Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus : Regina coeli

The young Mozart composed three settings of the “Regina Coeli”, an ancient Latin Marian hymn of the Catholic church.

The ìRegina coeliî K.127, composed in Salzburg in May 1772, is very similar in expression and formal structure to the first ìRegina coeliî K.108 (74d) on the same Marian antiphon. But compared with the first work, K.127 discloses a greater contrapuntal refinement despite its large orchestral forces, from which, however, the trumpets and kettledrums were omitted. The copies of choral works by Michael Haydn and Ernst Erberlin which Mozart made in the spring of 1773 underscore Mozartís unflagging interest in contrapuntal techniques.