- Köchel Number
- K9 196a | K6 196a
- Genre
- Sacred Music
- Form
- Masses & Requiem
- Key
- G Major
- Date
- 1787–1789
- Place
- Munich
- Age
- 31
Mozart’s Kyrie in G major (fragment), K. 196a, is a surviving opening section for an otherwise lost or abandoned Mass project, generally dated to his Munich period of 1787 (Mozart aged 31) [1]. Only this Kyrie portion survives, leaving its intended continuation—and any broader liturgical setting—uncertain [2].
What Is Known
Only the Kyrie survives, preserved as an incomplete sacred movement in G major; no complete Mass securely connected with it is extant [1]. Modern reference listings place the fragment in Munich and broadly in the late 1780s, consistent with Mozart’s renewed interest in church-style writing around the time of Don Giovanni (premiered in Prague in October 1787) and the concentrated contrapuntal study of his mature Vienna years [1].
The fragment is transmitted in the New Mozart Edition’s appendix material for sacred works, where it appears among Mass single movements and fragments (i.e., as an independent survival rather than a detachable excerpt from a complete score) [2].
Musical Content
What remains suggests a compact, self-contained opening panel rather than a fully worked multi-section Kyrie. In keeping with Mozart’s mature sacred idiom, the writing balances clear choral declamation with orchestral support that likely aimed at a festive, major-key sonority; the fragment breaks off before any large-scale continuation (Christe eleison or a concluding reprise) can be inferred with confidence [1].