Kyrie in Eโญ major (fragment; completed by M. Stadler), K. 322
av Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Mozartโs Kyrie in Eโญ major (K. 322) is a surviving torso of a Mass movement from his Mannheim period (1778โ79), left incomplete in draft form and later supplied with a completion by Abbรฉ Maximilian Stadler. Even in fragmentary state, it shows Mozartโaged 22โthinking on an expansive, orchestral scale in sacred style.
What Is Known
The Kyrie in Eโญ major, K. 322 (also catalogued as K. 296a), survives as an incomplete single movementโbest understood as the opening of an otherwise lost or unrealized Mass project from Mozartโs Mannheim stay (1778). The surviving sources preserve enough of Mozartโs musical draft that Abbรฉ Maximilian Stadler (1748โ1833), a later friend and colleague, could supply a performable completion after Mozartโs death.[1]
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Modern catalog and edition records consistently treat the work as a fragment, while also transmitting a practical scoring suitable for late-18th-century festive church music: SATB choir with oboes, bassoons, horns and trumpets in Eโญ, timpani, strings, and organ/continuo.[2]
Musical Content
What survives is a compact, ceremonial Kyrie design in Eโญ major, where choral writing is supported by a bright โchurch-orchestralโ paletteโtrumpets and timpani lending public, processional weight, while winds reinforce the harmony and color the choral textures.[2] The manuscriptโs very existence in Mannheim is suggestive: in 1778 Mozart was absorbing the cityโs famed orchestral sound, and even in sacred idiom he appears drawn to broader sonority and clear-cut, symphonic gestureโambitions that Stadlerโs completion attempts to carry through to a coherent close.[1]
[1] Carus-Verlag work page: Kyrie in E flat major, KV 322 โ fragment completed by Maximilian Stadler; scoring and brief editorial description.
[2] IMSLP work page: Kyrie in E-flat major, K.322/296a โ basic catalog data and instrumentation; public-domain score scan information.