AVROTROS Christmas Concert: Mozart's Coronation Mass

Georg C. Wagenseil - Overture from Clemenza di Tito, Frantiek Tuma - Te deum, Joseph Haydn - Symphony no.85 in B-flat major 'La Reine', Carl Reissiger - Es ist ein' Ros' entsprungen, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Mass in C 'Krönungsmesse'. Programme Georg C. Wagenseil Overture from Clemenza di Tito Frantiek Tuma Te deum Joseph Haydn Symphony no.85 in B-flat major 'La Reine' Carl Reissiger Es ist ein' Ros' entsprungen Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Mass in C 'Krönungsmesse' The Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and the Great Broadcasting Choir tackle Mozart's most famous mass, the 'Krönungsmesse'. The final section of this radiant masterpiece, with its solo singing, choir and brass fanfares, could just as easily serve as a grand opera finale. Dona nobis pacem! ('Give us peace!') 'Please not too long' Mozart wrote his Mass in C at the request of the Archbishop of Salzburg. The composer, then 23 years old, was reportedly dissatisfied with his patron, who had commissioned a mass for Easter Sunday that was 'especially not to be too long'. Mozart was well up to the challenge of creating a mass of grand stature within these constraints. The enchanting soprano melody in the Agnus Dei would later return in his opera La Clemenza di Tito. Royal nickname The name 'Krönungsmesse' (Coronation Mass) was only given to the work later, when it increasingly appeared at coronation ceremonies. Thus, the Mass in C resounded during the coronations of Leopold II, King of Bohemia, and of Franz II of Bohemia, later Emperor Franz I of Austria. Haydn's Symphony no. 85 also received a royal nickname: 'La Reine', because it was a favourite piece of Marie-Antoinette.