HSU Insider

World Premiere of Mozart Fragment

• By Dave Coffield
• Posted October 9, 2006 12:39 PM
• 1 Comment

As year-long festivities celebrate the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth, Hardin-Simmons University School of Music and Fine Arts hosts the first performance of an incomplete fragment of Mozart’s Credo, from the Mass in C, K. 337, as the composer left it, and as a completed performance edition; a rare double world premiere.

The very special concert includes two rarely performed sacred choral works, the Kyrie in D minor, K.341/368a, and his well-known beautiful setting of Psalm 117 (“Laudate Dominum�) from the Solemn Vespers K. 339.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Just before Easter of 1780, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was furiously working on the Credo (a statement of faith that is the longest part of the Catholic liturgy) of the Mass, when he inexplicably set down his pen, turned the page, and began a second, more compact version of the Credo.

One popular explanation for the incomplete work is the mandate by the Archbishop of Salzburg that masses last no longer than 45 minutes. Many scholars assumed that the original framing of the Credo would simply have made the mass too long. However, HSU music librarian and musicologist, Dr. Murl Sickbert’s completion of the Credo proves that its probable length is well within the acceptable time at just under 7 minutes.

Dr. Sickbert began with the existing material, and used Mozart’s methods and orchestration to complete the final 7 bars. “I had to compose a transition to the next section of text using the Oboe note that was Mozart’s last bar, then reuse his music with appropriate changes to fit the remaining text until the end. There I composed a short ‘Amen’ section, as was usually done, using Mozart’s opening material,� comments Dr. Sickbert.

The Credo seems never to have been performed as a fragment, and Dr. Sickbert’s performing edition allows a complete performance—a double world premier of a masterpiece by the 26-year-old genius. The concert will be held 7:30 pm Tuesday Oct. 17 at Behrens Auditorium on the campus of HSU. There is no charge for admission and the public is cordially invited to this rare premiere.

Hardin-Simmons’ School of Music Chorale and Concert Choir, directed respectively by Drs. Loyd Hawthorne and Clell Wright, are joined by the Abilene Collegiate Orchestra under the direction of Dr. Peter Isaacson. Other soloists include Hardin-Simmons’ University Organist Prof. Hye-Jean Choi, and vocal faculty Drs. Kecia Ashford, Lynnette Chambers, Jaynne Middleton, Will Mouat, and Greg Church of Howard Payne University. The first half of the concert presents the Don Giovanni Overture K.527 (Busoni edition), the “Little� G-minor Symphony K.183/173dB, and the 17th and last of the Church Sonatas for Organ and Orchestra, K.336/336d. In addition, serving as fanfares will be selected movements from the Leopold/Wolfgang “Divertimenti�
K.187/C17.12 and K.188/240b for five clarino trumpets, two flutes, and four timpani, with Hardin-Simmons’ Dr. Leigh Anne Hunsaker, Abilene Christian University’s Prof. Marcia Straughn, and guest artists from Denton and Dallas.

As preface to the concert, Dr. Sickbert will present a short faculty colloquium in Moody Center 233 at noon on Thursday, Oct. 12, “The Unknown Mozart: Notes on the Journey to a Performing Edition of Mozart's Credo-Fragment, K.337.�

So why did Mozart leave this version of the Credo unfinished? Dr. Sickbert believes we’ll never really know, but offers two possibilities. It may be because he mistakenly omitted the phrase “sub Pontio Pilatio,� referring to Jesus crucifixion under Pontius Pilate, and simply decided to start over. More likely, Mozart was using a musical structure for the Credo called Chaconne, a popular stage dance form of the time, and may have felt this would be too secular for the Archbishop’s tastes. Whatever the reason, Mozart stopped composing the text at the phrase “et non erit finis,� which means, ironically, “and shall have no end.�