Canon in C for 4 Voices in 1, “Alleluia” (K. 553)
par Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Mozart’s Canon in C for 4 voices in 1, “Alleluia” (K. 553) is a compact, expertly made piece of vocal counterpoint, entered in his own thematic catalogue on 2 September 1788 in Vienna.[1] Scored for four equal, unaccompanied voices, it shows how, even in the smallest “occasional” genres, Mozart could turn strict technique into something immediately singable and bright.[1]
Background and Context
In 1788—Mozart’s 32nd year—Vienna saw the composer producing music on every scale, from the monumental to the miniature. The four-voice Alleluia canon, K. 553, belongs to the latter category: a brief, self-contained work that is nevertheless fully “finished” in conception and transmission.[1]
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The Köchel Verzeichnis (Mozarteum’s catalogue) dates the canon precisely to Vienna on 2 September 1788 and lists it as authentic, extant, and complete.[1] That same dating places it within a cluster of late canons—pieces intended for practical music-making in private circles, where friends could read, sing, and delight in contrapuntal ingenuity without the infrastructure of an opera house or court chapel.[1]
K. 553 is not “famous” in the way the late symphonies are, but it deserves attention for precisely the reason Mozart valued the canon: it compresses craft into a few bars. For singers and listeners, such works offer a direct encounter with the composer’s technique—counterpoint not as academic exercise, but as social music: quick to learn, satisfying to sing, and elegant in effect.
Text and Composition
The text is minimal—simply the liturgical word “Alleluia” (Latin)—yet it is enough to suggest an ecclesiastical resonance even when performed outside church.[2] IMSLP’s work entry likewise identifies the piece as a single canon for four voices, composed in 1788, in C major, with Latin text.[2]
The Mozarteum catalogue’s source notes point to an autograph score (1788) and a trail of later copies and early prints, underscoring that the work circulated and was preserved rather than remaining an ephemeral jotting.[1] That matters for a genre often associated with informal occasions: K. 553 stands among those small pieces whose documentation confirms they were valued, recopied, and carried forward.
Musical Character
K. 553 is a canon “for 4 equal voices”—in other words, four parts entering successively with the same melody, creating a self-propelling texture from a single line.[1] Its instrumentation is straightforward and practical:
- Voices: 4 equal voices (V1, V2, V3, V4), unaccompanied (a cappella)[1]
Within the bright frame of C major, Mozart writes in a manner that is both clear and buoyant: the repeated “Alleluia” becomes less a “text” to be interpreted than a vowel-rich sound that supports blend, imitation, and rhythmic vitality. The pleasure lies in hearing entrances lock into place—order emerging from overlap—until the listener perceives the whole as a single, gleaming mechanism.
What makes this little canon distinctive in Mozart’s output is its balance of accessibility and discipline. Canons can sound like puzzles; K. 553 sounds like song. In that sense it is a telling late-Vienna miniature: a reminder that, alongside the public works that sought posterity, Mozart continued to cultivate forms meant for immediate use—music written to be shared, on the spot, by real voices in a room.
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[1] Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum, Köchel Verzeichnis entry for KV 553 (“Alleluja” canon): authenticity, dating (Vienna, 02.09.1788), instrumentation, and source/publication notes.
[2] IMSLP work page for *Alleluja*, K. 553: general information (key, year, language, instrumentation) and downloadable score references.