The impetus for Mozart’s Kyrie in D minor, K.341 remains a fascinating enigma. Initially, it was believed that Mozart completed this sublime choral fragment in Munich in early 1781. The occasion for which it would have been composed remains unclear. The full instrumentation (which includes two clarinets) suggests that the Kyrie may have been intended for a large-scale Mass which remained unfinished. Sketches from the composer’s final years (1787-91) show that he was in the process of writing such a work. Before the onset of terminal illness, Mozart had hoped to be appointed Kapellmeister of Vienna’s St. Stephen’s Cathedral.
Kyrie eleison (“Lord have mercy”) is a pleading prayer. The tone of Mozart’s Kyrie is ominous and haunting. In the shadows of monolithic harmonic pillars, trembling chromatic lines emerge in the strings. For Mozart, the key of D minor had supernatural connotations. This is the key of the Requiem, the foreboding Piano Concerto No. 20, and the ghostly Commendatore Scene from Don Giovanni.
Recordings
- Mozart: Kyrie in D minor, K. 341, Philippe Herreweghe, Orchestre des Champs Élysées, La Chapelle Royale, Collegium Vocale Amazon
- John Eliot Gardiner, English Baroque Soloists, Monteverdi Choir
Featured Image: “The Last Judgment,” Michelangelo
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