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The Worlds of Gilbert and Sullivan

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg in 1756, and died in Vienna in 1791. He was christened Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus, but his shortened name probably better reflects his character . He was a fiery, precocious, mercurial personality, full of life, exuberance and inventiveness, who fearlessly bucked authority.

Young Mozart was a genius. His father Leopold was a fine musician, as was his elder sister, Maria Anna. At 5 years of age Wolfgang was a brilliant keyboard player and composer! His father took the two children all over Europe to 'entertain' the courts of Royalty and other aristocratic dynasties. They were a wow! And little Wolfgang (whose feet couldn't even touch the floor under his piano) was the toast of the town everywhere they went.

He quickly became a veritable dynamo of a composer and performer. In fact his prodigious talent and output surpasses almost anything any other musician has achieved, in both quantity and quality. He is still considered to be the world leader by both musicians and audiences. He died very young (in suspicious circumstances). The mind boggles at what might have been had he lived to a greater age! His works have inspired succeeding generations of composers and musicians, including Arthur Sullivan, who no doubt would also have enjoyed Wolfgang's piano playing antics!

Ave Verum Corpus¹  is a beautiful motet he composed for the choirmaster, Anton Stoll, at the spa town of Baden. It is listed with the more formal title Motet, Ave Verum Corpus (K618², 1791). When his wife, Constanze, was eight months pregnant, he took her there to 'take the cure' for her ailing health. It is said that he was so grateful for the treatment they received, this was, as it were, a 'thank-you' to Anton. The libretto is a hymn of unknown date and origin, although it has been attributed to Pope Innocent VI who died in 1342.

A favourite of cathedral and church choirs, as well as concert platforms³, Mozart's Ave Verum (SATB) would have been sung by Arthur as a choirboy, and he would have played and conducted it as choirmaster and organist. He would also have studied it closely, and undoubtedly admired it as a musician.

Ave Verum Corpus

Ave, ave verum corpus
(Ahvey, ahvey veyroom corrpoos)
Natum de Maria Virgine;
(Nartoom dey Mareeah Veergeeney)
Vere passum, immolatum
(Veyrey pahsoom, eemowlahtoom)
In cruce pro homine:
(Een croochey proh hohmeeney)
(short interlude)

Cuius latus perforatum
(Cooyus lahtus pearforahtoom)
Un da fluxit et sanguine;
Oon dah flooxeet eyt sahngweeney)
Esto nobis praegustatum
(Eystoh nohbees praygoostahtoom)
In mortis examine,
(Een morrtees eyxahmeeney)
In mortis examiney
(Een morrtees eyxahmeeney)

Don't over-emphasise the vowels, but make them clear and distinct. R's are emphasised a little more than in English. 'a' is pronounced ah (as in father).

If you haven't sung or heard this before, we hope you have enjoyed it as much as we have performing it. Did you have a go at the Latin? Were our little in-house pronunciation guide notes a help (or a hindrance)? Phonetic expert advice always welcome.

Here's one beautiful English translation⁴, if you would like to sing one. But in our opinion one can't improve on the Latin!

Jesu, Lamb of God, Redeemer,
Born the Virgin Mary's Son,
Who upon the Cross a victim 
Hast man's salvation won,
(short interlude)

From whose side,
Which man had pierced,
Flow'd the water and the Blood,
By thy sacred Body broken
Be in life and death, our food,
Thou in life and death,
In life and death our food.

"Isn't the music out of this world? Wolfgang must be the greatest musician who ever lived." Steady Scribe, we must allow MusicSmiles' visitors to make their own judgements about the composer. "I know, but I still think he's the greatest." Well, alright Scribe, you are entitled to your opinion. "Thank you. But I used to sing with a friend, Malcolm, who said he'd never sung anything as wonderful as this. And I agree with him! You ask the visitors, they'll tell you." That's fine, we're very pleased you both think this way. "But listen to that beautiful melody. Listen to those ground-breaking harmonies, years ahead of their time. Then there's all those magnificent symphonies, concertos (or is it concerti?) and operas, and . . ." OK, OK, OK, you've made your point Scribe. "Are you going to tell the folks about how Arthur went a considerable detour with Sir George Grove to see the great Mozart's birthplace in Salzburg, during their trip to Vienna? Well, I wasn't going to go into details about . . . OK, you win! He really did think that Mozart was the tops didn't he? I promise we'll give the subject further consideration. 

Sorry about that folks. Scribe does occasionally get carried away. And, if you have an opinion about Scribe's comments, let us know your views. 

Meanwhile enjoy singing with our arrangement of Wolfgang's 200 year old evergreen miniature masterpiece . . .

Footnote 1.    'Hail True Body'. (See also a version by Edward Elgar). Return to story.

Footnote 2.    K stands for Köchel (pronounced kerkal) Number. Ludwig Köchel, was a great admirer of Mozart. After Wolfgang's death he spent years compiling a list of Mozart's music and catalogued them, giving each a Köchel Number which identifies them today. Return to story.

Footnote 3.    One of the sources of this tune and words may be found under Lionel Dakers, on our Bibliography page. Return to story.

( Click number to view statistics > > >). Scribe thanks all our  223,547 MusicSmiles visitors up to beginning of September, 2010. 

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