Requiem (Mozart) Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote the Requiem mass in D minor (K. 626), in 1791 - Mozart's last composition. It is also, perhaps, one of his most powerful and recognised works.
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2 Modern completions 3 Myths surrounding the Requiem 4 External link 5 References |
Composition and completion
The work is scored for soprano, alto, tenor and bass soloists and choir, and a small classical orchestra comprising two basset horns (a type of tenor clarinet), two bassoons, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, organ, violins, viola, cello and bass. At Mozart's death on 5 December 1791 he had only completed the opening movement (Requiem aeternam) in all of the orchestral and vocal parts. The following Kyrie, and most of the Sequence (from Dies irae to Confutatis), are complete only in the vocal parts and the continuo (the figured organ bass), though occasionally some of the prominent orchestral parts have been briefly indicated. The last movement of the Sequence, the Lacrymosa, breaks off after only eight bars and was unfinished. The following two movements of the Offertorium, the Domine Jesu and Hostias, are again complete only in the vocal parts and continuo. In the 1960s a sketch for an Amen fugue was discovered, which would have concluded the Sequence after the Lacrymosa.
Mozart had been commissioned anonymously to write the Requiem (by intermediaries acting for the eccentric Count Walsegg von Stuppach) and received half of the payment in advance, so his widow Constanze was keen for the incomplete work to be finished (probably in order to receive the other half of the payment). Josef von Eybler was one of the first composers to be asked to complete the score, and had worked on the movements from the Dies irae up until the Lacrymosa, at which point he felt unable to complete the remainder, and gave the manuscript back to Constanze Mozart.
The task was then given to another junior composer, Franz Xavier Süssmayr, who borrowed some of Eybler's work in making his completion. Süssmayr added his own orchestration to the movements from the Kyrie onward, completed the Lacrymosa, and added several new movements which would normally comprise a Requiem: Sanctus, Benedictus, and Agnus Dei. He then added a final section, Lux aeterna by adapting the opening two movements which Mozart had written to the different words which finish the Requiem mass.
There is some possibility other composers may have helped Süssmayr, or that he might have discovered sketches by Mozart amongst the papers for the Requiem. The elder composer Maximilian Stadler is suspected of having completed the orchestration of the Domine Jesu for Süssmayr.
The completed score, initially by Mozart but largely finished by Süssmayr, was then dispatched to Count Walsegg, complete with a counterfeited signature of Mozart, and dated 1792. The various complete and incomplete manuscripts eventually turned up in the 19th century, but many of the figures involved did not leave unambiguous statements on record as to how they were involved in the affair.
Despite the controversy over how much of the music is actually Mozart's, the quality of the music itself has overridden many concerns - particularly the opening 7 bars for orchestra alone, or the powerful Dies irae.
Modern completions
Since the 1970s several musicologists, dissatisfied with the traditional "Süssmayr" completion, have attempted alternative completions of the Requiem:
"Traditional" editions have been inclusive, for example, the Beyer edition attempts to revise aspects of Süssmayr's orchestration in a more Mozartean style, whereas Robbins Landon has chosen to orchestrate parts of the completion using the partial work by Eybler as a more reliable guide of Mozart's intentions. The "radical" edition by Maunder dispenses completely with the parts known to be written by Süssmayr, but retained the Agnus Dei after discovering an extensive paraphrase from an earlier mass. The version by Levin is more of a synthesis between the two extremes, by taking the basic themes from the Süssmayr movements and using them to re-compose these movements. Both Maunder and Levin use the sketch for the Amen fugue discovered in the 1960s to compose a fitting end to the Lacrymosa.Myths surrounding the Requiem
Despite its acclaim and recognition, the "Requiem" is perhaps one of the most mysterious pieces Mozart composed - around which many legends have grown (thanks largely to Peter Shaffer's play Amadeus and the movie made from it). They are, as follows:
The piece, itself, sets the Catholic Requiem mass, employed by other composers. It is a powerful, dramatic choral and orchestral piece.
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References
Christoph Wolff, "Mozart's Requiem: Historical and Analytical Studies, Documents, Score", 1994