Exsultate, jubilate

• 1. Introduction

  ›

  "Exsultate, jubilate" had its first performance on the 17th of January 1773, at the Theatine Church in Milan. The man who sang it that afternoon walked across the city that same evening to perform in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera. The motet, catalogued as K. 165, was composed by Mozart for the castrato Venanzio Rauzzini. He wrote it not on commission, not for a church patron, but out of personal admiration for the singer. A piece born in the margins of a busy opera production became one of the most beloved works in the soprano repertoire. It has also found a place in the countertenor repertoire, nearly two and a half centuries after it was written. What gave it such lasting life? The answer starts in the opera house, not the church.

• 2. The Opera House and the Castrato

  ›

  Lucio Silla had opened at the Teatro Regio Ducale on the 26th of December 1772. Its run was scheduled to close on the 25th of January 1773. Rauzzini had sung the part of Cecilio, the primo uomo of the opera. That term identified the leading male role in Italian opera, a position typically assigned to a castrato. Mozart wrote the motet during the final weeks of that run.

  The autograph manuscript of the motet is preserved today in the Jagiellonian Library. What Mozart composed during those weeks carried far more of the opera house into the sacred space than a conventional motet of the period.

• 3. Between Church and Concert Hall

  ›

  The motet's four sections move through sharply different characters. It opens with an Allegro in F major, then passes through a brief secco recitative. An Andante in A major follows, and the work closes with a second Allegro that returns to F major. That final movement drew the most vivid critical description. Musicologist Stanley Sadie called it "a jewel of a piece with its high spirits and its wit... like no other piece of Mozart's." Sadie heard in it the unmistakable marks of elation and confidence, the mood of a composer coming off a successful opera run.

  Although written for liturgical performance, the motet shares many features with Mozart's concert arias, drawing on forms developed in his operatic work. Mozart also incorporated elements of concerto form. That combination of sacred, operatic, and concerto characteristics gave the work an unusual hybrid character.

  The orchestra includes two oboes, which can be replaced by two flutes, plus a bassoon and two natural horns in F. Organ and a full string section complete the ensemble, with first and second violins, violas, cello, and double bass. Mozart also wrote passages for a divided viola section, producing a more layered sound. He used the same technique in his Sinfonia Concertante KV 364 in E-flat major, scored for violin, viola, and orchestra. The opening words, "Exsultate, jubilate," translate as "Exult, rejoice," and they set the emotional tone for all that follows.

• 4. The Latin Text

  ›

  The libretto of "Exsultate, jubilate" is in Latin, and its author is unknown. Rauzzini has been suggested as a possible writer, though no proof has been established. The opening section calls on "blessed souls" to sing sweet songs, with the heavens invited to join the response. The mood is one of sustained joy.

  The second section, the recitative, moves through darker imagery before arriving at relief. It describes dark night that has "reigned everywhere," followed by clouds and storms that flee before a "friendly day." The righteous are offered "an unexpected calm." Those who had feared are urged to arise and offer "garlands and lilies with full right hand."

  That third section addresses a figure described as the "crown of virgins," asking for peace and consolation. It is the most inward of the motet's texts, a brief plea set against the surrounding joy. Mozart would eventually write two different sets of replacement words for the opening sections, each suited to a different occasion.

• 5. Salzburg and Later Versions

  ›

  One revised version was performed by Francesco Ceccarelli at the Holy Trinity Church in Salzburg. The date was the 30th of May 1779, a Trinity Sunday. For that occasion, the text of the first section was rewritten. Where the Milan version had called on "blessed souls," the Trinity Sunday version declared that "the Great Trinity is revealed and everywhere adored." The second section was also reworked, invoking Mary as an approach "in faith to the source of Grace, the throne of Mercy."

  A second Salzburg version made a further change to the opening lines. In place of the Trinity reference, it celebrated the Incarnation with the words "made flesh, made man is everywhere adored." This version was intended for Christmas. Mozart also made revisions to the motet around 1780, details of which remain less documented than the Salzburg performances.

  The manuscripts of both Salzburg versions came to light in 1978, found in St. Jakob, Wasserburg am Inn. Emma Kirkby's 1983 recording with Christopher Hogwood and the Academy of Ancient Music used the Salzburg version. Released on the l'Oiseau-Lyre label, it was among the first period-instrument accounts of a work that has since accumulated recordings across four decades.

• 6. A Piece for Every Voice

  ›

  Arleen Auger's 1990 recording paired the motet with Mozart's Great Mass in C minor, K. 427. Leonard Bernstein conducted the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra for that release, which appeared on both CD and DVD. Among the countertenors who have performed the work, Michael Maniaci recorded it in 2009 with Martin Pearlman and Boston Baroque. That Telarc release was titled "Arias for Male Soprano." Aris Christofellis recorded only the Alleluia movement, for an EMI release in 1994-1995, with Flavio Colusso and Ensemble Seicentonovecento. Franco Fagioli has also recorded the motet.

  Carolyn Sampson recorded it twice. Her 2005 account was with Robert King and the King's Consort, on Hyperion Records. A 2015 recording with Masaaki Suzuki and Bach Collegium Japan, for the BIS label, used flutes in place of oboes. Danielle de Niese recorded it for Decca Classics in 2009, with Charles Mackerras conducting the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Julia Lezhneva's 2012 recording for Decca Classics placed the motet alongside works by Vivaldi, Handel, and Porpora. Aksel Rykkvin recorded only the Alleluia movement in 2016 with Nigel Short and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, for Signum Classics.

  Robin Johannsen's 2022 recording for Arcana gathered sacred works by Giovanni Andrea Fioroni and Melchiorre Chiesa alongside Mozart. The album's title, "Mozart in Milan: Sacred Music around the Exsultate, jubilate," named the motet as the focal point of Milanese sacred music in 1773.