Exsultate Jubilate, Motet, K. 165 (Soprano)

Edited with additional material from the Salzburg version“In Italy nowadays this term (motet) is applied to a Latin sacred solo cantata consisting of two arias and two recitatives concluding with an Hallelujah and sung during the Mass following the Credo generally by one of the best singers.” One composition matching this description is the solo motet Exsultate jubilate K. 165/158a which Mozart wrote in Milan early in 1773 following the highly successful performance of his opera Lucio Silla.In 1978 when the music manuscripts in Bavaria were being sorted and cataloged in a project sponsored by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft a set ofmanuscript parts for a previously unknown second version was discovered in the town parish church of St. Jakob in Wasserburg am Inn. The music and text of the concluding Alleluja movement were written out by the Salzburg court bassoonist and copyist Joseph Richard Estlinger (c. 1720–1791) who frequently worked for Mozart and his father.The vocal text of this Salzburg manuscript departs from that of the Milan version in the first aria and in the recitative. It was entered in a different hand. The Salzburg version of the text is clearly related to the feast of the Holy Trinity. There is much evidence that this version was sung for the first time in the Dreifaltigkeitskirche on 30 May 1779 (i. e. Trinity Sunday) by the Salzburg male soprano Francesco Ceccarelli during a service mentioned by Nannerl Mozart. On that day Leopold and Wolfgang Mozart together with Ceccarelli were invited to the church’s vicarage at midday. The additional text underlaying of the first aria enabled the solo motet to be employed for the Christmas service as well.- Urtext of the New Mozart Edition- Full score performance material (BA4897) and vocal score (BA4897-90) available for sale

Edited with additional material from the Salzburg version“In Italy nowadays this term (motet) is applied to a Latin sacred solo cantata consisting of two arias and two recitatives concluding with an Hallelujah and sung during the Mass following the Credo generally by one of the best singers.” One composition matching this description is the solo motet Exsultate jubilate K. 165/158a which Mozart wrote in Milan early in 1773 following the highly successful performance of his opera Lucio Silla.In 1978 when the music manuscripts in Bavaria were being sorted and cataloged in a project sponsored by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft a set ofmanuscript parts for a previously unknown second version was discovered in the town parish church of St. Jakob in Wasserburg am Inn. The music and text of the concluding Alleluja movement were written out by the Salzburg court bassoonist and copyist Joseph Richard Estlinger (c. 1720–1791) who frequently worked for Mozart and his father.The vocal text of this Salzburg manuscript departs from that of the Milan version in the first aria and in the recitative. It was entered in a different hand. The Salzburg version of the text is clearly related to the feast of the Holy Trinity. There is much evidence that this version was sung for the first time in the Dreifaltigkeitskirche on 30 May 1779 (i. e. Trinity Sunday) by the Salzburg male soprano Francesco Ceccarelli during a service mentioned by Nannerl Mozart. On that day Leopold and Wolfgang Mozart together with Ceccarelli were invited to the church’s vicarage at midday. The additional text underlaying of the first aria enabled the solo motet to be employed for the Christmas service as well.- Urtext of the New Mozart Edition- Full score performance material (BA4897) and vocal score (BA4897-90) available for sale

Three arrangements including Ave Verum Corpus and the Lacrimosa from the Requiem.During the year 1771 when Mozart was 15 years old he and his father Leopold were touring Italy which was at that time the most formidable citadel of the music world. In the following four years the young Mozart was received at the homes and villas of Italy's aristocracy. He met the most famous musicians of the time including Niccolo Piccinni operatic rival to Gluck and Padre Martini from whom he was to benefit from studies in counterpoint. He also met many noted male soprano singers and for one the celebrated Venanzio Rauzzini he wrote in 1773 the motet Exsultate Jubilate from whichcomes the well known Alleluia.At the end of his life only 19 years later in Vienna 1791 Mozart was very ill and working on a number of massive works such as the operas The Magic Flute and Titus also the Requiem. Titus was completed in 18 nerve-shattering days as it had to be performed in Prague in September 1791. At its premiere it was a complete flop. This affected the now overworked almost penniless composer's spirit and he returned to Vienna suffering from mental and physical exhaustion. Rest was denied him. The Magic Flute had to be finished for its premier on September 30th 1791. The task of the Requiem still faced him. In this weakened state Mozart thought that he was in fact writing his own requiem reading evil omens into the commissioning of the work. He thought someone had calculated the precise time of his death and was thus troubled with sombre thoughts. He completed the first two of the twelve parts. The next six parts were in an unfinished state and his manuscript ceased at the Lacrimosa. Süssmayer who was working closely with Mozart at the time was given the task of finishing the Requiem.Ave Verum Corpus is also one of his final works. It is a setting of an anonymous hymn written as a motet for Anton Stoll the choirmaster at Baden in June 1791.Mozart was a composer of great genius who