J. S. BACH Jonathan Berkahn - Victoria University - Victoria ...

These masses mark the two poles of Mozart’s liturgical output during the
Salzburg years: Missae breves for ordinary services at the Cathedral, Missae solemnes
for special occasions, usually outside Salzburg. It is hardly surprising that we should
find the more substantial fugues in the Missae solemnes (notably the ‘Missa longa’
K.262/246a); shorter fugues or none at all in the Missae breves. Fugue may be useful
for many things, but setting text quickly and economically is not one of them. Equally
predictable is the tendency to favour the ends of the Gloria and Credo in this way.
And yet, like Haydn, Mozart never reduced these conventions to a formula. At
different times he also set parts of the Kyrie (K.262/246a in C), the ‘et incarnatus’
(same mass), ‘crucifixus’ (K.192/186f in F), ‘et resurrexit’ (K.194/186h in D), Sanctus
(K.275/272b in B flat), Benedictus (K.337 in C), and ‘Osanna’ (K.192/186f) with at
least a complete fugal exposition, if not much more. On the other hand there are
substantial and impressive masses (the ‘Credo’ mass K.257, or the ‘Coronation’ mass
K.317) with no fugal pretensions at all.
More appealing than undiluted homophony or the rather conventional fugal
style of his Salzburg works are the many occasions where the two interrelate in
imaginative ways. His Missa Brevis in F K.192/186f is a particularly good example
of this sort of fusion. The introduction to the Kyrie contains three distinct kinds of
material: a tunefully galant theme over a walking bass, followed by a prolongation
over a dominant pedal, and lastly a cadential phrase. The dominant prolongation
(bb.6-8) is almost dreamily static, repeating the same idea three times in different
registers and never leaving its dominant/tonic alternation. It is therefore with some
surprise that we see the same melody reveal its active contrapuntal potential as a fugue
subject, which each of the voices takes up in turn (Ex.4.12):
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