Keywords
Mozart
Loreto pilgrimage
litany
Marian litany
ritual experience
How to Cite
Abstract
The Litaniae lauretanae (the Litany of Loreto), a Marian litany with medieval roots, has been set numerous times in polyphony, as well as in grand settings with soloists and orchestra, to be performed all over Catholic Europe. Famous musicians who composed settings of the Litany of Loreto include Orlando di Lasso, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Claudio Monteverdi, Heinrich Biber, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. This article discusses Mozart’s two settings of the Litaniae lauretanae that were composed in May 1771 and in 1774. The analysis of parts of Mozart’s settings in the light of the historical background of Loreto pilgrimages and the litany’s ritual and musical uses highlights some of their remarkable musical features. It is argued that Mozart’s settings, more than any other major contemporary ones, constitute musical reenactments of ritual experience.
References
Musical Editions
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Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus. Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots. Vorgelegt von Franz Giegling. Neue Ausgabe sämtlicher Werke, Serie I: Geistliche Gesangswerke, Werkgruppe 4: Oratorien, Geistliche Singspiele und Kantaten, Band 1. Kassel: Bärenreiter Verlag, 1958.
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus. Litaniae de venerabili altaris Sacramento KV 125. Vorgelegt von Hellmut Federhofer und Renate Federhofer-Königs. Urtext of the New Mozart Edition. Score. Kassel: Bärenreiter Verlag, 1969.
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus. Litaniae de venerabili altaris Sacramento KV 243. Vorge- legt von Hellmut Federhofer und Renate Federhofer-Königs. Urtext of the New Mozart Edition. Score. Kassel: Bärenreiter Verlag, 1969.
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus. “Litaniae Lauretanae B.M.V. KV 109” und “Litaniae Lauretanae B.M.V. KV 195.” Vorgelegt von Hellmut Federhofer und Renate Federhofer-Königs. Neue Ausgabe sämtlicher Werke, Serie I: Geistliche Gesangswerke, Werkgruppe 2: Litanien, Vespern, Band 1: Litaneien. Kassel: Bärenreiter Verlag, 1969. 3–22, 135–250.
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus. Missa in c minor “Waisenhaus Mass” KV 139. Ed. by Walter Senn. Urtext of the New Mozart Edition. Score. Kassel: Bärenreiter Verlag, 1968.
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