(Salzburg, Austria) Quick: Name the one piece of music that has been performed at the Salzburg Festival once every year since 1927.
Well, you know it has to be by Mozart. But if you guessed the C minor Mass KV 427, congratulations.
Yes, through those many years this Mass, or what we have of it, has been led by Paumgartner, Hager, Graf, Levine, Rilling, Harnoncourt, Christie, Norrington, and Canada's Nézet-Séguin, to name but a handful of conductors.
This evening, the Mass KV 427 was performed once again in the same Salzburg church at which it was premiered on October 23, 1783--the Stiftskirche Skt. Peter, literally a hop, skip, and a jump from the present day festival theatres.
We know that Mozart was present at that premiere, but we don't know if it was Mozart's wife Constanze who sang the first soprano part on that occasion. And we're not entirely sure why Mozart even composed the work of which we have but a torso. Was it to introduce Constanze to Mozart's father who, by the way, did not approve of their marriage?
In any event, the Mass KV 427 has become an annual tradition in Skt. Peter's über-ornate sanctuary. Tonight's performance, which used Helmut Eder's 1985 reconstruction, came in at 55 minutes. There was no other piece on the program.
The concert began at 8:05 p.m. with the performers--the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, the Salzburg Bachchor, sopranos Roberta Invernizzi, Julia Lezhneva, Canadian tenor Colin Balzer, bass Christian Immler, organist Michaela Aigner, and conductor Giovanni Antonini--assembling in the chancel under total, and respectful silence.
Skt. Peter's acoustics are quite reverberant, and have the capacity to cover a multitude of sin, as it were.
Ms. Invernizzi had the lion's share of the solo work. In the Kyrie, she sometimes began singing a note with straight tone, and then would add a bit of vibrato for colour. The other soloists all proved themselves as a highly experienced ensemble.
Under Antonini, the Sanctus' concluding Hosanna in excelsis overflowed with joy, while the concluding Hosanna of the Benedictus overflowed with majesty.
Tomorrow afternoon, Canadian baritone Gerald Finley hits the stage as the nefarious lothario in a remount of Claus Guth's production of Don Giovanni.
Photo by Leonard Turnevicius: The performers of Mozart's Missa c-moll KV 427 in Salzburg's Stiftskirche Skt. Peter.
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