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IN SHORT Requiem, K.626 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

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IN SHORT Requiem, K.626 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Requiem, K.626 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (completed by Robert D. Levin) n the summer of 1791, Wolfgang Amadeus dardized by the church as far back as 1570. IMozart, who was short on cash but far from Other works also vied for his time, princi - destitute, was offered a commission to com - pally the Clarinet Concerto (K.622) and the pose a Requiem. The offer was tendered by Masonic Cantata (K.623), which Mozart an emissary from Count Franz von Walsegg- conducted at its premiere on November 17. Stuppach, a wealthy music lover who may However, around November 20 he fell ill, have known Mozart personally through mu - and he died at about one o’clock in the early sical or Masonic connections. The messenger morning of December 5. He had made con - apparently did not disclose who was making siderable headway with the Requiem, but the offer; whether Mozart guessed, we do not plenty remained to be finished. It is likely that know. The Count’s wife, Anna, had died on February 14, at the age of only 20, and he had IN SHORT decided to memorialize her through a ceme - tery statue (by the sculptor Johann Martin Born: January 27, 1756, in Salzburg, Austria Fischer) and a Requiem. He intended to have the musical piece performed every year on Died : December 5, 1791, in Vienna, Austria the anniversary of her death. Mozart accepted the commission and Work composed: Autumn 1791, in Vienna, but named a reasonable fee: 225 florins, which left incomplete at Mozart’s death was about half what he would expect to be World premiere: The Introit and Kyrie were prob - paid for a full opera. (To put the economics ably premiered at a memorial service for Mozart in contrast, Count Walsegg paid the sculptor held at the Hofpfarrkirche of St. Michael in Vienna more than 3,000 florins for the gravesite on December 10, 1791. The first complete per - monument, though of course there was the formance was given January 2, 1793, in the expense of marble and granite to consider in Jahn-Saal in Vienna, in a performance organized the bargain.) Mozart accepted half of his fee by Baron Gottfried van Swieten. as a down payment, which again was deliv - New York Philharmonic premiere: November 6, ered by an anonymous agent, and then put 1941, Bruno Walter, conductor; Eleanor Steber, the project on hold so he could tend to the soprano; Enid Szantho, contralto; William Hain, more immediate demands of two operas that tenor; Nicola Moscona, bass. These performances were headed to their premiere productions: mark the first by the Orchestra of the completion La clemenza di Tito (which entailed a resi - by Robert D. Levin. dency in Prague from late August through mid-September 1791) and Die Zauberflöte Most recent New York Philharmonic performance: April 6, 2002, Kurt Masur, (unveiled on September 30 in Vienna). Only conductor; Edith Wiens, soprano; Nancy Maultsby, in the autumn could he focus on the Re - mezzo-soprano; Stanford Olsen, tenor; Nathan quiem, which would be a large undertaking, Berg, bass-baritone its structure being dictated by the traditional Roman Catholic Mass for the Dead, as stan - Estimated duration: ca. 55 minutes 32 | NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC as he grew increasingly debilitated he may A Nod to Handel? have mused about the irony of writing a Re - quiem in such a state. On the other hand, The dominance of mid-ranged and low-pitched instruments lends moody intensity to the score of Mozart did not spend a great deal of time Mozart’s Requiem. We hear basset horns and bas - dying. His final illness swept him away with - soons entering in a pseudo-canon at the begin - out much warning; not until a week or so be - ning of the Introit, above the staccato pacing of fore his death would he have had any serious the strings. Their phrase builds through poignant harmonic intensification, finally abetted by the reason to suppose that the end was near. brass (playing forte ), and then the choir enters in When his health did grow precarious, he imitative counterpoint, from bass on up through took pains to provide for the fate of his soprano, intoning the stern motif (D—C-sharp—D— work-in-progress. Franz Xaver Süssmayr had E—F) that will be heard often in this piece. The musicologist Christoph Wolff, in his met Mozart about a year earlier, and during monograph Mozart’s Requiem (1994), points out 1791 he studied composition with the mas - a coincidence that was noted early on by the ter and became something of an amanuensis. composer’s colleague Maximilian Stadler: that Several independent contemporaneous ac - this motif corresponds to the melody of the Lutheran funeral hymn alternately sung to the counts describe Mozart on his deathbed dic - words “Wenn mein Stündlein vorhanden ist” (“If tating to Süssmayr his ideas about how the the hour of my death is at hand”) and “Herr Jesu score should be completed. Christ, du höchstes Gut” (“Lord Jesus Christ, The Requiem was more or less finished Thou highest good”). This observation is of spe - cial interest in that Handel had similarly quoted through the beginning of the Lacrimosa, that chorale in his Funeral Anthem for Queen enough to justify its completion. There was a Caroline, The Ways of Zion Do Mourn (1737), compelling practical reason that it should be which may have served as inspiration when brought to a finished state: Count Walsegg Mozart set about composing this movement. had paid a fair amount of money into the project already, and Mozart’s widow, Con - what ultimately constitutes Mozartean style. stanze, needed the funds that the remainder Robert D. Levin’s version takes into con - of the commission would provide. She first sideration a plethora of early sources and turned to another Mozart pupil, Joseph aims to strike a balance among the best ma - Leopold von Eybler, to complete the work, terial suggested by those documents, the ac - but he soon abandoned the project. Süssmayr cretions of performance tradition, and a then took it on: he composed the Sanctus, generous measure of original creativity. Benedictus, and Agnus Dei (perhaps drawing on ideas Mozart had shared with him), and Instrumentation: two clarinets, two basset made a few emendations to Mozart’s text. horns, two bassoons, two trumpets, three For the Communion he simply repeated trombones, timpani, strings, and organ con - music Mozart had completed for the Introit tinuo, in addition to four solo singers (so - and Kyrie. prano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, bass) and a Süssmayr’s completion entered the canon mixed chorus. as the standard edition, but quite a few scholars have proposed competing versions Edition: by Robert D. Levin, who revised based on their divergent opinions about and completed Mozart’s score in 1993. NOVEMBER 2013 | 33 Requiem, K.626 INTROIT Requiem Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord: and et lux perpetua luceat eis. let perpetual light shine upon them. Te decet hymnus Deus, in Sion, et tibi reddetur A hymn becometh Thee, O God, in Sion votum in Jerusalem. and vows shall be paid to Thee in Jerusalem. Exaudi orationem meam, ad te omnis caro O hear my prayer; all flesh shall come veniet. to Thee. Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine: et lux Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord: and perpetua luceat eis. let perpetual light shine upon them. Kyrie Kyrie eleison. Lord, have mercy. Christe eleison. Christ, have mercy. Kyrie eleison. Lord, have mercy. SEQUENCE Dies irae Dies irae, dies illa Days of wrath and doom impending, solvet saeculum in favilla: David’s word with Sibyl’s blending! teste David cum Sibylla. Heaven and earth in ashes ending! Quantus tremor est futurus, O, what fear man’s bosom rendeth, quando judex est venturus, when from heaven the Judge descendeth, cuncta stricte discussurus! on whose sentence all dependeth! Tuba mirum Tuba mirum spargens sonum Wondrous sound the trumpet flingeth per sepulcra regionum, through earth’s sepulchres it ringeth, coget omnes ante thronum. all before the throne it bringeth. Mors stupebit et natura, Death is struck and nature quaking, cum resurget creatura, all creation is awaking, judicanti responsura. to its Judge an answer making. Liber scriptus proferetur, Lo! the book exactly worded, in quo totem continetur, wherein all hath been recorded; unde mundus judicetur. thence shall judgment be awarded. 34 | NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC Judex ergo cum sedebit, When the Judge his seat attaineth, quidquid latet apparebit: and each hidden deed arraigneth, nil inultum remanebit. nothing unavenged remaineth. Quid sum miser tunc dicturus? What shall I, frail man, be pleading? Quem patronum rogaturus? Who for me be interceding? Cum vix justus sit securus. When the just are mercy needing. Rex tremendae Rex tremendae majestatis, King of majesty tremendous, qui salvandos salvas gratis, who dost free salvation send us, salva me, fons pietatis. fount of pity, then befriend us. Recordare Recordare Jesu pie, Think, kind Jesu, my salvation quod sum causa tuae viae: caused Thy wondrous Incarnation; ne me perdas illa die. leave me not to reprobation. Quaerens me, sedisti lassus: Faint and weary Thou hast sought me, redemisti crucem passus: on the Cross of suffering bought me, tantus labor non sit cassus. shall such grace be vainly brought me? Juste judex ultionis, Righteous Judge, for sin’s pollution, donum fac remissionis, grant Thy gift of absolution, ante diem rationis. ere that day of retribution. Ingemisco, tamquam reus: Guilty now I pour my moaning, culpa rubet vultus meus: all my shame with anguish owning; supplicanti parce Deus. spare, O God, Thy suppliant groaning. Qui Mariam absolvisti, Through the sinful woman shriven, et latronem exaudisti, through the dying thief forgiven, mihi quoque spem dedisti.
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