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A conductor's preparatory analysis and comparison of three Regina Coeli settings, K. 108, K. 127, and K. 276, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Dissertation   Open access

A conductor's preparatory analysis and comparison of three Regina Coeli settings, K. 108, K. 127, and K. 276, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Aimee Beckmann-Collier
University of Iowa
Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA), University of Iowa
Autumn 1988
DOI: 10.25820/etd.006600
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Abstract

The purpose of this essay is to examine each of the three "Regina coeli" settings by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and to make comparisons among them. Discussion of the sacred choral music of the Classical era, the Salzburg musical establishment and tradition, appropriate performance practices, and the "Regina coeli" text itself will provide the background information necessary for an understanding of and appreciation for these pieces. The short sacred choral works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart are among the least known and performed of all of his compositions. Except for the motet Ave verum corpus, K. 618, these twenty-five antiphons, graduals, and offertories written between 1765 and 1791 are seldom mentioned in any discussion of his works. Even Mozart’s larger sacred choral works, such as the Mass in C Major, K. 317 ("Coronation"), the unfinished Mass in C Minor, K. 427, and the Requiem, K. 626, have been largely ignored until recently and often have been criticized for a variety of reasons. Mozart’s sacred choral works, like those of Haydn, have been dismissed as operatic in style and inappropriate for liturgical use. In addition, Mozart's sacred music has been criticized by Charles Rosen, Eric Blom, and other scholars of Classical music as being less skillfully crafted than his work in other genres. But like the other genres in which Mozart began composing at an early age and in which he continued to write through the last years of his life, the sacred works represent his complete style development. Because Mozart wrote them from the age of nine until his death, the sacred choral works reflect the influences of his travels, his association with Padre Martini, the Salzburg tradition in which he was steeped, and the effects of the Enlightenment. Mozart's three "Regina coeli" settings, K. 107 (1771), K. 127 (1772), and K. 276 (1779?) are the only smaller sacred works that demonstrate his attention to the same text at several different points in his compositional life. As such, they serve as examples of his musical development and reflect the many influences on his compositional style. These pieces, like most of Mozart's sacred music, were written for use in Salzburg, and are a synthesis of the south Austrian tradition and the Italian style.
 Choral Music Classical Music Music Conducting

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