CONCERT

The concert will be broadcasted on 2 April 2021 at 00.45 am by Rai Cultura on Rai1 and, in replication, on 3 April 2021 at 8.35 am and 7.35 pm on Rai5.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Symphony in G minor K. 550
Krönungsmesse in C major K. 317 for soloists, chorus and orchestra
Ave verum corpus, motet in D major K. 618 for chorus, strings and organ

As part of the "Omaggio all'Umbria" project, with the patronage of: Comune di Orvieto, Camera di Commercio dell’Umbria, the Università per Stranieri di Perugia and Unicef Italia.

Sponsor of the concert: the Ministry of the Culture, the Regione Umbria, the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio of Orvieto, the Banca Intesa Sanpaolo and the Fae Terni SPA.
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Symphony No. 40 in G minor K. 550
The year 1788 is that marks Mozart's farewell to the symphonic genre with the last three Symphonies - K. 543, K. 550, K. 551 - created in just three months and perhaps conceived as the only great sound fresco. In the summer of that year Mozart went through a very troubled period. After the poor success of Don Giovanni in Vienna, the composer is distressed by debts and tried by economic hardship and therefore hopes to recover with those three symphonies composed in an extraordinary creative impetus. Between the serenity that pervades the Symphony K. 543 and the solemn grandeur of the K. 551 Jupiter, the Symphony in G minor K. 550 stands out for its “nocturnal” and painful character. The four movements of the symphony (Very Allegro - Andante - Minuetto - Allegro molto) welcome within them a new feeling of profound uneasiness that winds through the orchestra from start to finish. If the first movement, deprived of the canonical slow introduction, stands out for the immediate attack entrusted to the strings - among the most evocative ever written - the Andante that follows takes on noble and elegiac tones. The Minuet alternates baroque severity and gallant movements, while the Allegro molto (which also inspired the Scherzo of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony) closes the work with a rapid and inexorable motion of strong dramatic impact.

Krönungsmesse in C major K. 317 for soloists, chorus and orchestra
In September 1777 Mozart left Salzburg and set out on a journey with the hope of finding a new job at another court where he could best express his talent. Salzburg was close to him, his relationship with Archbishop Colloredo as well, so the composer left for Munich, Augusta, Mannheim and Paris, without however being able to obtain the desired assignment. After the long pilgrimage, in January 1779 he reluctantly returned to Salzburg to resume service at the archbishop's court. Colloredo had summarized him as a court organist, a position that involved the creation of new compositions for both the Church and the court. Precisely in that period, which will be the last one spent by Mozart in his hometown, numerous sacred compositions see the light, including the Mass in C major for solos, choir and orchestra K. 317 called the 'Coronation Mass'. According to tradition, Mass K. 317 was intended for the annual feast for the coronation of the sacred image of the Virgin Mary kept in the sanctuary of Maria Plain near Salzburg (an event celebrated every year on June 27). But considering the composition end date of the 'Coronation Mass' - 23 March 1779 - it seems more likely that Mozart had written it for the liturgical functions of the Easter period. At the behest of the Archbishop, who did not like baroque prolixity and the daring counterpoint writing typical of the sacred music of the time, the masses sung in Salzburg had to respect the principle of brevity and avoid any unnecessary frills. Mass K. 317, while showing off an impressive orchestral staff typical of great occasions, in fact belongs to the genre of missa brevis with the canonical six sections of the ordinarium missae: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus, Agnus Dei. So Mozart did not disappoint expectations and composed a Mass with cantabile and easy-to-listen themes, adopting a predominantly homophonic writing in the choral parts but also disseminating here and there some solo passages of particular intensity, just think of the soprano solo in the Kyrie or in the Agnus Dei, whose melody recalls, anticipating it, the aria of the Countess "Where are the good times" in the Le nozze di Figaro.

Ave verum corpus K. 618
The short motet for choir, strings and organ Ave verum corpus KV 618 is one of the best known and most loved pieces of Mozart's sacred production. In the summer of 1791 Mozart had joined his wife on holiday in Baden and to repay his friend Anton Stoll, director of the local choir, he composed this page which was performed during the celebrations of the feast of Corpus Domini. In the Ave verum Mozart adopts a homophonic script to better emphasize the meaning of the text, realizing even in the brevity - only forty-six bars - and with few instrumental means - the staff is reduced to only strings and organ given the destination for the village church - a jewel of expressive immediacy.