This has been nagging at my mind for hours; I feel as if I ought to know the source of this musical excerpt, and its composer, but my brain just won’t cooperate. Unfortunately, the music in question is playing in the background of a narration (I have been told that it’s from a BBC programme called "Atlantis Reborn Again), so it’s hard to understand the words that are being sung. I think there’s a “Jesu” in there, but that doesn’t narrow things down very much! Does anyone recognize this?
Can I guess? Cause I don’t know, but it sounds like Mozart to me. The style of the violins/strings just seems like his style.
Vivaldi? Mozart? Albinoni? It does sound very familiar. The only other thing that comes to mind is Requiem, but whose? Maybe that will shake your memeory loose?
Sounds like Vivaldi to me too, but I don’t know what.
It sounds very Vivaldi-ish to me.
Ive been wanting to know what this is for YEARS…i thought in my 4 years during a music degree i would come across it once!! but nope, never came across it!! I cant wait to hear the answer!!!
I went to the BBC website and emailed them asking where I could find the information about the music used in that episode of Horizons. I’ll let you know if they get back to me.
It’s not Mozart… most probably Baroque. Handel perhaps?
Didn’t recognize the piece, but I too immediately thought of Vivaldi. As an added clue, assuming my ear is correct and my guitar is well-tuned, the piece is in C minor (at any rate, the chorus is singing two C’s an octave apart when they come in with “Jesu,” and that seems to be the tonic).
I thought “Vivaldi” too, which means the piece is probably actually by Stravinsky or something totally unrelated :o
Did Vivaldi write many things involving a choir?
Just on a quick listen, I’d have guessed Handel or Hayden.
The only choral piece by Vivaldi in C minor I could find is Slave Regina in C- (RV.616) and that’s not it.
The search continues…
I just got a reply to my email to the BBC. Unfortunately, it wasn’t very helpful…
Sorry, pinkfreud. 
Many thanks to y’all for your efforts! This music has become an earworm which plays intermittently in my addled mind. Sometimes the only way to exorcise such a thing is to call it by its True Name.
Listening closely, it sounds to me like “Domine Jesu” as it would be in a Requiem (also matches the tone of the music).
Could it be Salieri’s Requiem? (I’m not familiar with it, and can’t seem to find a sample online).
Could it be from Mass in C minor from Amadeus: The Complete Original Soundtrack Recording? I took the name Salieri and did a search on Amazon.com. It is either that, or possibly from Don Giovanni. It did ping a memory of watching Amadeus with me. It is someone who influenced Mozart, or that Mozart influenced.
I want to say it’s Pergolesi, but I’m not sure. What ever it is, it’s in C minor.
K.427 (the Great Mass), Mozart. The Kyrie section. I’m almost sure it’s a part of that.
I had a listen to a recording of that after Zabali Clawbane mentioned it, but I didn’t hear that, or anything like it. So it probably isn’t the Kyrie section, if any.
The word “Jesu” would not appear in a Kyrie, the words to which are just Kyrie eleison; Christe eleison; Kyrie eleison with as many rinse-and-repeats as are needed to fit the music.
Very very Vivaldi-ish, definitely not the Gloria as I sang that only last year and would recognise it.