Coronation Mass (Mozart)

Missa brevis in C major
Coronation
Mass by W. A. Mozart
Salzburg Cathedral, where the mass was first performed, probably on Easter Sunday.
Other nameKrönungsmesse
CatalogueK. 317
OccasionEaster
Composed1779 (1779): Salzburg
Movements6
VocalSATB choir and soloists
Instrumental
  • orchestra
  • continuo
Autograph manuscript of the opening page

The Krönungsmesse (German for Coronation Mass) (Mass No. 15 in C major, K. 317; sometimes Mass No. 16), composed in 1779, is one of the most popular of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's 17 extant settings of the Ordinary of the Mass. While it is relatively short, Bruce C. Macintyre, writing in the Cambridge Mozart Encyclopedia, classifies it as a Missa Longa, on the basis of the festal character, size of the orchestra, which includes a substantial brass section, orchestral introductions for the movements and the setting of the intonations for the Gloria and Credo. [1]

  1. ^ Macintyre, Bruce C (2006). Eisen, Cliff; Keefe, Simon P. (eds.). The Cambridge Mozart encyclopedia. Cambridge, [England]: Cambridge University Press. p. 271. ISBN 978-0-521-85659-1.