Missa C major KV 337 'Missa solemnis'

Mozart composed the Mass in C K.337 about one year after the Coronation Mass K. 317; 'nel Marzo 1780 in Salisburgo' he wrote on the first page of his original score. And just as was the case with K.317, this work, together with a new church sonata (K. 336/336), will have been intended for the Easter High Mass in Salzburg Cathedral. The formal instrumentation of the score with oboes, solo bassoon, trumpets and timpani (but without horns) only serves to strengthen such a supposition.

What is striking about the work is the rigorously contrapuntal Benedictus, which forms a stark contrast to the similarly unusual Agnus Dei, in which a solo organ alternating with theconcertante wind instruments (oboe and bassoon) provides a framework for the coloratura-rich part of the solo soprano.