Alma Redemptoris Mater in F major (lost), K. 672
ヴォルフガング・アマデウス・モーツァルト作
Mozart’s Alma Redemptoris Mater in F major (K. 672) is a lost Salzburg antiphon, generally dated to 1777, whose very attribution is treated as doubtful in modern reference worklists [1]. Known today only by title, it nonetheless points to the kind of concise, serviceable church music Mozart was expected to supply at age 21.
Background and Context
In 1777, the 21-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was still shaped by Salzburg’s tightly regulated ecclesiastical music life, where short Latin items—antiphons, motets, and brief Offertoria—had to fit practical liturgical needs and local taste. K. 672 is listed simply as an Alma Redemptoris Mater (a Marian antiphon associated with the liturgy of the hours and sung seasonally in the church year) but no autograph or contemporary copy is known to survive, leaving only documentary traces in cataloguing [1] and the broader liturgical context of the text itself [2].
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The work must also be approached as a lost piece of doubtful authenticity: without a source, neither Mozart’s authorship nor any later transmission can be tested against handwriting, paper, or style.
Musical Character
No music for K. 672 is extant, so its scoring, length, and formal design cannot be described from surviving pages. Still, the genre label “antiphon” suggests a compact setting of the familiar Latin text (rather than an extended multi-movement Marian work), likely intended for devotional use within Salzburg’s church routine rather than for concert display [2].
Placed against Mozart’s known sacred output of the mid-1770s, K. 672—if genuine—would represent another instance of his ability to condense expressive vocal writing into a small liturgical frame: music designed to be immediately singable, text-clear, and proportioned to the service, even when the musical imagination is characteristically alert.
[1] Köchel Catalogue Online (Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum), entry for KV/K. 672 “Alma Redemptoris Mater” (antiphon in F; lost/dubious listing).
[2] Wikipedia: Alma Redemptoris Mater — overview of the Marian antiphon’s liturgical function and seasonal use.