Reimagining Mozart’s Church Sonatas for Strings

These "Epistle Sonatas" (as they are often called) are a fascinating corner of Mozart's output. They were originally written to be performed during the liturgy at the Salzburg Cathedral—specifically as a musical bridge between the reading of the Epistle and the Gospel.

Mozart wrote 17 of these brief, single-movement sonatas. They had to be short because the Archbishop Colloredo famously demanded that the entire Mass last no longer than 45 minutes!

 Originally, most of these featured two violins, a bass instrument (cello/bass), and an organ.  The flexibility of these trios is such is that they are suited perfectly for all  permutaionts of a string trio. For teaching studios, the arrangements for three violins or two violins and viola are excellent. These trios are are all about 3-5 minutes long, offer excellent practice for light, crisp and elegant playing, and, unlike many works of this time, are balanced, in that the melodic interest is distributed more equally,