W. A. Mozart: Mass in C minor, K. 427

Mozart’s Great Mass in C minor has remained an unfinished work – and there has been much speculation as to the reasons for this. The first serious attempt to complete the work was made exactly 125 years ago, in 1901, by the Dresden Kapellmeister Alois Schmitt. In doing so, he showed great respect by refraining from adding his own completions; he supplemented the partly incomplete instrumentation and worked out the organ part. For the missing sections of the Credo, he drew on movements from Mozart’s earlier church music works, and for the Agnus he reused the Kyrie, thereby creating a cyclical form. Schmitt’s version demonstrates very clearly how Mozart’s style developed, and how, through his engagement with Bach and Handel, he transformed the predominantly playful form of his earlier works – without losing his love of melody – into serious, weighty compositions. 

CAPELLA CAROLINA will present the Heidelberg premiere on Sunday, 12 July 2026, at 7 pm in Peterskirche Heidelberg, Plöck 70. Incidentally: a Sunday on which no World Cup match is taking place!

The Capella Carolina Grand Choir, in which over 100 students and early-career researchers rehearse an oratorio each semester, performs under the baton of Prof. Franz Wassermann alongside Katharina Persicke (soprano), Melanie Lang (mezzo-soprano), Falk Hoffmann (tenor), Josua Bernbeck (bass) and the Kurpfälzisches Kammerorchester Mannheim.

Tickets – starting from just €10 – are available via our website (soon), at Dürninger, HD, Sophienstraße 9, and from 6 pm at the box office the day of the concert. 

Vocal soloists

From left to right: Katharina Persicke, Melanie Lang, Falk Hoffmann, Josua Bernbeck.

Kurpfälzisches Kammerorchester Mannheim