Hey, kids! It's time for another installment of FMW (Famous Musical Works). This work is special to me. It was the first major work that I ever sang with our choir and the logical flow of the individual voice parts greaty impressed me. I've also visited in Salizburg the house where Mozart was born (Geburtshaus) and the house in which he grew up (Wohnhaus or Tanzmeisterhaus).
Useful terms:
Fugue - a contrapuntal composition in which a short melody or phrase (the subject) is introduced by one part and successively taken up by others and developed by interweaving the parts.
Counterpoint - the art or technique of setting, writing, or playing a melody or melodies in conjunction with another, according to fixed rules.
Chromatic - colorful; relating to chords or harmonies based on nonharmonic tones. Chromatic most often refers to structures derived from the chromatic scale, which consists of all semitones [half steps - e.g., natural to sharp].
Mozart's Requiem
So, you've seen the play or the movie Amadeus. You've heard the movie soundtrack. You might have even heard a recording of Requiem. Do you know Mozart? Have you heard the completed work? No!
Requiem Mass (K. 626) in D minor was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Vienna in 1791 and left unfinished at the composer's death on December 5.
As it turned out, this was Mozart's last piece of music. He was commissioned to write it by Count Franz von Walsegg, although this was unknown to Mozart. Count Walsegg-Stupach wanted a Requiem as a memorial for his wife - and was probably planning to pass it off as his own. He sent along a messenger, thought to be his steward, Franz Anton Leitgeb, to pay Mozart and check how the Requiem was coming along.
Already ill with a fever, Mozart got sicker and sicker when writing the Requiem. He started fearing the worst, that he was writing the Requiem for his own funeral.
Without completing the Requiem, Mozart died on 5 December, 1791, at the age of 35. He had left notes on the first seven sections and the day before his death he had been well enough to sing parts of the incomplete Requiem with some of his friends. Mozart himself sang the alto part, and used friends and actors from his new opera, Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) for the other parts. Benedikt Shack (who played Tamino in Die Zauberflöte) sang the soprano part in falsetto, Franz Hofer (a violinist and Mozart's brother-in-law) sang the tenor part and Franz Gerl (Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte) sang bass. One oral source, possibly containing inconsistencies, said that when the group was singing the Lacrimosa, Mozart broke down and began to sob uncontrollably.
After Mozart's death, needing the commission money, his wife Constanze tried to find somebody to secretly complete the Requiem. She first asked Joseph Eybler, who had been one of Mozart's students, to complete the Requiem, but Eybler gave up after a very short time. Franz Xaver Süssmayr , who had been another of Mozart's students, and a good friend of Constanze, then agreed to complete the Requiem. He wrote some sections himself, but also repeated and expanded upon parts Mozart wrote. Much of the end of the Requiem is similar to the beginning as Süssmayr borrowed from sections Mozart had already written.
The autograph manuscript (acquired by the Austrian National Library in 1831–38) shows the finished and orchestrated Introit in Mozart's hand, as well as detailed drafts of the Kyrie and the sequence Dies Irae as far as the first eight bars of the "Lacrymosa" movement, and the Offertory. It cannot be shown to what extent Süssmayr may have depended on now lost "scraps of paper" for the remainder; he later claimed the Sanctus and Agnus Dei as his own. Walsegg probably intended to pass the Requiem off as his own composition, as he is known to have done with other works. This plan was frustrated by a public benefit performance for Mozart's widow Constanze. Constanze was responsible for a number of stories surrounding the composition of the work, including the claims that Mozart received the commission from a mysterious messenger who did not reveal the commissioner's identity, and that Mozart came to believe that he was writing the requiem for his own funeral.
The Requiem is scored for 2 basset horns in F, 2 bassoons, 2 trumpets in D, 3 trombones (alto, tenor & bass), timpani (2 drums), violins, viola and basso continuo (cello, double bass, and organ). The vocal forces include soprano, contralto, tenor, and bass soloists and an SATB mixed choir.
Structure
(A full-length recording is available on YouTube. See related webpage.)
The parts of the Requiem are as follows:
Introitus
- I Requiem aeternam
- II Kyrie
Sequenz
- I Dies irae
- II Tuba mirum
- III Rex tremendae
- IV Recordare
- V Confutatis
- VI Lacrimosa
Offertorium
- I Domine Jesu
- II Hostias
- III Sanctus
- IV Benedictus
- V Agnus dei
Communio
The Requiem is for four solo voices (soprano, alto, tenor and bass), chorus and a small orchestra, by today's standards. The orchestration is uncommon, as it uses basset horns2 to make the piece sound more solemn.
The words are in Latin3. Most Requiems use the same or similar text taken directly from the Catholic Church. Mozart's Requiem, like many others, begins with 'Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine' which translates as 'Lord, grant them eternal rest'.
All sections from the Sanctus onwards are not present in Mozart's manuscript fragment. Mozart may have intended to include the Amen fugue at the end of the Sequentia, but Süssmayr did not do so in his completion.
The Introitus is in D minor and finishes on a half-cadence that transitions directly into Kyrie. The Kyrie is a double fugue, with one subject setting the words "Kyrie eleison" and the other "Christe eleison". The movement Tuba mirum opens with a trombone solo accompanying the bass. The Confutatis is well known for its string accompaniment; it opens with agitated figures that accentuate the wrathful sound of the basses and tenors, but it turns into soft arpeggios in the second phrase while accompanying the soft sounds of the sopranos and altos.
The Requiem is often described as being the most heart-wrenching piece of music in the world. It begins with a haunting melody, followed by a dramatic crescendo of minor chords and then the choruses sing the Latin phrase mentioned above. The most dramatic movement is often considered to be the Confutatis, which has angry singing over a furious string background. In the film Amadeus, Mozart was shown dictating to Salieri how this movement should go, explaining his ideas about the orchestration. Although the film implied that Salieri was helping Mozart, and that the Confutatis was the last part of the Requiem that Mozart wrote, which is incorrect, it still gives a beautiful description of the Confutatis. Confutatis is followed by Lacrimosa [translates as "tears and mourning"], thought to be the most sorrowful part of the Requiem, and the last part Mozart wrote.
Modern completions
In the 1960s a sketch for an Amen fugue was discovered, which some musicologists (Levin, Maunder) believe belongs to the Requiem at the conclusion of the sequence after the Lacrymosa. H. C. Robbins Landon argues that this Amen fugue was not intended for the Requiem, rather that it "may have been for a separate unfinished Mass in D minor" to which the Kyrie K. 341 also belonged. There is, however, compelling evidence placing the "Amen Fugue" in the Requiem based on current Mozart scholarship.... Since the 1970s several musicologists, dissatisfied with the traditional "Süssmayr" completion, have attempted alternative completions of the Requiem. Each version follows a distinct methodology for completion:
For the full Wikipedia section on this topic, click here.
Mozart's Musical Style
Mozart's music, like Haydn's, stands as an archetype of the Classical style. At the time he began composing, European music was dominated by the style galant, a reaction against the highly evolved intricacy of the Baroque. Progressively, and in large part at the hands of Mozart himself, the contrapuntal complexities of the late Baroque emerged once more, moderated and disciplined by new forms, and adapted to a new aesthetic and social milieu. Mozart was a versatile composer, and wrote in every major genre, including symphony, opera, the solo concerto, chamber music including string quartet and string quintet, and the piano sonata. These forms were not new, but Mozart advanced their technical sophistication and emotional reach. He almost single-handedly developed and popularized the Classical piano concerto. He wrote a great deal of religious music, including large-scale masses, as well as dances, divertimenti, serenades, and other forms of light entertainment.
Especially during his last decade, Mozart exploited chromatic harmony to a degree rare at the time, with remarkable assurance and to great artistic effect.
For the full Wikipedia section on this topic, click here.
Influences
Mozart esteemed Handel and in 1789 he was commissioned by Baron Gottfried van Swieten to rearrange Messiah. This work likely influenced the composition of Mozart's Requiem; the Kyrie is probably based on the And with his stripes we are healed chorus from Handel's Messiah (HWV 56), since the subject of the fugato, in which Handel was a master, is the same, with only slight variations by adding ornaments on melismata.
Some believe that the Introitus was inspired by Handel's Funeral Anthem for Queen Caroline (HWV 264), and some have also remarked that the Confutatis may have been inspired by Sinfonia Venezia by Pasquale Anfossi. Another influence was Michael Haydn's Requiem in C minor which he and his father heard at the first three performances in January 1772. Some have noted that M. Haydn's "Introitus" sounds rather similar to Mozart's, and the theme for the fugue of Mozart's Offertorium No. 1 is a direct quote of the theme of M. Haydn's Offertorium and Versus.
Myths surrounding the Requiem
With multiple levels of deception surrounding the Requiem's completion, a natural outcome is the mythologizing which subsequently occurred. One series of myths surrounding the Requiem involves the role Antonio Salieri played in the commissioning and completion of the Requiem (and in Mozart's death generally). While the most recent retelling of this myth is Peter Shaffer's play Amadeus and the movie made from it, it is important to note that the source of misinformation was actually a 19th-century play by Alexander Pushkin, Mozart and Salieri, which was turned into an opera by Rimsky-Korsakov and subsequently used as the framework for Amadeus.
Amadeus is a play by Peter Shaffer, which gives a highly fictionalized account of the lives of the composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri. First performed in 1979, Amadeus was inspired by a short 1830 play by Alexander Pushkin called Mozart and Salieri (which was also used as the libretto for an opera of the same name by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in 1897).
In the play, significant use is made of the music of Mozart, Salieri and other composers of the period. The premieres of Mozart's operas The Abduction from the Seraglio, The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, and The Magic Flute are each the setting for key scenes of the play.
The play Amadeus
Amadeus won the 1981 Tony Award for Best Play. It was adapted by Shaffer for the 1984 Academy Award-winning film of the same name.
Historical Accuracy
Shaffer used artistic license in his portrayals of both Mozart and Salieri. Documentary evidence suggests that there was some antipathy between the two men, but the idea that Salieri was the instigator of Mozart's demise is not taken seriously by scholars of the men's lives and careers. While historically there may have been actual rivalry and tension between Mozart and Salieri, there is also evidence that they enjoyed a relationship marked by mutual respect. As an example, Salieri later tutored Mozart's son Franz in music. He also conducted some of Mozart's works, both in Mozart's lifetime and afterwards.
Varying Treatments of Unfinished Works
There are many Unfinished Works in the world of Classical music, for many reasons... whether they were put off to be completed later, abandoned as unworthy, or in some cases, left behind after the composer's death. Depending on how decipherable sketches were, some of them have been completed, and others stand as they were written, even trailing off into a single final note, as in J.S. Bach's Art of Fugue.
Perhaps the most obvious example is the Symphony that has the nickname "Unfinished" - Franz Schubert's work that, despite the name, has two complete movements - which are played that way in concert performances. It's only because it's the 'front end' of the expected form (and because sketches exist for the remaining two movements) that it goes by that name. Even though he died very young, Schubert lived for several more years after leaving that work behind - so it wasn't something he was working on as death approached. Likewise, the manuscript of the final movement of Bach's Art of Fugue trails off as though it was his final act, but he was dictating revisions to the complicated set of fugues after his sight failed him.
Puccini's final opera, Turandot, was only completed through half of the third act - ironically just as the slave girl Liu's dead body is taken off stage by the chorus - and although at the premiere an ending existed, (written by Franco Alfano, based on Puccini's sketches) conductor Arturo Toscanini put down his baton, and told the audience at La Scala "Here the Maestro laid down his pen..." But what happens when there isn't that kind of a line of demarcation? Mozart's Requiem remained unfinished at the time of his death (Amadeus on stage and screen notwithstanding) and the job of completing it fell to his student, Franz Xaver Sussmäyr. But Mozart had only completed about a third of it, with sketches for choral parts, and other clues for various movements as a starting point. There have been several other notable efforts to complete it, including by musicologist Robert Levin, who's been a scholar of Mozart's work and musical voice for decades.
Sometimes the composer doesn't want to release work into the world, and would rather have it destroyed - such was the case of Jan Sibelius, who after several years of working on a planned Eighth Symphony, promising it to conductor Serge Koussevitsky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra fed the manuscript to the fire. It was only comparatively recently that musicologists discovered tantalizing sketches in the Finnish National Library's collection of Sibelius's papers that date from the time he was working on the piece. Fragments were recorded by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, although they haven't been released [as of this writing].
References:
Sources: Wikipedia - Requiem, Mozart, Amadeus article & images; H2G2; KDFC - Unfinished Works,
Using a Garmin 62st, coordinates were averaged for 5 minutes to a 100% sample confidence level and 6 ft of variance.
Congratulations to jeremiahsjohnson for FTF!