Mozart's Requiem
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funerals of Haydn and Chopin, pub- his great symphonies and late masses? Or Mozart’s Requiem: lished in 1799 under his widow’s supervi- might he have retreated into the church, sion and sung by choruses continuously acrabbyretrograde,enemyofBeethoven, New Horizons for more than 200 years. scandalized by Schubert? We begin to remember why the “Temporal Prime What if we could go back in time and Directive” is not to be violated lightly. One of the few things Peter Shaffer and office hit in Die Zauberflöte (September), interview Mozart on his deathbed, ask For now, and for all time, we should rec- MilošForman got right in their dramati- and deepening social connections him to hum a few bars of the Benedictus ognize the magnificent achievement of zation of Mozart’s frantic attempt to through his Masonic lodge in Vienna, as he wanted it to go? Even better, Mozart’s Requiem as a new beginning complete his Requiem is the sense of utter for which he composed some beautifully administer a good dose of broad-spec- rather than a tragic end. confusion that surrounded his final affecting ceremonial works. He and his trum antibiotics and keep the young man hours. Everyone was caught off guard by wife, the soprano Constanze Weber—a alive for another 20 to 30 years? Would the composer’s death, and Mozart was true intellectual partner—welcomed their the reanimated Mozart have become a —John Maclay certainly the most surprised of all. second surviving son in July. Financially competitor to Haydn instead of a defer- liquid, if not always solvent, he was doing Just a few years earlier, in 1787, Joseph II ential colleague, eclipsing or preempting what he loved believing that the money had reorganized his musical establish- would follow. He wrote confidently to a ment in an effort to retain and encour- friend in 1790 that “I now stand at the age the talents of Vienna’s two brightest gateway to my fortune.” musical stars. As kapellmeister,Antonio Salieri (1750–1825) took on the lion’s In this context, the Requiem commission share of programming, supervising, Mozart received in early 1791 opened a rehearsing and performing most of the new vista—a chance to return to the imperial court’s productions. Though genre that was closest to his heart, to handsomely remunerated, this post write sacred music with all the inventive- brought a crush of administrative ness, freshness and diversity of his responsibilities in addition to its sub- mature style. Drawing on numerous stantial musical demands. Mozart gained antecedents and influences (notably the title of “court composer,” with the Handel and Michael Haydn), Mozart freedom to concentrate almost entirely conceived of the Requiem as a “higher on creating new work, albeit at a fraction pathetic style of church music,” a style of what Salieri was earning. Mozart’s characterized by grandeur and depth of earning potential—and horizons as a sentiment, pathos, and above all a direct composer—brightened when in April of approach to human emotion. This was to 1790 he was created assistant kapellmeis- be music not for God, but for us. ter of the city’s other major musical establishment, St. Stephen’s Cathedral, It has become fashionable to dismiss, as with the promise of succeeding to the clumsy and uninspired, the interventions office (and salary) of the incumbent of Mozart’s friend and assistant, Franz kapellmeister in short order. Xaver Süssmayr (1766–1803), who did the world the immense service of com- In 1791, the year of his death, Mozart pleting the Requiem and claiming it for went from success to success, with a Mozart. With due respect to modern major role in Leopold II’s August- music scholarship, I would much rather September coronation festivities in hear a completion by one of Mozart’s Prague (his new opera La clemenza di Tito trusted and talented contemporaries— and his earlier Coronation Mass—the latter the version conducted by Salieri at conducted by Salieri), a Viennese box Mozart’s memorial, performed at the TFDUJPO NP[BSU TTTNBZS REQUIEM, KV 626 (1791) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Completed by Franz Xaver Süssmayr (1766–1803) (1756–1791) Jouspjuvt Uif pomz npwfnfou dpnqptfe boe psdiftusbufe foujsfmz cz Np{bsu Lzsjf Wpdbm mjoft boe gjhvsfe cbtt Psdiftusbujpo The story of Süssmayr’s completion of Mozart’s Requiem is almost as interesting as the composition itself. Christoph Wolff argues compellingly that Mozart’s fragment, Ejft jsbf Wpdbm mjoft boe gjhvsfe cbtt- ofbsmz Sfnbjojoh psdiftusbujpo famously unfinished, nevertheless “completely defines the musical substance” of the bmm pg uif wjpmjo 2 qbsu Requiem and is the “decisive historical, textual, and musical documentation of the Uvcb njsvn Wpdbm mjoft boe gjhvsfe cbtt- gjstu 29 Sfnbjojoh psdiftusbujpo work…the only surviving and incorruptible witness” to the composer’s vision. cbst pg uspncpof tpmp- tpnf wjpmjo 2 Süssmayr worked in haste to finish the Requiem in the chaos surrounding Mozart’s joufsmveft death, both to earn for the composer’s estate the balance of the commission from Sfy usfnfoebf Wpdbm mjoft boe gjhvsfe cbtt- ofbsmz Sfnbjojoh psdiftusbujpo Count Walsegg, and to help secure a financial legacy, through benefit performances bmm pg uif wjpmjo 2 qbsu and eventual publication, for Constanze and her young children. In order to maxi- Sfdpsebsf Wpdbm mjoft boe gjhvsfe cbtt- Sfnbjojoh psdiftusbujpo mize the work’s earning potential, it was essential that it be presented as fully as possi- psdiftusbm jouspevdujpo boe qptumvef- ble as Mozart’s own. For this reason, the composer’s friends and family (Süssmayer jtpmbufe wjpmjo 2 gjhvsft included) were intentionally vague—even many years later—about Süssmayr’s contri- butions to the finished product. Dispersing this fog became one of the great forensic Dpogvubujt Wpdbm mjoft boe gjhvsfe cbtt- wjpmjo 2 Sfnbjojoh psdiftusbujpo mjoft bddpnqbozjoh Ówpdb nf-Ô wjpmjo exercises in modern musicology, with efforts as early as the 1820s to understand and 2 mjof boe jojujbm xppexjoe mjoft explain where Süssmayr began and Mozart left off. bddpnqbozjoh Ópsp tvqqmfyÔ tfdujpo The unfinished state of the Requiem gives us remarkable insight to Mozart’s process as acomposer:theorderinwhich(andefficiencywithwhich)heworked,theprimacyof Mbdsjnptb Wpdbm mjoft boe gjhvsfe cbtt uispvhi Sfnbjojoh psdiftusbujpo )cbst 2Ñ9*- vocal writing in what was to have been his new, mature style of sacred music, his pre- Ókvejdboevt ipnp sfvtÔ )cbs 9* pomz- bmm nbufsjbm gspn cbs 9 up foe< uxp cbst pg psdiftusbm jouspevdujpo tpqsbop mjof bu nfbtvsf 37 occupation with structural unity, his expressive and multilayered approach to rhythm, sfdbqjuvmbuft ÓSfrvjfn bfufsobnÔ the creativity of his orchestration. In general, Mozart completed the lion’s share of uifnf gspn Jouspju musical work—voice parts, figured bass and major instrumental motives—in the Introit, Kyrie, Sequence, and Offertorium. Süssmayr recomposed the Introit and Np{bsu mfgu b tlfudi gps bo Bnfo T ttnbzsÖt tfmg.fggbdjoh foejoh epft gvhvf up gjojti uif Mbdsjnptb- opu buufnqu up pvutijof Np{bsu- Kyrie to end the Requiem, perhaps consistent with Mozart’s instructions. The dpnqmfufe nptu tbujtgzjohmz cz uif tuboejoh bt bo fmprvfou uftubnfou up Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei came entirely from Süssmayr’s pen, building on Ibswbse nvtjdpmphjtu Spcfsu Mfwjo uif nbtufsÖt usvodbufe hfojvt musical ideas found elsewhere in the Requiem and perhaps on sketches—“scraps of paper” in Constanze’s words—and discussions with the composer that followed him to Epnjof Kftv Wpdbm mjoft boe gjhvsfe cbtt- wjpmjo 2 Sfnbjojoh psdiftusbujpo npujwf bu cfhjoojoh pg Órvbn pmjn an early grave. BcsbibfÔ tfdujpo The table opposite delineates Mozart’s and Süssmayr’s respective contributions to the Iptujbt Wpdbm mjoft boe gjhvsfe cbtt- Sfnbjojoh psdiftusbujpo score delivered to Count Walsegg in February 1792—barely three months after psdiftusbm jouspevdujpo boe qptumvef Mozart’s death. Tboduvt Bmm T ttnbzs< tpqsbop mjof bu pqfojoh sfdbqjuvmbuft )jo b nbkps lfz* pqfojoh uifnf gspn ÓEjft jsbfÔ Cfofejduvt Bmm T ttnbzs Bhovt Efj Bmm T ttnbzs< cbtt mjof bu pqfojoh sfdbqjuvmbuft ÓSfrvjfn bfufsobnÔ uifnf gspn Jouspju Dpnnvojp Tff Jouspju boe Lzsjf bcpwf T ttnbzsÖt sfdzdmjoh kpc xbt opu kvtu bo fggjdjfou tpmvujpo- cvu nbz ibwf sfgmfdufe Np{bsuÖt pxo dpodfqu gps gjojtijoh uif xpsl INTROITUS Rex tremendae Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine, Grant them eternal rest, O Lord, and may light Rex tremendae majestatis, King of awesome majesty, et lux perpetua luceat eis. perpetual shine upon them. qui salvandos salvas gratis, Who freely saves those worthy of salvation, Te decet hymnus, Deus, in Sion, et Thou shalt have praise in Sion, O Lord; and salva me, fons pietatis. Save me, fount of pity. tibi reddetur votum in Jerusalem. homage shall be paid to Thee in Jerusalem. Recordare Exaudi orationem meam; Hear my prayer, O Lord, ad te omnis caro veniet. All flesh shall come before Thee. Recordare, Jesu pie, Remember, gentle Jesus, Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine, Grant them eternal rest, O Lord, and may light quod sum causa tuae viae, That I am the reason for your journey; et lux perpetua luceat eis. perpetual shine upon them. ne me perdas ille die. Do not cast me out on that day. Quaerens me sedisti lassus, Seeking me, you have sat down wearily, redemisti crucem passus; You have redeemed me by enduring the cross; KYRIE tantus labor non sit cassus. Such travail must not be in vain. Kyrie eleison. Christe eleison. Lord, have mercy upon us. Juste judex ultionis, Righteous judge of vengeance, Christ, have mercy upon us. donum fac remissionis Grant your gift of absolution ante diem rationis. Before the day of reckoning. SEQUENZ Ingemisco tamquam reus, I groan like the sinner I am, Dies Irae culpa rubet vultus meus, Guilt reddens my face, Dies irae, dies illa This day, this day of wrath supplicant parce, Deus.