The motet Exsultate, jubilate was composed in Milan in January 1773 while Mozart and his father Leopold were on the last of their three visits to Italy. They had traveled to oversee the first performances of the young composer's Lucio Silla, K. 135, an opera seria commissioned by the ducal theater in Milan. The principal uomo (male soprano) for the premiere was Venanzio Rauzzini (1746-1810)—one of the most famous castrati of the day, as well as a keyboard player and composer, who later pursued a successful career as a teacher and impresario in Bath, England. It was for Rauzzini that Mozart composed this work. The approximate date of composition and the date of the first performance are established by a characteristically playful and childish postscript to a letter to his sister Nannerl, dated January 16, in which Mozart stated that he had composed a motet to be performed at church the following day. Exsultate, jubilate follows a formal pattern little changed from that of the early eighteenth century Italian motet: two da capo arias framing a brief recitative, followed by a brilliant "Alleluia." The formidable virtuosity of the opening Allegro and the concluding Alleluia are set off by the elegant, cantabile middle movement (Andante) "Tu virginum corona." The great contrast of mood and style required of the singer—who must negotiate both fast, florid passages and moments of great lyricism—is surely a testimony to Rauzzini's great skill and continues as a benchmark of technical and expressive achievement. One of the most confident and exuberant of Mozart's early works, the motet has justifiably remained one of his most popular works and a glittering showcase for generations of sopranos. The Alleluia section is, by far, the most familiar to listeners, and it is often excerpted for use as a concert aria.

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