Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Ave Verum Corpus

Mozart composed the motet 'Ave Verum Corpus' in Baden on June 17th, 1791 for his friend Anton Stoll, the vocal choir master. The motet, scored for chorus, strings and organ continuo was intended primarily for funeral use; and less than 6 months later, on Dec. 5th, 1791, Mozart himself was dead. In this transcription, the four solo flutes are an equivalent of the string parts while the tutti flutes duplicate the chorus parts an octave higher. The piece may be performed by flutes alone, preferably with more than one player on each of the tutti parts, or as an accompaniment to a choral version. In the latter case, the tutti parts can be used to double the chorus or be omitted altogether.