Mozart’s Great Mass in C minor

It is said that Mozart promised to compose a mass when he would bring Constanze Weber as his wife to Salzburg. The marriage took place in 1782 without the blessing of his father, and in a letter to his father the following year, Mozart expressed regret of the delay in his planned visit with Constanze to Salzburg, but that “the score of half of a Mass, which still lies here, is the best proof of my vow.” Such “half of a Mass” refers to his Mass in C Minor, which, notwithstanding that it remained unfinished, is considered to be Mozart’s most ambitious composition amongst his masses.