The Litanies of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the Salzburg Tradition

Karina Zybina deals with almost unknown church music works by W.A. Mozart: his litany settings. Written in and for Salzburg  they show a striking kinship with compositions by his contemporaries, especially his father Leopold, Anton Cajetan Adlgasser and Johann Michael Haydn, which is expressed in conventionalized harmonic-melodic formulas and a standardized structure. Yet Mozart's litanies at the same time exhibit a 'typically Mozartianʻ tonal language and in some respects aim clearly beyond local habits. As Salzburg musical traditions meet Mozart's wealth of ideas, a colorful picture of the genre in the work of the famous composer is drawn on the basis of his litanies.