Mozart's Exsultate, jubilate, K. 165

(Excerpted from the program notes for "Mozart by Candlelight" concert at Trinity Cathedral on November 16, 2012)

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​The delightful motet, Exsultate, jubilate, K. 165, from 1773, is a glittering Italianate gem from Mozart's late teen years. 

Mozart aged 14 in January 1770 (School of Verona, attributed to Giambettino Cignaroli)

​During his pre-Vienna years, Mozart travelled several times to Italy, where he absorbed the light and charming style of that region’s music. In 1773 he visited Milan, frequented the opera, and hobnobbed with its performers. His compositions from that time benefitted not only from the bright, cheerful mood and florid ornaments of the Italian arias but also from the abilities of the singers of such music. Although it seems remarkable today that sacred music employed this secular style, such was the taste of that time. Mozart wrote Exsultate, jubilate for an opera star, the soprano castrato Veranzio Rauzzini, creating a kind of vocal concerto on sacred text. It is in three contrasting movements, with a dry recitative linking the first two of them. 

Portrait of Rauzzini with his dog Turk at the Herschel Museum of Astronomy.

​The famous sparkling third movement, using only the word “alleluja”, is a coloratura tour de force, perfectly capturing ebullient joy. 
​                                                                                                                                                                                               Judith Eckelmeyer ©2012

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Michael Maniaci, male soprano performs "Andante" 
Exsultate Jubilate, K. 165 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Boston Baroque | Martin Pearlman, conductor  

Aksel Rykkvin, treble performs "Alleluia"
Exsultate, jubilate K.165.
​From the 2016 Christmas concert with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra (Kringkastingsorkesteret / KORK) at "Sentralen", Oslo. Conductor: Ingar Bergby.

Regula Mühlemann, soprano performs "Andante" and "Alleluia"
​ ZDF Adventskonzert 2016
Adventliche Festmusik aus der Frauenkirche Dresden
​ Staatskapelle Dresden | Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Dirigent