Symphony Choir of Cape Town sings Mozart’s Great Mass in C Minor

Fri Jun 22, 19:30 - Fri Jun 22, 21:30

Christ Church, Constantia

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“Mozart at his most dazzling” - don’t miss the Symphony Choir of Cape Town performing his Great Mass in C Minor
 
Capetonians have a rare chance to listen to the Symphony Choir of Cape Town perform Mozart’s soaring Mass in C Minor, K 427 on Friday, 22 June, at the beautiful venue of Christ Church, Constantia, where solemn choruses will alternate with elaborate arias, fugues and double fugues.

If you’ve never been swept away by this work before, expect “Mozart the opera composer, Mozart the composer of sacred vocal music, and Mozart the explorer of Baroque counterpoint... all wrapped into one,” says music history professor Steven Zohn.

Although it is widely regarded, with the Requiem, as his greatest work, Mozart did not complete this Mass before his death. Other composers have endeavoured to fill the gaps, but the Symphony Choir will be singing the Peters Edition, which contains only music written by Mozart himself.

A touching thought is that the Mass in C Minor is probably a work of the heart. In a letter to his father, Mozart mentioned wanting to write a Mass for his new wife, Constanze, who was a soprano. The “Et incarnatus est”, particularly, is believed to have been composed with her in mind, and she was the soloist for the first performance of the Mass, at the Abbey of St. Peter’s in Salzburg.

Mozart’s Mass is breath-taking, even to those who have heard most of the sacred music ever written. Pope Francis, in an interview with America magazine, explained: "Among musicians I love Mozart, of course. The ‘Et incarnatus est’ from his Mass in C minor is matchless; it lifts you to God! But I cannot think about his music; I have to listen to it.”

If you love choral music, you have to listen to the Symphony Choir’s performance of Mozart’s Great Mass on Friday, 22 June, conducted by the choir’s well known musical director, Alex Fokkens, in Christ Church, Constantia.  
 
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