This single mass movement in E minor was originally kept with the Cum Sancto Spiritu fugue which closes the Missa ultima titled Missa Dei Filii /Z. 20/. The aria Christe eleison is scored for contralto solo accompanied by strings and basso continuo. Although today the work stands alone in Zelenka’s output, it is likely that this beautiful movement belonged with one of Zelenka’s final Missa ultimae. While it is possible that this aria is a fragment of an otherwise unfinished final mass, a convincing argument based on style and tonality is presented in the "Zelenka-Dokumentation" that this movement was intended as a replacement for a Christe eleison of one of the completed masses - probably the Missa Omnium Sanctorum. The paper and format of the source correspond to those of the Missa ultimae and the Litaniae Lauretanae „Salus infirmorum“ of 1741-44 /Z. 152/.
Why Zelenka felt necessary to use the music of the original Christe of his Missa Omnium Sanctorum for the Litaniae Lauretanae Consolatrix afflictorum? This Litaniae was maybe written in 1741 and dedicated to his patron von Hartig in Prague and so this new Kyrie ZWV 29 was composed for his "last mass of all". In 1744, he simply renamed it for the electress Maria Josepha. Why Zelenka never composed again after 1741 untill his death in 1745? Was his illness really so severe? Guess we'll never know 😞
Other Mass Movements /Z. 26-39/ > th-cam.com/play/PLBbL1YJd7_WowrWJ7NYTLmRqeq9LHT02b.html
This single mass movement in E minor was originally kept with the Cum Sancto Spiritu fugue which closes the Missa ultima titled Missa Dei Filii /Z. 20/. The aria Christe eleison is scored for contralto solo accompanied by strings and basso continuo. Although today the work stands alone in Zelenka’s output, it is likely that this beautiful movement belonged with one of Zelenka’s final Missa ultimae. While it is possible that this aria is a fragment of an otherwise unfinished final mass, a convincing argument based on style and tonality is presented in the "Zelenka-Dokumentation" that this movement was intended as a replacement for a Christe eleison of one of the completed masses - probably the Missa Omnium Sanctorum. The paper and format of the source correspond to those of the Missa ultimae and the Litaniae Lauretanae „Salus infirmorum“ of 1741-44 /Z. 152/.
Why Zelenka felt necessary to use the music of the original Christe of his Missa Omnium Sanctorum for the Litaniae Lauretanae Consolatrix afflictorum? This Litaniae was maybe written in 1741 and dedicated to his patron von Hartig in Prague and so this new Kyrie ZWV 29 was composed for his "last mass of all". In 1744, he simply renamed it for the electress Maria Josepha. Why Zelenka never composed again after 1741 untill his death in 1745? Was his illness really so severe? Guess we'll never know 😞
So many questions so little time