Adoramus te in C minor (K. Anh.C 3.42)
ヴォルフガング・アマデウス・モーツァルト作
Adoramus te, Christe in C minor (K. Anh.C 3.42) survives as an extant, complete motet that was long attributed to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart but is now regarded as spurious, the work of the Italian composer Quirino Gasparini (1721–1778) [1]. Although some secondary cataloguing has occasionally misplaced it among keyboard items, the surviving sources point to a short sacred choral work in a stark C-minor sound world [1].
What Is Known
K. Anh.C 3.42 is transmitted and classed in the Mozarteum Foundation’s online Köchel catalogue as “Adoramus te, Christe”, a motet in C minor for choir and basso by Quirino Gasparini, with Leopold Mozart named as the “author of the transcription” [1]. Its authenticity status there is explicit: “incorrectly assigned” (i.e., formerly attributed to Mozart) [1]. IMSLP likewise presents the piece under Gasparini’s name, noting the older Mozart attribution (K. 327 / K⁶ Anh. A 10) and giving the scoring as mixed chorus with organ/continuo [2].
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In practical terms, then, this “Mozart” item fits Mozart’s biography only indirectly: it documents what the Mozarts copied, performed, or admired, rather than what Wolfgang composed. The date and place of the transcription are not securely established in the public cataloguing summaries, and should be treated as unknown without consulting the full source descriptions in the archives [1].
Musical Content
The surviving work is a compact Latin motet (Adoramus te, Christe) in C minor, written for mixed chorus with basso/organ continuo support [1] [2]. Its affect is correspondingly penitential and restrained, shaped less like a concerted Salzburg church piece than like an austere liturgical utterance: predominantly chordal choral writing, careful text declamation, and a harmonic language that leans on the rhetorical weight of minor-mode cadences rather than instrumental color.
Because the work is not by Mozart, it does not “anticipate” a specific later development in his keyboard writing; instead, its interest in a Mozart context lies in the transmission itself—an example of the repertory circulating around the Mozart household that could be mistaken, in later generations, for Wolfgang’s own voice [1].
[1] International Mozarteum Foundation (KV online): KV Anh. C 3.42 — “Adoramus te, Christe” in C minor; authenticity and transmission; credits Gasparini as composer and Leopold Mozart as copyist/transcriber.
[2] IMSLP work page (older Mozart attribution K. 327 / K⁶ Anh. A 10): scoring and basic catalog identifiers; presents the piece under Quirino Gasparini.