When Mozart married Constanze Weber in 1782, he made a solemn vow to write a mass to celebrate their union.

Mozart kept his promise, beginning what would become the great C minor Mass, K. 427, later that same year. Yet for some unexplained reason, he never finished the work and never returned to it later. And so for more than two centuries, the Mass has been performed as a torso, with the Kyrie and Gloria complete but only a few sections of the Credo and Sanctus movements finished.

Unlike the Requiem, which was left incomplete at Mozart's death, and finished by one of his pupils, no one had ever taken it upon himself to do the same with the Mass. Until, that is, about two years ago, when Harvard musicologist and pianist Robert Levin was commissioned to complete and reconstruct the work.

Levin gained some notoriety a few years earlier, when he did a new revision and completion of the Requiem. That version was premiered by Helmuth Rilling and the Stuttgart Bach-Collegium and has since been recorded a number of times, most recently by the Atlanta Symphony and Chorus under Donald Runnicles.

Based on the success of this new version of the Requiem, the Carnegie Hall Corporation commissioned Levin about two years ago to reconstruct and complete the Mass in C minor. Rilling was once again instrumental in bringing this new version to life, premiering it with the Orchestra of St. Luke's in Carnegie Hall on Jan. 15, 2005.

Since its premiere, Levin's revision of the Mass has been performed infrequently. Next Saturday, though, the Utah Choral Artists, under the baton of director Brady Allred, will have the distinction of giving what ostensibly will be the first performance of the Levin edition in the western United States.

"I haven't heard of any performances out here in the West yet, but we're calling it the Utah premiere just to be on the safe side," said Allred.

It's an honor for the Choral Artists to be doing one of the first performances of Levin's edition of the Mass, said Allred. "When I heard he was doing a version of the Mass, I kept my eye on it."

Allred knows Levin's edition of the Requiem intimately. He sang it at the Oregon Bach Festival under Rilling, and he conducted it when he was the director of the Bach Choir of Pittsburgh. He said that Levin's reconstruction of the Mass will be no less impressive than the work he did with the Requiem. "He knows the style and all of the conventions of the period."

Levin has spent his career immersing himself in the music of the classical era and in particular that of Mozart. "He's a theorist and Mozart expert," said University of Utah musicologist Margaret Rorke, adding that he is also an accomplished pianist. "When he plays, he improvises cadenzas and fugues as Mozart did when he performed."

And because of his exhaustive research into Mozart's music, Levin is eminently capable of writing music that captures the Austrian composer's spirit and style.

In order to complete the Mass, Levin needed to compose several parts. "The only movements Mozart wrote were the Kyrie, Gloria and the first two sections of the Credo," Rorke said. "He had to finish the rest of the Credo and write the Agnus Dei and Dona nobis pacem sections. He also rewrote the Sanctus and reorchestrated a large part of the Mass."

In keeping with the common practice of the period, Levin incorporated music from other sacred works, Allred said. "Levin took the music from the tenor and soprano arias from the psalm 'Davidde penitente' and put them in the Mass."

Levin also found some sketches Mozart had made for the Mass and used those as the basis for some of the music as well.

Allred said that the Choral Artists have been rehearsing the work since February. "It's difficult music for the choir. They have a lot of notes to learn. But I think they've been enjoying the experience. They've been putting a lot of effort into this performance. They understand that Mozart's is one of the greatest settings of the Mass. It ranks right up there with Bach's B minor Mass and Beethoven's Missa Solemnis."

For Saturday's performance, Allred has assembled an orchestra of area freelance musicians. The vocal quartet also features local talent — soprano Carol Ann Allred (Brady Allred's wife), mezzo-soprano Laura Garff Lewis, tenor George Dyer and bass Eric Glissmeyer.

"This performance will be special for me," Allred said. "Mozart wrote the Mass as a vow when he married Constanze, to introduce her to the family. The performance will be special because my wife will be singing the soprano part."


If you go . . .

What: Utah Choral Artists; Brady Allred, conductor

Where: Libby Gardner Hall, University of Utah

When: Saturday, 7:30 p.m.

How much: $12 general admission, $10 students

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Phone: 581-7100

Web: www.kingsburyhall.org

Also: Preconcert lecture by Margaret Rorke on the Mass in C minor and Robert Levin's reconstruction, Saturday, 6:30 p.m., room 270, David Gardner Hall, free


E-mail: ereichel@desnews.com

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