De profundis clamavi (C minor), K. Anh.A 22 — Spurious (Johann Georg Reutter)
par Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
De profundis clamavi in C minor (K. Anh.A 22) is a short Latin setting of Psalm 130, long connected with Mozart but now generally regarded as spurious and attributable to Johann Georg Reutter. No secure date, place of origin, or Mozart autograph is known; what survives is best understood as a devotional psalm setting transmitted through later sources and copies.[1][2]
Background and Context
Although the work appears in older Mozart cataloguing and editions as De profundis clamavi (sometimes under K. 93), its authorship is now usually assigned to Johann Georg Reutter (often identified in modern listings as Reutter “the Younger”), with Mozart’s connection reduced—at most—to transmission and copying rather than composition.[1][3]
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The text (Psalm 130, “Out of the depths”) had an established liturgical and devotional role in Catholic practice, making it a natural vehicle for compact, serviceable church music. In that sense, the piece fits the broader eighteenth-century world Mozart knew—where copying, adapting, and excerpting sacred works for local use was routine—even if the composition itself is best placed outside his authentic output.[1]
Musical Character
What is transmitted under K. Anh.A 22 is scored as a concise choral psalm for mixed chorus (SATB) with continuo/organ.[1][4] In C minor, the setting leans toward a sober, penitential affect: predominantly chordal choral writing supports clear declamation of the Latin, while the bass line and harmonies give the music its weight and forward pull.
In stylistic terms, the page suggests a functional piece designed for liturgical clarity rather than for the kind of soloistic contrast and orchestral color that often animates Mozart’s authenticated Salzburg sacred music. The result is direct and earnest—effective in its concentrated rhetoric—yet its musical fingerprints align more comfortably with Reutter’s Viennese church style than with Mozart’s mature sacred voice.[1][2]
[1] IMSLP — De profundis clamavi (Reutter, Georg): authorship note, scoring (SATB & continuo), and source/edition listings formerly attributed to Mozart as K. 93 / K. Anh.A 22
[2] Digital Mozart Edition (Mozarteum) — Neue Mozart-Ausgabe TOC, Series X/28/Abt. 3-5/3: lists *De profundis clamavi* under K. Anh.A 22 among transcriptions/works by various composers (Reutter attribution shown in the TOC)
[3] AllMusic — Work entry noting K. 93 / K. Anh.A 22 as spurious (attributed to Reutter)
[4] CPDL (ChoralWiki) — De profundis (Georg Reutter): notes prior ascription to Mozart K. 93 and continuo accompaniment