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Home , Margaret Hillis, Murray Perahia, Oblation, Pie Jesu, Requiem, Requiem (Mozart)

PROGRAM

ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-FOURTH SEASON Chicago Symphony Orchestra Zell Music Director Helen Regenstein Conductor Emeritus Yo-Yo Ma Judson and Joyce Green Creative Consultant Global Sponsor of the CSO

Thursday, February 19, 2015, at 8:00 Friday, February 20, 2015, at 1:30 Saturday, February 21, 2015, at 8:00 Tuesday, February 24, 2015, at 7:30

Riccardo Muti Conductor Rudolf Buchbinder Piano Rosa Feola Alisa Kolosova Mezzo-soprano Michele Pertusi Director Mozart No. 24 in C Minor, K. 491 Allegro Larghetto Allegretto RUDOLF BUCHBINDER

INTERMISSION Mozart in , K. 626 Introitus Requiem Sequenz Tuba mirum Rex tremendae Recordare Confutatis Offertorium Domine Jesu Hostias Benedictus Communio Lux aeterna ROSA FEOLA ALISA KOLOSOVA SAIMIR PIRGU MICHELE PERTUSI CHICAGO SYMPHONY CHORUS

These concerts are generously sponsored by Mr. & Mrs. Dietrich M. Gross. CSO Tuesday series concerts are sponsored by United Airlines.

This program is partially supported by grants from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

2 COMMENTS by Phillip Huscher

Wolfgang Mozart Born January 27, 1756, Salzburg, Austria. Died December 5, 1791, Vienna, Austria. Piano Concerto No. 24 in C Minor, K. 491

In the winter of 1785–86, on April 29. One of the remarkable things about Mozart wrote three piano this concerto—along with the harried circum- concertos while also stances of its creation—is the way it penetrates working on The Marriage the unusually dark world of C minor, while of Figaro. This was the Figaro—with which it shared space on Mozart’s most productive period in writing desk every day—is so unrelenting in its his life, and the only fondness for bright major keys. reasonable way to explain In the eighteenth century, a composer rarely the enormous and varied chose to write in key. Only two of output of these six months Mozart’s piano concertos are in minor keys, and is to assume that the intense work on the compli- because of their power and emotional depth, cated musical and dramatic structures of the they remained favorites of the romantic era, opera set his mind racing with more ideas than a when it was tempting to dismiss Mozart as a single four-act opera could contain. It has been sweet, facile, lightweight talent. The Concerto in suggested that the purely mechanical task of D minor (K. 466) was Beethoven’s favorite. (It’s writing down this much music would produce the only one he played publicly, and the only one only six full pages per day. Neither that chal- for which he wrote cadenzas.) But we know he lenge, nor the infinitely greater one of conceiving also greatly admired this concerto in C minor. so much magnificent music, appears to have After hearing a performance, he remarked to a inconvenienced Mozart in the least. Throughout fellow pianist and composer, “Cramer! Cramer! the winter, he kept to his regular routine of We shall never be able to do anything like teaching and performing, while also enjoying a that”—though in his own C minor piano con- full social calendar. The only activity that seems certo (no. 3), Beethoven blatantly and lovingly to have suffered was his letter writing, so we have imitates the coda to Mozart’s first movement. At only a sketchy account of his daily life at the time. the other end of the nineteenth century, Mozart’s Mozart entered the C minor piano concerto C minor concerto was still highly valued: (K. 491) in his catalog on March 24, 1786 (it Richard Strauss made his debut playing this had only been twenty-two days since he finished work and composed cadenzas for it as well. (At his last piano concerto, in A major, K. 488); the these performances, Rudolf Buchbinder plays his next line lists The Marriage of Figaro, completed own cadenza in the first movement.)

COMPOSED FIRST CSO PERFORMANCES July 23, 2006, Ravinia Festival. entered in Mozart’s catalog on April 7 & 8, 1911, Orchestra Hall. Fannie Andreas Haefliger as soloist, James March 24, 1786 Bloomfield Zeisler as soloist, Frederick Conlon Stock conducting September 13, 2008, Kultur- & FIRST PERFORMANCE July 14, 1942, Ravinia Festival. Kongresszentrum, Lucerne, unknown, possibly March 24, 1786; as soloist, George Switzerland. Murray Perahia as soloist, Vienna, Austria Szell conducting conducting INSTRUMENTATION MOST RECENT CADENZA solo piano, one flute, two oboes, two CSO PERFORMANCES Rudolf Buchbinder , two , two horns, October 6, 7 & 8, 2005, Orchestra two , , strings Hall. as soloist, Daniel APPROXIMATE Barenboim conducting PERFORMANCE TIME 31 minutes 3 The most extraordinary thing about the first , Johann Nepomuk Hummel (the virtuoso movement—once we have adjusted our ears to pianist-composer who had once studied with the dark and sober key and to the sounds of both Mozart) published his own arrangements of clarinets and oboes (appearing together in one eight important Mozart concertos, in which he of Mozart’s concertos for the first time)—is how redecorated virtually every measure of the solo Mozart seems to be inventing his form as he goes part. But he stopped short at this movement, along—the solo lines, in particular, have a won- recognizing that even the piano’s opening unac- derful improvisatory quality—even though he companied phrase, with its sing-song melody is making the most carefully considered choices and repeated chords, was perfect as it stands. throughout. At the very end of the movement, The finale, a series of variations both playful the piano unexpectedly reenters with quiet and serious, begins and ends in C minor (even that carry to the last measure (this is the D minor concerto ultimately broke away to the moment Beethoven recaptures in his Third end happily in ), although Mozart gives Piano Concerto). the conclusion an unexpected twist by switch- The slow movement, in E-flat major, speaks ing, at the last minute, to a particularly lilting with childlike simplicity. Years after Mozart’s 6/8 meter.

Wolfgang Mozart Requiem in D Minor, K. 626 Completed by Franz Xaver Süssmayr

This requiem is Mozart’s behalf of his anonymous master, inquiring if last, unfinished composi- Mozart would write a requiem , and if so, tion. It is one of the how long he would need and what fee he would greatest and most accept. Although no single event in Mozart’s life mysterious torsos in has been dissected as carefully as this one, we Western art. Because still are not certain of the details of the verbal Mozart died so young contract negotiated that day. Mozart did agree to while working on a mass the commission, and probably accepted a fee of for the dead, this music fifty ducats, half payable in advance. Apparently has attracted an unfair, the messenger did warn Mozart to respect the though inevitable, amount of myth and popular secrecy of his patron. drama. And because the requiem was completed Mozart was a busy man in 1791. He went to in relative secrecy after the composer’s death and Prague in late August, accompanied by his wife presented as Mozart’s own, separating fact from Constanze and his pupil Franz Xaver Süssmayr, fiction is complicated. The stories invented by any to prepare for the premiere of La clemenza di number of fine and reasonable writers over the Tito. (He wrote much of the score in the coach.) years, from in the nineteenth He returned to Vienna immediately after the century to Peter Shaffer, whose made premiere on September 6 to finish The Magic Mozart king of the Cineplex in the 1980s, have Flute, which he conducted on September 30 at become nearly as famous and beloved as the the Theater auf der Wieden. music itself. Although it is hard and potentially appears just once in this story, on October 13, disappointing to stick to the truth, even that, it when Mozart took the composer and soprano turns out, tells a remarkable tale. Catarina Cavalieri to a performance of The Indeed there was a messenger, apparently Magic Flute. “Salieri listened and watched most dressed in gray, who appeared at Mozart’s door. attentively,” Mozart wrote to Constanze, “and This have been some time during the from the overture to the last chorus there was summer of 1791, Mozart’s last. He came on not a single number that did not call forth from

4 him a bravo! or bello. It seemed as if they could suggests. Just the mouthing of the timpani part, not thank me enough for my kindness.” And on and the quiet of a young man dying in that genial note, untroubled by any undercurrents the of his life. Mozart died at fifty-five other than the simple envy a decent composer minutes past midnight on December 5. Sophie might reasonably feel confronted by Mozart’s Haibel recalls that her sister was inconsolable and genius, Salieri slipped from Mozart’s life. could not tear herself away from Mozart. During these same weeks, Mozart completed a concerto for Anton Stadler and wrote ow begins a new drama. Constanze, a little Masonic , dated November 15, in serious debt, recognized that the which was the last work he entered in his per- requiem must be finished and deliv- sonal catalog. He conducted the piece three days Nered, and presented as Mozart’s final work. She later to dedicate a new temple for his lodge. On turned first to Joseph Eybler, whom her husband November 20, he came down with the first seri- had respected, delivering the score to him in ous symptoms of the illness that would take his exchange for a signed receipt on December 21. life just fifteen days later. It is doubtful whether Eybler eventually returned the requiem, hav- Mozart left his bed or that he could compose ing filled out much of Mozart’s sketching, but unaided. Süssmayr, as well as another pupil, refusing to add anything beyond what Mozart Joseph Eybler, visited him, perhaps regularly. himself had already suggested. Constanze now The only eyewitness account of Mozart’s final turned to several others, and finally to Süssmayr, hours, not written down until 1825, comes from whom Mozart occasionally had called an ass Sophie Haibel, Constanze’s sister. “Süssmayr and a blockhead, and who knew well he was was at Mozart’s bedside,” she recalled. “The not the first choice. “The completion of this well-known requiem lay on the quilt and Mozart work was assigned to a number of masters,” was explaining to him how, in his opinion, he he later admitted. “Some of them could not ought to finish it when he was gone.” Eventually undertake it because of the pressure of work; Mozart fell unconscious. “His last movement others however did not wish to compromise was an attempt to express with his mouth the their talents with Mozart’s. Eventually the drum passage in the requiem. That I can still matter came to me.” Musicians still argue about hear.” But there was no rehearsal of the requiem, how much work—and how much damage— with Mozart singing the part and friends Süssmayr actually did. But, in any event, the taking the other three, as the Mozart literature requiem that was first introduced to the public once insisted. Nor any urgent dictation, by in January 1793, and that became one of the candlelight, of Mozart’s last thoughts on putting most familiar pieces in all music, is Süssmayr’s the “Confutatis” together, as Shaffer’s Amadeus reconstruction of Mozart’s manuscript.

COMPOSED and John Cheek as soloists; Chicago INSTRUMENTATION 1791, left unfinished at Mozart’s death Symphony Chorus (, soprano, alto, tenor, and bass soloists; director); conducting mixed chorus; an orchestra consisting Completed by Franz Xaver Süssmayr of two basset horns, two bassoons, MOST RECENT two trumpets, three , FIRST PERFORMANCE CSO PERFORMANCES timpani, organ, strings January 2, 1793; Vienna, Austria June 23, 1991, Ravinia Festival. (Süssmayr version) Dawn Upshaw, Florence Quivar, APPROXIMATE Peter Kazaras, and Terry Cook as PERFORMANCE TIME FIRST CSO PERFORMANCES soloists; Chicago Symphony Chorus 60 minutes March 29 & 30, 1951, Orchestra Hall. (Margaret Hillis, director); James Nancy Carr, Nan Merriman, Eugene Levine conducting CSO RECORDING Conley, and as soloists; 1958. Chicago Symphony Chorus Combined Choral Organizations of May 18, 19, 20 & 21, 2006, Orchestra (Margaret Hillis, director), Bruno (George Hall. Karina Gauvin, , Walter conducting (From the Archives, Howerton, director); Bruno Thomas Allen, and Nathan vol. 13: Chicago Symphony Chorus: Walter conducting Berg as soloists; Chicago Symphony A Fortieth Anniversary Celebration) Chorus (Duain Wolfe, director); July 13, 1986, Ravinia Festival. Benita (Lacrimosa only) conducting (Robert Valente, Florence Quivar, Philip Creech, Levin realization) 5 How much of the requiem, then, is pure well have intended to recopy the score, as was Mozart? Only the opening “Requiem aeternam” his custom, placing his own name on its cover, was written out and orchestrated in full. (These although that is also part of the legend and hard are among the most sublime pages in Mozart’s to verify. output.) For most of the rest, Mozart left the The requiem was first performed in Vienna on essential materials: the vocal parts, the orchestral January 1793, in Süssmayr’s version, at a benefit bass line, and some critical details of instrumen- concert for Constanze, who still had bills to pay. tation exist for the Kyrie, the five movements The newspaper reported: of the Dies irae, and the two movements of the . He began the “Lacrimosa,” but broke Mozart, who achieved an immortal name off after just eight bars. Those are presumably the in the art of music, left a widow and two last notes he wrote. A sketch discovered in 1963 orphans in poverty. Many noble benefactors indicates that Mozart intended to complete the are helping this unfortunate woman. Two “Lacrimosa” with an “Amen” rather than a days ago Baron Swieten presented a public simple, hymnlike . concert with a sung requiem as a In addition to reworking what Eybler had to Mozart. The widow received proceeds of already done to flesh out Mozart’s instructions, over 300 gold ducats. Süssmayr provided what he and Constanze claimed were new movements for the Sanctus few footnotes. Shortly after Mozart’s and Agnus Dei. Constanze said that she gave death, Süssmayr resumed his study of Süssmayr whatever sketches she could find to composition; his new teacher was Salieri. help him—these “few scraps of music” have InA 1833, Eybler suffered a stroke while conduct- not survived—and later recalled that when ing Mozart’s Requiem. Constanze eventually her husband “foresaw his death, he spoke to married Georg Nikolaus Nissen, with whom Mr. Süssmayr and told him that if he were really she collaborated on a biography of Mozart. to die without finishing it, he should repeat the Documents discovered over the summer of first fugue for the final movement.” Perhaps that 1991 indicate that parts of Mozart’s Requiem, is the advice Sophie Haibel remembered but did in its incomplete state, were performed at the not repeat; it is indeed what Süssmayr did. memorial service held on December 10, 1791, at Michael’s, the court chapel in Vienna. ver since the score was first published in This surprising information lends new weight 1800, Süssmayr’s work has been con- to the long-discredited newspaper report troversial. In recent years, a number of of December 16, which claimed that “Herr Escholars, attempting to sort out Mozart from Schikaneder [the librettist for ] Süssmayr, have proposed their own readings had obsequies performed for the departed, at of the manuscript. There is no simple authen- which the Requiem, which he composed in his tic version of the requiem; it is unplayable as last illness, was executed.” Mozart left it and requires the work of other The cause of Mozart’s death is still uncertain. hands to bring it to life. Indeed, the version In the nineteenth century, poison was the favored performed at these concerts, the standard theory, and the principal suspects were not only Mozart-Süssmayr edition, is, arguably, the Salieri, but Süssmayr or Mozart’s fellow Masons, most authentic of all, for this is the score that who feared he had divulged too many lodge was delivered to Mozart’s patron in 1793. secrets in The Magic Flute. Newer suggestions By then even Constanze knew that the myste- include the rare Schönlein-Henoch syndrome, rious messenger at Mozart’s door came repre- infective endocarditis, and mercury poisoning, senting Count Franz Walsegg-Stuppach, a music inadvertently administered at the hand of his lover and amateur composer who sometimes doctor. But it is plain rheumatic fever that still enjoyed passing off another composer’s music as seems the most likely candidate. his own. He commissioned this requiem from Mozart to honor his wife Anna, who had died Phillip Huscher is the program annotator for the Chicago in February 1791 at the age of twenty. He may Symphony Orchestra.

6 REQUIEM

INTROITUS Requiem

Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine, grant to them, O Lord, et lux perpetua luceat eis. and let perpetual light shine on them. Te decet hymnus, Deus, in Sion, To you will be sung hymns in Zion, O God, et tibi reddetur votum in Jerusalem. and a vow made to you in Jerusalem. Exaudi orationem meam; ad te omnis caro veniet. Hear my prayer; to you all flesh shall come. Dona eis, Domine, requiem aeternam, Grant them, O Lord, eternal rest, et lux perpetua luceat eis. and let perpetual light shine on them.

KYRIE

Kyrie eleison. Lord, have mercy. Christe eleison. Christ, have mercy. Kyrie eleison. Lord, have mercy.

SEQUENZ Dies irae

Dies irae, dies illa, The Day of Wrath, that day solvet saecclum in favilla, shall dissolve the world in ashes, teste David cum Sibylla. as David and the Sibyl said. Quantus tremor est futurus, What trembling shall there be quando judex est venturus, when the Judge shall come cuncta stricte discussurus. who shall thresh out all thoroughly!

Tuba mirum

Tuba mirum spargens sonum The , scattering a wondrous sound per sepulcra regionum through the tombs of all lands, coget omnes ante thronum. shall drive all unto the throne. Mors stupebit et natura Death and Nature shall be astounded cum resurget creatura when creation shall rise again judicanti responsura. to answer the Judge. Liber scriptus proferetur, A written book shall be brought forth, in quo totum continetur, in which shall be contained all unde mundus judicetur. for which the world shall be judged. Judex ergo cum sedebit, And therefore when the Judge shall sit, quidquid latet apparebit; whatsoever is hidden shall be manifest, nil inultum remanebit. and naught shall remain unavenged. Quid sum miser tunc dicturus? What shall I say in my misery? Quem patronem rogaturus? Whom shall I ask to be my advocate, Cum vix justus sit securus. when scarcely the righteous may be without fear?

7 Rex tremendae

Rex tremendae majestatis, King of awful majesty, qui salvandos salvas gratis who freely saves the redeemed, salva me, fons pietatis. save me, O fount of mercy.

Recordare

Recordare Jesu pie, Remember, merciful Jesu, quod sum causa tua viae! that I am the cause of your journey, ne me perdas illa die. lest you lose me on that day. Quaerens me, sedisti lassus: Seeking me, you sat weary; redemisti crucem passus: you redeemed me, suffering on the cross; tantus labor non sit cassus. let not such labor be frustrated. Juste judex ultionis, O Just Judge of Vengeance, donum fac remissionis give the gift of remission ante diem rationis. before the day of reckoning. Ingemisco, tamquam reus: I groan as one guilty: culpa rubet vultus meus: My face blushes at my sin. supplicanti parce, Deus. Spare, O God, me, your supplicant. Qui Mariam absolvisti, You who absolved Mary et latronem exaudisti, and heard the thief’s prayer mihi quoque spem dedisti. have given hope to me also. meae non sunt dignae: My prayers are not worthy, Sed tu bonus fac benigne, but do you, good Lord, show mercy. ne perenni cremer igne. lest I burn in everlasting fire. Inter oves locum praesta, Give me a place among your sheep et ab haedis me sequestra, and put me apart from the goats, statuens in parte dextra. setting me on the right hand.

Confutatis

Confutatis maledictis, When the damned are confounded flammis acribus addictis: and consigned to sharp flames, Voca me cum benedictis. call me with the blessed. Oro supplex et acclinis, I pray, kneeling in supplication, cor contritum quasi cinis: a heart, contrite as ashes, Gere curam mei finis. take my end into your care.

Lacrimosa

Lacrimosa dies illa, Lamentable is that day qua resurget ex favilla, on which guilty man shall arise judicandus homo reus: from the ashes to be judged. Huic ergo parce, Deus. Spare then this one, O God. Domine, Merciful Lord Jesu: dona eis requiem. Grant them rest. Amen. Amen. 8 OFFERTORIUM Domine Jesu

Domine Jesu Christe, Rex gloriae, O Lord Jesus Christ, King of Glory, libera animas omnium fidelium defunctorum deliver the of all the faithful departed de poenis inferni, from the land of hell, et de profundo lacu: and from the pit of destruction: libera eas de ore leonis, deliver them from the lion’s mouth, ne absorbeat eas tartarus, that the grave devour them not; ne cadant in obscurum: that they go not down to the realms of darkness: sed signifer sanctus Michael but let Michael, the holy standard-bearer, make repraesentat eas in lucem sanctam: speed to restore them to the brightness of glory: Quam olim Abrahae promisisti, which you promised in ages past to Abraham et semini ejus. and to his seed. Hostias

Hostias et preces tibi, Domine, laudis offerimus: Sacrifice and prayer we offer you, O Lord: Tu suscipe pro animabus illis, Accept them for the souls departed in whose quarum hodie memoriam facimus: memory we make this : Fac eas, Domine, de morte transire ad vitam. and grant them, Lord, to pass from death to life: Quam olim Abrahae promisisti et semini ejus. As you promised in ages past to Abraham and to his seed. SANCTUS

Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Holy, holy, holy, Dominus Deus Sabaoth. Lord God of Hosts. Pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria tua. Heaven and earth proclaim your glory: Osanna in excelsis. in the highest. BENEDICTUS

Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Osanna in excelsis. Hosanna in the highest. AGNUS DEI

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, dona eis requiem. grant them rest. Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, dona eis requiem sempiternam. grant them eternal rest.

COMMUNIO Lux aeterna

Lux aeterna luceat eis, Domine: May eternal light shine upon them, O Lord, Cum sanctis tuis in aeternam, quia pius est. for endless ages with your blessed ones, for you are gracious. Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine, Eternal rest grant to them, O Lord, and let et lux perpetua luceat eis. perpetual light shine on them. Cum sanctis tuis in aeternam, quia pius est. For endless ages with your blessed ones, for you are gracious. © 2015 Chicago Symphony Orchestra