Mozart Requiem Analysis
Mystery has shrouded the story of Mozart's Requiem since the composer's death on December 5, 1791: the figure of the "Grey Messenger" who delivered the commission to Mozart; the anonymity of the person on whose behalf the messenger was sent; the promise of a significant sum offered as payment for the composition; the contractual agreement that the work become the exclusive property of the anonymous commissioner and that the composer of the work remain unknown; and the stirrings of superstition roused within Mozart at the request to write a mass for the dead.
The young and beautiful Countess Anna von Walsegg had died on February 14, 1791, in Stuppach, near Wiener Neustadt, about fifty miles southwest of Vienna. She was twenty one years old. Her grieving husband, Count Franz von Walsegg, wanting to commemorate her memory in a fitting manner, commissioned two works: a marble and granite monument from the renowned sculptor, Johann Martin Fischer, and a musical setting of the Roman Catholic mass for the dead from Mozart. For the monument, Von Walsegg paid 3,000 florins, and for the Requiem, 225 florins. Some two hundred years later, the monument no longer exists; it has somehow been destroyed. The Requiem setting remains a cornerstone of Western classical music.
The reason Walsegg wanted the work written anonymously was to satisfy a curious and harmless past time of his own. Himself an amateur musician, he commissioned works from several composers under the same conditions as the requiem. He would then copy these in his own hand and, at performances at Schloss Stuppach, pass them off as his own compositions.
Mozart received the commission during the summer of 1791. The sum offered was significant for a composer: as much as he might be paid for an entire opera. And a down payment of half was given at the outset. Mozart accepted the commission eagerly and not just for the financial reward. In his Salzburg days, he had written a prodigious amount of sacred music; while living in Vienna, he had written almost none. In part he was pre-occupied with the Viennese taste for opera and with concerti for his own public performances. But also, he was discouraged by the strictures imposed on the writing of sacred music by the ruling emperor. Under the ten-year rule of the more liberal Joseph II, these strictures were lifted.
Mozart had recently accepted the unpaid position of assistant Kapellmeister at St. Stephen's, in the hopes that the elderly and ailing Kapellmeister, one Josef Hoffmann, would soon be indisposed and that he, Mozart, would then have a secure and paid position. So, when the commission for the Requiem came, he saw this as an opportunity, under the new freedoms allowed sacred music, and unfettered from any strictures of expressivity, to prove himself as a composer worthy of the office at the most important cathedral in Vienna.
Mozart was busy completing Magic Flute and Il Clemenza di Tito when he accepted the requiem commission. It is thought that he began to sketch ideas for the Requiem during the summer, but he soon left for Prague, to launch Il Clemenza. Franz Xavier Süssmayr, a young composer and Mozart's student and assistant, accompanied him, to assist with meeting deadlines by taking on tasks relating to score realizations and production of orchestral parts.
Mozart turned his full attention to the Requiem commission on his return to Vienna in early November. But very soon, he felt ill. Constanze, his wife, took the score away from him at times, as he became fretful that fate was at work against him. He is said to have feared he was writing his own requiem. In fact, he worked on the Requiem on his sick bed. And he continued to work in this way for some weeks. On December 4, friends gathered to sing parts of the Requiem for the composer. The last notes he wrote were the first eight measure of the Lacrymosa movement of the Requiem. He remained lucid until just a few hours before his death in the early hours of December 5, 1791. Constanze, beside herself with despair, was in the next room. Sophie, her sister, was with Mozart when he died, and she reports that he was mouthing parts of the Requiem in his last hours. Mozart was buried on December 6.
A funeral service for Mozart was held on December 10 at St. Michael's Church. Two movements of the Requiem were performed: the completed Introitus: Requiem and the Kyrie. It seems that Süssmayr finished the colle parte (orchestral parts doubling vocal parts) scoring of the Kyrie for the service.
The completion of the full Requiem is another chapter in the saga of its composition. Within days of Mozart's death, Constanze approached several young composers to finish the work. Finally Süssmayr completed the Requiem: several movements are a combination of Mozart's thematic and harmonic material and Süssmayr's orchestrations. Some are Süssmayr's own. Before Constanze delivered the completed Requiem to Von Walsegg, she had two more copies made and one of these was sent to the King of Prussia. Were it not for this very smart move on Constanze's part, it is well possible that the Requiem might have been lost for a very long time: the score in Von Walsegg's library lay unrecognized for years after Mozart's death. Süssmayr died years later, maintaining the silence surrounding his illicit completion of the work.
Program notes © Shulamit Hoffmann
Please review the original image at Scrape TV
http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Entertainment/pages-3/Mozart-finally-releases-new-music-Scrape-TV-The-World-on-your-side.html
The young and beautiful Countess Anna von Walsegg had died on February 14, 1791, in Stuppach, near Wiener Neustadt, about fifty miles southwest of Vienna. She was twenty one years old. Her grieving husband, Count Franz von Walsegg, wanting to commemorate her memory in a fitting manner, commissioned two works: a marble and granite monument from the renowned sculptor, Johann Martin Fischer, and a musical setting of the Roman Catholic mass for the dead from Mozart. For the monument, Von Walsegg paid 3,000 florins, and for the Requiem, 225 florins. Some two hundred years later, the monument no longer exists; it has somehow been destroyed. The Requiem setting remains a cornerstone of Western classical music.
The reason Walsegg wanted the work written anonymously was to satisfy a curious and harmless past time of his own. Himself an amateur musician, he commissioned works from several composers under the same conditions as the requiem. He would then copy these in his own hand and, at performances at Schloss Stuppach, pass them off as his own compositions.
Mozart received the commission during the summer of 1791. The sum offered was significant for a composer: as much as he might be paid for an entire opera. And a down payment of half was given at the outset. Mozart accepted the commission eagerly and not just for the financial reward. In his Salzburg days, he had written a prodigious amount of sacred music; while living in Vienna, he had written almost none. In part he was pre-occupied with the Viennese taste for opera and with concerti for his own public performances. But also, he was discouraged by the strictures imposed on the writing of sacred music by the ruling emperor. Under the ten-year rule of the more liberal Joseph II, these strictures were lifted.
Mozart had recently accepted the unpaid position of assistant Kapellmeister at St. Stephen's, in the hopes that the elderly and ailing Kapellmeister, one Josef Hoffmann, would soon be indisposed and that he, Mozart, would then have a secure and paid position. So, when the commission for the Requiem came, he saw this as an opportunity, under the new freedoms allowed sacred music, and unfettered from any strictures of expressivity, to prove himself as a composer worthy of the office at the most important cathedral in Vienna.
Mozart was busy completing Magic Flute and Il Clemenza di Tito when he accepted the requiem commission. It is thought that he began to sketch ideas for the Requiem during the summer, but he soon left for Prague, to launch Il Clemenza. Franz Xavier Süssmayr, a young composer and Mozart's student and assistant, accompanied him, to assist with meeting deadlines by taking on tasks relating to score realizations and production of orchestral parts.
Mozart turned his full attention to the Requiem commission on his return to Vienna in early November. But very soon, he felt ill. Constanze, his wife, took the score away from him at times, as he became fretful that fate was at work against him. He is said to have feared he was writing his own requiem. In fact, he worked on the Requiem on his sick bed. And he continued to work in this way for some weeks. On December 4, friends gathered to sing parts of the Requiem for the composer. The last notes he wrote were the first eight measure of the Lacrymosa movement of the Requiem. He remained lucid until just a few hours before his death in the early hours of December 5, 1791. Constanze, beside herself with despair, was in the next room. Sophie, her sister, was with Mozart when he died, and she reports that he was mouthing parts of the Requiem in his last hours. Mozart was buried on December 6.
A funeral service for Mozart was held on December 10 at St. Michael's Church. Two movements of the Requiem were performed: the completed Introitus: Requiem and the Kyrie. It seems that Süssmayr finished the colle parte (orchestral parts doubling vocal parts) scoring of the Kyrie for the service.
The completion of the full Requiem is another chapter in the saga of its composition. Within days of Mozart's death, Constanze approached several young composers to finish the work. Finally Süssmayr completed the Requiem: several movements are a combination of Mozart's thematic and harmonic material and Süssmayr's orchestrations. Some are Süssmayr's own. Before Constanze delivered the completed Requiem to Von Walsegg, she had two more copies made and one of these was sent to the King of Prussia. Were it not for this very smart move on Constanze's part, it is well possible that the Requiem might have been lost for a very long time: the score in Von Walsegg's library lay unrecognized for years after Mozart's death. Süssmayr died years later, maintaining the silence surrounding his illicit completion of the work.
Program notes © Shulamit Hoffmann
Please review the original image at Scrape TV
http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Entertainment/pages-3/Mozart-finally-releases-new-music-Scrape-TV-The-World-on-your-side.html
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Mozart Requiem Lyrics and English Translation
-
I. Introit: Requiem
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine,
et lux perpetua luceat eis.
Te decet hymnus, Deus, in Sion,
et tibi reddetur votum in Jerusalem.
Exaudi orationem meam,
ad te omnis care veniet.
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine,
et lux perpetua luceat eis. -
Grant them eternal rest, Lord,
and let perpetual light shine on them.
You are praised, God, in Zion,
and homage will be paid to You in Jerusalem.
Hear my prayer,
to You all flesh will come.
Grant them eternal rest, Lord,
and let perpetual light shine on them. -
II. Kyrie
Kyrie, eleison.
Christe, eleison.
Kyrie, eleison. -
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us. -
III. Sequence 1.Dies irae
Dies irae, dies illa
Solvet saeclum in favilla,
teste David cum Sibylla.
Quantus tremor est futurus,
quando judex est venturus,
cuncta stricte discussurus! -
Day of wrath, day of anger
will dissolve the world in ashes,
as foretold by David and the Sibyl.
Great trembling there will be
when the Judge descends from heaven
to examine all things closely. -
2. Tuba mirum
Tuba mirum spargens sonum
per sepulcra regionum,
coget omnes ante thronum. -
The trumpet will send its wondrous sound
throughout earth's sepulchres
and gather all before the throne. -
Mors stupebit et natura,
cum resurget creatura,
judicanti responsura.
Liber scriptus proferetur,
in quo totum continetur,
unde mundus judicetur. -
Death and nature will be astounded,
when all creation rises again,
to answer the judgement.
A book will be brought forth,
in which all will be written,
by which the world will be judged. -
Judex ergo cum sedebit,
quidquid latet, apparebit,
nil inultum remanebit. -
When the judge takes his place,
what is hidden will be revealed,
nothing will remain unavenged. -
What shall a wretch like me say?
Who shall intercede for me,
when the just ones need mercy? -
3. Rex tremendae
Rex tremendae majestatis,
qui salvandos savas gratis,
salve me, fons pietatis. -
King of tremendous majesty,
who freely saves those worthy ones,
save me, source of mercy. -
4. Recordare
Recordare, Jesu pie,
quod sum causa tuae viae;
ne me perdas illa die.
Quaerens me, sedisti lassus,
redemisti crucem passus;
tantus labor non sit cassus.
Juste judex ultionis,
donum fac remissionis
ante diem rationis.
Ingemisco, tamquam reus:
culpa rubet vultus meus;
supplicanti parce, Deus.
Qui Mariam absolvisti,
et latronem exaudisti,
mihi quoque spem dedisti.
Preces meae non sunt dignae,
sed tu, bonus, fac benigne,
ne perenni cremer igne.
Inter oves locum praesta,
Et ab haedis me sequestra,
Statuens in parte dextra. -
Remember, kind Jesus,
my salvation caused your suffering;
do not forsake me on that day.
Faint and weary you have sought me,
redeemed me, suffering on the cross;
may such great effort not be in vain.
Righteous judge of vengeance,
grant me the gift of absolution
before the day of retribution.
I moan as one who is guilty:
owning my shame with a red face;
suppliant before you, Lord.
You, who absolved Mary,
and listened to the thief,
give me hope also.
My prayers are unworthy,
but, good Lord, have mercy,
and rescue me from eternal fire.
Provide me a place among the sheep,
and separate me from the goats,
guiding me to Your right hand. -
5. Confutatis
Confutatis maledictis,
flammis acribus addictis,
voca me cum benedictus.
Oro supplex et acclinis,
cor contritum quasi cinis,
gere curam mei finis. -
When the accused are confounded,
and doomed to flames of woe,
call me among the blessed.
I kneel with submissive heart,
my contrition is like ashes,
help me in my final condition. -
6. Lacrimosa
Lacrimosa dies illa,
qua resurget ex favilla
judicandus homo reus.
Huic ergo parce, Deus,
pie Jesu Domine,
dona eis requiem. Amen. -
That day of tears and mourning,
when from the ashes shall arise,
all humanity to be judged.
Spare us by your mercy, Lord,
gentle Lord Jesus,
grant them eternal rest. Amen. -
IV. Offertory
I. Domine Jesu
Domine Jesu Christe, Rex gloriae,
libera animas omnium fidelium
defunctorum de poenis inferni
et de profundo lacu.
Libera eas de ore leonis,
ne absorbeat eas tartarus,
ne cadant in obscurum.
Sed signifer sanctus Michael
repraesentet eas in lucem sanctam.
Quam olim Abrahae promisisti
et semini ejus. -
Lord Jesus Christ, King of glory,
liberate the souls of the faithful,
departed from the pains of hell
and from the bottomless pit.
Deliver them from the lion's mouth,
lest hell swallow them up,
lest they fall into darkness.
Let the standard-bearer, holy Michael,
bring them into holy light.
Which was promised to Abraham
and his descendants. -
2. Hostias
Hostias et preces tibi, Domine,
laudis offerimus.
Tu sucipe pro animabus illis,
quaram hodie memoriam facimus.
Fac eas, Domine,
de morte transire ad vitam,
Quam olim Abrahae promisisti
et semini ejus. -
Sacrifices and prayers of praise, Lord,
we offer to You.
Receive them in behalf of those souls
we commemorate today.
And let them, Lord,
pass from death to life,
which was promised to Abraham
and his descendants. -
V. Agnus Dei
Agnus Dei, qui tollis
peccata mundi,
dona eis requiem.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis
peccata mundi,
dona eis requiem.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis
peccata mundi,
dona eis requiem sempiternam. -
Lamb of God, who takes away
the sins of the world,
grant them eternal rest.
Lamb of God, who takes away
the sins of the world,
Grant them eternal rest.
Lamb of God, who takes away
the sins of the world,
grant them eternal rest forever. -
VI. Communion:
Lux aeterna
Lux aeterna luceat eis, Domine,
cum sanctis tuis in aeternum,
quia pius es.
Requiem aeternum dona eis, Domine,
et Lux perpetua luceat eis,
cum Sanctus tuis in aeternum,
quia pius es. -
Let eternal light shine on them, Lord,
as with Your saints in eternity,
because You are merciful.
Grant them eternal rest, Lord,
and let perpetual light shine on them,
as with Your saints in eternity,
because You are merciful.
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