Dennis Pajot

This Sonata, along with K68/41i, K69/41k, K144/124a and K145/124b, are all together on 4 sheets with 8 written on sides and are presently in a special collection at Mills College in Oakland, California USA. (K.67 is the first written down, and covers the entire first page). These pieces are scores for 2 Violins, Bass (or Cello) and Organ.

 K⁶ states, “the first three pieces appear to have been written at the same time and rather earlier than the last two”. J.A. André had first dated these first three Sonatas in the 1760’s, but later changed his opinion to the beginning of the 1770’s. Köchel placed them in 1769. Wysewa/St.Foix, Schenk and Abert believed their Italian character placed them in the neighborhood of K144 and K145, around 1771/1772. Alfred Einstein, from the character of the autograph manuscript and stylistic evidence, suggested them to be the surviving half of the “6 Trios for 2 Violins and Cello”, of Leopold Mozart’s 1768 list of his son’s works and moved them back to 1767--renumbering them K41h-41k. Despite opinions contrary in between the two editions, K6 did not change this dating, except to expand it to the end of 1766 or beginning of 1767, following the opinion of Herbert Klein (Mozart-Jahrbuch 1957) claiming one of the 3 Sonatas had already been performed on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8, 1766, in the Cathedral according to the diary of the Salzburg Cathedral librarian Bed Hubner [“…for he had already composed very much and today especially, at High Mass in the Cathedral for a great festivity, a symphony of his was done which not only found great approbation from all the court musicians, but also caused great astonishment…”]. Neal Zaslaw (Journal of Musicology 1982) admits it is not beyond reason that this “symphony” was an Epistle Sonata, and reports a symphony would not fit into the famous 45-minute time limit Mozart wrote of to Padre Martini (although Zaslaw states this 45-minute time limit should be taken with a grain of salt). In the end he however believes the “symphony” was probably not an Epistle sonata, citing Wolfgang Plath’s handwriting studies. In the NMA-Critical Report (1958) Minos Dounias also reported Ernst Schmid did not believe the work was an Epistle Sonata, but a true symphony. Orlando Mansfield (Musical Quarterly 1922) had placed the sonatas in 1774 (or during the years 1773 to 1776), while Hans Dennerlein (MJB 1953) placed them in 1775. Dounias (NMA 1957) agreed with Dennerlein that Mozart had no occasion to write these sonatas before August 9, 1772, when he entered the service as the Church concertmaster at an annual salary of 150 fl. (although he did hold an unpaid position before that). Plath’s handwriting studies place the 3 sonatas in the period 1771/1772 and in close proximity to Sogno di Scipione (performed most likely in May 1772, but originally intended for the 50th anniversary of the ordination of Prince Archbishop Schrattenbach to be performed January 10, 1772, and Wolfgang worked on the music between April and August 1771). Tyson’s watermark studies show paper Mozart purchased in Vienna in 1768 and took back to Salzburg. It is used in the second version of Aria #22 from La finta semplice, all 20 pages of the Regina coeli K108/74d, and numerous pages of the Mass K139/47a. Tyson does not dispute Plath’s dating.

 I would like to pause here and give information on the designation of these Sonatas and where they were played in the church service. At various times they have been called "Organ Sonatas", "Epistle Sonatas", "Sonatas for Various Instruments with Organ", "Festival Sonatas", "Sonata da chiesa", and "Church Sonatas". In his autographs Mozart simply called them "Sonata". In a letter he referred to them as "Sonate all' epistola" ("Sonata at the Epistle").

 To understand some of this we must first take a brief moment to learn where the Sonata was played in the Mass. Just like the name, the position within the Mass has had differing opinions. In his letter to Padre Martini on September 4, 1776, Mozart wrote, "...since a Mass with the whole Kyrie, the Gloria, the Credo, the Epistle Sonata, the Offertory or Motet, the Sanctus, and the Agnus Dei must not last longer than three quarters of an hour". However if the Sonata was played in connected with the Epistle reading, it must be before the Credo. The Harvard Dictionary of Music stated the music was played "before" the reading of the Epistle. Others state the Sonata was played "between" the reading or intoning of the Epistle and the Gospel. Still others write it was performed "while" the priest read the Epistle.

As in 1782 Archbishop Colloredo decreed vocal works with sacred texts should replace instrumental music--and Michael Haydn wrote about 114 Graduals in response to this--the Sonata would then be played immediately after the priest read the Epistle. At this point in the service the Gradual was sung (or chanted), as the priest mounted the "gradus", or step, in his movements to the alter, praying quietly or sometimes to himself. Leopold Mozart's letter of November 1, 1777, seems to confirm this as he wrote "instead of sonatas, the words of the Gradual which the priest is praying" were heard.

Back to the designation of these pieces. The AMA designated them "Sonatas for Various Instruments with Organ", thus almost stripping them as any church connection. To call them "Organ Sonatas" is incorrect. Few have organ solos, the organ having accompaniment or (later) "obbligato" parts with the other instruments. In the early Sonatas the Organ part is not written out at all, but merely indicated by a bass, figured or otherwise. In only 6 of the 17

Sonatas is the Organ part fully indicated. Einstein adopted the term "Epistle Sonata" from Mozart's designation in his letter "Sonate all' epistola"--but as seen exactly how it relates to the

Epistle is unclear. In the 1950's E. Power Biggs called them "Festival Sonatas" for his Columbia recording. Another term used is "Sonata da chiesa", which appeared in the mid-17th century to refer to obbligato instruments and the organ playing at various places in the Mass. At present the term mostly used to designate these 17 pieces is "Church Sonata".

For what it is worth my favorite term is "Sonate all' epistola", which is quite possibly inaccurate as it literally translates "Sonata at the Epistle". As seen above it was probably played after the Epistle reading. Perhaps they should more properly be called "Gradual Sonatas"?

Back to our Sonata KV.67. None of the 5 Sonatas K67-69, K144-145 has a tempo indication in the autograph. However the music of K67 clearly shows a slow tempo, and it was supplied with a tempo marking of Andante in AMA and Andantino in NMA. K.67 is the only Sonate all' epistola by Mozart in a slow tempo. No doubt Mozart realized after performance that there was not enough time in this part of the service for a slow Sonata, or I think perhaps the character of slow music did not fit into the Salzburg tradition of this portion of the service.

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