is unusual, but has a striking effect in this place. Mozart evidently enters more into the spirit of his work as the mass proceeds, and gives his impulses freer play. The Benedic-tus apparently gave him some trouble. First, it was written for all four voices, then for soprano solo, and lastly as a duet for soprano and alto, this last arrangement being twice elaborated. The alterations in the details show how precise he was in this work. [See Page Image]
promises well, but fails to maintain the same level to the end. [See Page Image]
The second mass, in C major (66 K.), the "Pater Domini-cus Mass," was composed in October, 1769, on the occasion of the first celebration of mass by Hagenauer's son, whose entrance into a monastery had formerly caused Wolfgang to shed tears (p. 50).[4] The young composer put forth all his powers to produce a truly grand and brilliant festival mass.
Every part is well conceived and worked out, and considerable progress is observable in the mechanical details of the whole. The subjects are more important, and the passages for the violins, which are very prominent, have more distinct character; the different parts, too, have freer play. But it is at the same time to be noted that the substance of the work is not yet on a level with its broader scheme. A succession of independent solos, which evidently served as the special embellishment of the mass, show a considerable effort to avoid a light operatic tone, and to combine dignity with easy and attractive grace.
Mozart's unequalled talent for pure and noble melody is as discernible here as elsewhere, though it is crippled by a certain amount of confusion of ideas. Curiously enough the Benedictus, a solo quartet, is accompanied only by the first violin, which plays round the voices with a continuous running passage. There is a good effect in the Dona nobis, where the chorus answers the short solo phrases--
with changes of lead and harmony. [See Page Image]
This mass serves as a proof that L. Mozart did not confine himself to educating his son as an operatic composer, but that he made him pass through a course of severe study in every branch of his art, with the just conviction that his genius, when fully trained and developed, would mark out a line for itself.