Motet Exsultate, jubilate, K. 165

Mozart wrote this solo motet in Milan in January 1773, at sixteen, for Venanzio Rauzzini, the castrato who had created the role of Cecilio in Lucio Silla a few weeks earlier. Rauzzini sang the first performance on 17 January in the Theatine church. It is built like a small concerto — two arias framing a recitative, ending in the Alleluia that is now heard far more often than the whole. Mozart later revised the piece for a Salzburg performance, replacing the middle sections; the Milan version is the one usually sung today.