Church Sonatas (Mozart)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote seventeen Church Sonatas (sonate da chiesa), also known as Epistle Sonatas, between 1772 and 1780. These are short single-movement pieces intended to be played during a celebration of the Mass between the Epistle and the Gospel. They were intended to cover the interval during Solemn Mass in which the celebrant, after reading the Epistle, moved from the south side of the choir to the north in order to read the Gospel. Hence the term Sonata all’Epistola (epistle sonata) – a term that apperas in one of Mozart's father's letters.[1]

Three of the sonatas (K 263, 278/271e and 329/317a) include more orchestral scoring including oboes, horns, trumpets and timpani and the rest are scored for organ and strings (with no violas). In eight of the sonatas (K 224/241a, 225/241b, 244, 245, 263, 328/317c, 329/317a and 336/336d), the organ has an obbligato solo part and in the other nine, the organ accompanies along with the basso continuo.[2] It is not clear how many players would have been involved in the sonatas scored for two violins, bass and organ. Archival sources from Salzburg Cathedral suggest that two-to-a-part performance was the norm for string players. The fact that in many cases the organ simply provides chords to fill out the texture, together with the chamber-like scoring of many of these sonatas, indicates that they were largely intended for performance on one of the cathedral's small organs. The organ pedals are rarely used, appearing only in K245, 274, 328 and 329.[1]

Most of these pieces would be inserted into any mass setting of the appropriate key. Those requiring more instruments than the standard "Salzburg Church Quartet" are meant to go with specific mass settings that have that instrumentation.

Shortly after Mozart left Salzburg, the Archbishop mandated that an appropriate choral motet or congregational hymn be sung at that point in the liturgy, and the "Epistle Sonata" fell into disuse.

No. Köchel No. Date composed Key Scoring NMA Tempo
1[3] K.67/41h 1772 E♭ major 2 violins, organ, cello and bass (Score/Crit. report) Andantino
2 K.68/41i 1772 B♭ major 2 violins, organ, cello and bass (Score/Crit. report) Allegro
3 K.69/41k 1772 D major 2 violins, organ, cello and bass (Score/Crit. report) Allegro
4 K.144/124a 1774 D major 2 violins, organ, cello and bass (Score/Crit. report) Allegro
5 K.145/124b 1774 F major 2 violins, organ, cello and bass (Score/Crit. report) Allegro
6 K.212 1775, July B♭ major 2 violins, organ, cello and bass (Score/Crit. report) Allegro
7 K.224/241a 1776 F major 2 violins, organ, cello and bass (Score/Crit. report) Allegro con spirito
8 K.225/241b 1776 A major 2 violins, organ, cello and bass (Score/Crit. report) Allegro
9 K.241 1776, January G major 2 violins, organ, cello and bass (Score/Crit. report) Allegro
10 K.244 1776, April F major 2 violins, organ, cello and bass (Score/Crit. report) Allegro
11 K.245 1776, April D major 2 violins, organ, cello and bass (Score/Crit. report) Allegro
12 K.263 1776, December C major 2 violins, 2 trumpets, organ, cello and bass (Score/Crit. report) Allegro
13 K.274/271d 1777 G major 2 violins, organ, cello and bass (Score/Crit. report) Allegro
14 K.278/271e 1777, April C major 2 violins, cello, bass, 2 oboes, 2 trumpets, timpani and organ (Score/Crit. report) Allegro
15 K.328/317c 1779 C major 2 violins, organ, cello and bass (Score/Crit. report) Allegro
16 K.329/317a 1779, March C major 2 violins, cello, bass, 2 oboes, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani and organ (Score/Crit. report) Allegro
17 K.336/336d 1780 C major 2 violins, organ, cello and bass (Score/Crit. report) Allegro

Notes

  1. ^ a b Quinn, Michael (2008). "Church sonatas". In Eisen, Cliff (ed.). The Cambridge Mozart encyclopedia (Repr ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press. p. 88. ISBN 978-0-521-85659-1.
  2. ^ Zaslaw, Neal, with Cowdery, William eds., The Compleat Mozart: A Guide to the Musical Works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, pp. 109-112, New York: W. W. Norton, 1990, ISBN 0-393-02886-0
  3. ^ On July 24, 2011, during the analog shutdown in Japan, HBC Hokkaido, a television station in Hokkaido, played Church Sonata 1 on its analog signal continuously between noon and midnight. Japanese television stations were required to broadcast an analog shutdown notice during that time frame.
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