YHC to Present Mozart Coronation Mass and Oedipus Tex

John W. Wells, president of Young Harris College, is proud to announce the upcoming presentation of Mozart Coronation Mass and Oedipus Tex featuring the Young Harris College Choir. Performances will be held at 8:00 p.m. March 30 and 31 in the Hilda D. Glenn Auditorium. These performances are free of admission and open to the public.

According to Young Harris College music professor Jeff Bauman, Mass in C Major "Coronation" K.317 is undoubtedly one of Mozart's most popular settings of the ordinary of the Mass. "Coronation" was composed while Mozart was in the employ of the Archbishop of Salzburg and completed on March 23, 1779. It premiered on April 4, 1779 for the celebration of Mass on Easter Day in the Salzburg Cathedral.

Debate has arisen over the nickname "Coronation." Some believe the nickname is derived from the intention of the piece for an annual celebration of the crowning of the Virgin; others believe that the piece was used to celebrate the crowning of Franz II in 1792, and possibly that of his predecessor Leopold II in August 1791.

While Oedipus Tex will put the town of Thebes Gulch, Texas, on the map, the manuscript of this prototypically Western work did not surface there. In fact, the manuscript was found, quite by chance, during a visit to San Antonio's most popular tourist shrine, the Alamo. Professor Peter Schickel, noticing something peeking out of a tear in the shirt worn by Davy Crockett, received permission to open the case and examine the contents of the shirt. To his surprise, he discovered that the entire score of Oedipus Tex had been sewn into the shirt in a vain attempt to create a bullet-proof vest.