Music used: 100 Carols for Choirs

Ave Verum, Corpus Natum

Lyrics

Text: Ave, verum Corpus, natum de Maria Virgine:
Vere passum, immolatum in cruce pro homine.
Cujus latus perforatum unda fluxit et sanguine.
Esto nobis praegustatum in mortis examine.

Hail, true flesh, born of the Virgin Mary,
who has truly suffered, broken on the cross for man;
from whose pierced side flowed water and blood.
Be for us a foretaste of the trial of death.

Programme Notes

Mozart's short funeral motet Ave Verum Corpus was composed in June of 1791, the year he died. It was his first sacred work since the abandoned C minor Mass of 1783 and would be followed by the immortal, and unfinished, Requiem later in the year.

It is thought the work was written for the composer's friend, Anton Stoll, to perform with his church choir in the nearby town of Baden. Scored for choir, strings and organ, it is a simple but elegant piece of Mozartian charm that has become particularly popular.