Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus : Missa

Mozart had barely turned twelve when he composed and conducted his Missa solemnis in C minor, K.139, to inaugurate a new orphanage on Viennaís Rennweg in 1768.

This astonishing early work adheres to the form of a Neapolitan cantata mass, in which the separate movements (ìGloriaî, ìCredoî etc.) are themselves made up of self-contained choruses, ariosos and ensembles.

This frequently heard Mass is characterized by a sharp contrast between its cheerful underlying C major mood and gloomy dramatic passages in the minor mode.