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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Ave verum corpus (Mozart)

Ave verum corpus ("Hail, True Body"), K. 618, is a motet in D major composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1791. It is a setting of the Latin hymn of the same name. Mozart wrote it for Anton Stoll, a

History#

Mozart composed the motet in 1791 in the middle of writing his opera Die Zauberflöte. Mozart set the main verse of the 13th-century Latin Eucharist hymn “Ave verum corpus”, omitting the last three lines. He wrote the motet for Anton Stoll (1747–1805), a friend of his. Stoll was the musical director of the parish St. Stephan, Baden. The setting was composed to celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi; the autograph is dated 17 June 1791; Mozart dated it in his personal catalogue on 18 June. (The feast of Corpus Christi falls on the Thursday following Trinity Sunday, and in 1791 was observed on 23 June.) The composition is only forty-six bars long and is scored for SATB choir, string instruments, and organ. Mozart’s manuscript contains minimal directions, with only a single sotto voce marking at the beginning. The motet was composed less than six months before Mozart’s death. While the Requiem is a dramatic composition, this motet is simpler in structure, suited for the church choir in a small town. Franz Liszt made transcriptions of Mozart’s motet for piano solo (Searle 461a) and for organ (Searle 674d), and also quoted Mozart in his fantasie piece Evocation à la Chapelle Sixtine (Searle 461), in versions for piano, organ, orchestra, and piano duet. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky incorporates an orchestration of Liszt’s transcription in his fourth orchestral suite, Mozartiana, Op. 61; a tribute to Mozart’s music.

Melody#

The beginning of the melody is as follows: : \relative c’ \set Staff.midiInstrument = #“choir aahs” \key d \major \time 2/2 \tempo “Adagio” a'2 ^\markup sotto voce d4 (fis,) a (gis) g2 g4 (b) a (g) g4 (fis)fis2 e2. e4 fis4 fis g g g2 (fis4) fis e1 \addlyrics A – ve __ a – ve ve2 – rum cor – pus na – tum de Ma – ri – a Vir – gi – ne

Recording#

  • On Great Mass in C minor, K. 427, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by Leonard Bernstein, Deutsche Grammophon CD 431-791-2 (1991) and DVD 00440-073-4240 (2006)
  • Paged score synchronized with audio, Digital Mozart score Viewer (MoVi), Digital Mozart Edition
  • “Work details, sound file”, Köchel-Verzeichnis, International Mozarteum Foundation
  • , Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by Leonard Bernstein
Composer
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart