jan 1, 1744 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Ave Verum Corpus, K 618

Description:

Ave Verum Corpus from K 618 was composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart had composed this piece for Anton Stoll who was a choirmaster in the town of Baden, Germany (Schwarm). The reason Mozart was in this town was because of his wife Constanze Mozart who was preparing to have her sixth child and visited a local spa (Predota). Mozart had written this piece to be “perfectly suited to the small-town choir for which it was intended” (Schwarm). Anton Stoll had commissioned this piece to have “a setting of the Eucharistic hymn Ave verum corpus (Hail, true body)” (Predota). Although Mozart had a strained relation with Church music because of previous conflict with Count Hieronymus von Colloredo he still wrote this piece regardless (Predota). It is important to note that Mozart had died less than a year after composing this piece making it the second to last piece he composed (Schwarm).
This composition is a sacred motet, and the instrumentation is small orchestra and choir. This motet was made during the Classical era and as such had a more homophonic texture that was light, balanced and simple. The timbre is quite warm and the dynamics contributes to this as its soft. Also, the melodic range is narrow which contributes to the piece’s feeling of tranquility and meditative mood. This piece relates back to my theme as the piece’s text and setting is about the suffering of Jesus and it is used for Church services.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OByoTbEZ8io

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