Mozart Great Mass in C Minor; Ave Verum Corpus; Exsultate Jubilate

Overview

This performance of Mozart's Great Mass in C minor, which remained an unfinished torso, is reverent and highly dramatic. It was filmed 4-6 April 1990 in the beautiful Baroque Basilica of Waldsassen in Bavaria: a few kilometers from the Czech border. It was filmed just a few months after the Iron Curtain had fallen, a mere 6 months before Bernstein's death on 14 October 1990. His painful, labored breathing is evident during this performance. It is a sad reminder of what is to come and it makes this performance, so other-worldly in many ways, particularly poignant. Bernstein conducts the splendid Chor und Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks.

Keywords

Cast

Leonard Bernstein

Conductor

Arleen Augér

Herself

Frank Lopardo

Himself

Frederica von Stade

Herself

Cornelius Hauptmann

Himself