages in the chorus, the movement then dissolves into a whirl of polyphony that evokes Bach’s choral motets. This movement progressively increases in intensity by repeating the opening material in the dominant key of G major, which then leads to a dramatic A minor in which the high and low sections of the choir act as an antiphonal double chorus. This movement’s sonata form guarantees that the opening C major returns, however, and Mozart uses a coda to play a trick on the listener, interrupting the presumed playout of the orchestra with one final unexpected exclamation from the chorus. Credo in unum Deum: Patrem omnipotentem, factorem coeli et terrae, visibilium omnium et invisibilium. Et in unum Dominum Jesum Christum, Filium Dei unigenitum, Et ex Patre natum ante omnia sæcula. Deum de Deo, lumen de lumine, Deum verum de Deo vero, Genitum non factum, consubstantialem Patri, per quem omnia facta sunt. Qui propter nos homines, et propter nostram salutem descendit de coelis.
I believe in one God: the Father almighty, maker of Heaven and Earth, and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all ages. God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made. Who for us men and for our sake descended from heaven.
Had Mozart completed the work, the Et incarnatus would have served as its literal centerpiece, and he provides music befitting this status. Perhaps inspired by the sight of his infant son asleep, Mozart is at his most tender and beautiful in this dialogue between the Soprano I soloist, an oboe, and a flute; this is the only movement that includes this instrument. Unfolding in two similar sections with a long cadenza for the three featured soloists plus a bassoon, this aria features gentle chromatic falling motion that recalls the “descendit de coelis” text of the previous movement and virtuosic passages that showcase the soprano’s ability to spin out long, floating lines above the instrumental texture. Et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine: et homo factus est.
And was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary and was made man.
We will never know how Mozart would have set the five missing movements of the Credo that were to come after the Et incarnatus. As it is, we are left with a drastic change in moods from the Et incarnatus to the Sanctus that serves to highlight the grandeur of the latter’s text. Opening with the customary threefold proclamation of “Sanctus!,”, this movement proceeds in the way Mozart typically set this text, with busy string figures complementing slower-moving choral, wind, and brass parts. Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth. Pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria tua.
Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts. Heaven and Earth are full of your glory.
The half cadence at the end of this section leads directly into the virtuosic double fugue “Hosanna in excelsis.” Developing two themes simultaneously, this fugue proves Mozart’s place among the greatest contrapuntalists in the Classical firmament. As the Baroque-style counterpoint plays out, various statements of both themes can be heard coming out of and disappearing back into the thick double-choir texture. As in the Cum Sancto Spiritu fugue, this texture thins at the end as Mozart brings the movement to a triumphant conclusion with multiple parts exclaiming both subjects in unison. Hosanna in excelsis.
Hosanna in the highest.
Without an Agnus Dei, the Benedictus serves as the final movement of the Mass, and it introduces the baritone soloist for the first and only time, completing the vocal quartet. This movement hums along in a brisk A minor that gives way to C major as the soloists take turns navigating sustained tones and more virtuosic runs. We hear ascending C major triads—hearkening back to rising tonic triads of the Kyrie and Gloria—before a segue into a reprise of the last fifteen measures of the Hosanna. The Mass therefore ends on a triumphant, upbeat note, with the dark C minor of the Kyrie having been transubstantiated into a bright C major that closes this version of the work. Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini. Hosanna in excelsis.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
Yale Recital Chorus Soprano Sophie Dvorak Sarah Grube Mia Rolland-Bezem Maura Tuffy Iris Yang Yiran Zhao Tenor Michael Lukin Sydney Mukasa Ryan Rogers Luke Stringer Alex Whittington
Alto Laura Clapp Nicole Lam Jane Meditz Camilla Tassi Ruthie Weinbaum Gloria Yin Bass Sam Brock Benjamin Ferriby Eric Linh Mattias Lundberg Louis Sokolow
Yale Recital Orchestra Violin I Kate Arndt (Concertmaster) Herdís Guðmundsdóttir Freya Liu Violin II Tristan Siegel (Principal) Youngji Kim Rebecca Weger Viola Florrie Marshall (Principal) Emily Rekrut-Pressey Cello Allen Liang (Principal) Thomas Hung Bass Dylan Reckner Flute Jordan Arbus Oboe Will Stevens (Principal) Mickenna Keller
Bassoon Matthew Matheny (Principal) Anjali Pillai Horn Kyle Thompson (Principal) Stephanie Fritz Trumpet Joshua Bialkin (Principal) Connor Holland Alto Trombone David Seder Tenor Trombone Chandler McLaughlin Bass Trombone Matthew Rose Timpani Yukiko Nakamura Organ Carolyn Craig