Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert - The Genius of Mozart - St James's Baroque - Mozart Sacred Music

BBC Singers St James's Baroque Paul Brough conductor Live from St Paul's Church, Knightsbridge, London Presented by Catherine Bott Ave verum K618 God is our refuge K20 Kyrie K33 Church Sonata in D major K69 Veni Sancte Spiritus K47 Laudate Dominum K339 Church Sonata in C major K328 Mass in C major 'Coronation' K317 The BBC Singers join forces with period-instrument orchestra St James's Baroque for a concert of sacred music from every decade of Mozart's life. The programme ranges from his very first sacred work ('God is our refuge' - composed by the eight-year old Mozart in July 1765 after a visit with his family to the recently-opened British Museum), to one of his last (the 'Ave verum corpus', a deeply serene setting of Latin words which he composed in July 1791, only a few months before his death). In between, comes music from Mozart's years in Salzburg, where he was employed by the city's Prince Archbishop. Mozart spent this period as a liveried servant in the Archbishop's household (higher in rank than the cooks but lower than the valets, as he rather ruefully observed) and his lack of status, combined with the creative restrictions imposed by the Archbishop's preferences in liturgical music, led to the famous bust-up with his princely employer which culminated - the story goes - in Mozart being physically kicked out of the Archbishop's palace. Nonetheless, that period gave rise to some of Mozart's most exquisite sacred music, including, in this concert, the wonderful 'Laudate dominum' from one of his Vespers settings, and the famous Coronation Mass whose final, heartbreaking, Agnus Dei points forward to the music Mozart would later write for one of his most unforgettable operatic characters - the Countess in 'The Marriage of Figaro'.