Overture Magazine: 2017-2018 Season November-December 2017 | Page 29

MOZART’S REQUIEM
to complete the critical work of composing
all the vocal parts, the figured bass that
controlled the harmony and important
instrumental parts —such as most of the
first violin parts and the trombone solo for
“Tuba mirum”—up to the Sanctus. The
first eight bars of the poignant “Lacrimosa”
section are believed to be the very last
measures of music he composed. Under his
direction, the full scoring for the opening
Introitus and Kyrie was done, leaving these
movements essentially complete.
At Mozart’s death on December 5, 1791,
his widow, desperate for money, was left
with a beautiful torso of a requiem, but
one that still needed much work before
it could be sent off to fulfill Walsegg’s
commission. After first trying out Eybler,
she turned the score over to Süssmayr,
who had to complete the “Lacrimosa” and
the orchestration for the other sections,
plus compose from scratch the Sanctus,
Benedictus and Agnus Dei movements.
With the assistance of Mozart’s friend
and patron Baron van Swieten, the first
performance of the Requiem, with the
Süssmayr completion, was given in
Vienna on January 2, 1793 as a benefit for
Constanze Mozart and her two children.
Fortunately, Süssmayr’s additions aside,
Mozart himself finished enough of the
Requiem to make it a worthy valedictory
to his genius. The work’s dark-hued
orchestration and the somber key of
D minor (used by Mozart for scenes
of operatic tragedy) give credibility to
the theory that Mozart believed he was
writing the Requiem for his own death.
His choice of woodwinds is most unusual:
two bassoons and two basset horns—an
alto version of the clarinet just coming into
vogue in the late-18 th century, but no longer
in use today; he omitted the brighter-toned
flutes, oboes and clarinets. More darkness
is contributed by the complement of three
trombones — instruments traditionally
associated with death in earlier centuries.
The opening Introitus has a halting,
ominous quality with its slow, aspirated
figures for the strings and the prominence
given the low winds. The extra-musical
impression of Mozart as a young, vital
man facing the specter of death with great
reluctance seems too obvious to ignore.
A contrasting mood of resignation and
acceptance comes with the soprano soloist’s
gentle “Te decet hymnus,” accompanied
by strings singing a melody of radiant
sweetness. Mozart follows with a dazzling
double fugue for the Kyrie that counteracts
the gravity of the Introitus; the composer
was a great lover and student of the scores
of Bach and grew more interested in
intricate contrapuntal writing in the final
years of his life.
Constanze Mozart claimed that her
husband had instructed Süssmayr to
bring back the Introitus and Kyrie music
for the Requiem’s final movement, the
Communio. Süssmayr, for his part, said
that had been his own idea. In any case,
this device saved Süssmayr a lot of work
and ensures that posterity is hearing
pure Mozart at both the beginning and
end of the work. Though bringing the
opening music back at the end gives
a nice symmetry and was a common
practice in Mozart’s day, one wonders if
Mozart — a wonderfully sensitive text-
setter — would have really chosen to use
the same music for the very different
words of the Communio.
Throughout the Mozart portions of
the Requiem, there are many moments
to treasure. The fire-breathing “Dies
irae” with its racing violins and powerful
homophonic utterances from the chorus: a
“Day of Anger” to set the nerves tingling!
The ineffably beautiful “Recordare” for
the solo quartet: a gentle prayer for Jesus’
mercy, with the two violin sections and
pairs of soloists echoing each other’s
phrases in closely spaced counterpoint.
The fierce, brass-accompanied “Con-
futatis” for the male voices contrasting
with the wondrously ethereal “Voca me”
pleas for the women’s chorus and strings.
And finally, the bittersweet beauty of the
opening eight measures of the “Lacrimosa,”
the last music Mozart wrote — with their
chromatic ascent to the cadence and, for
Mozart, to another world.
Instrumentation: Two basset horns, two
bassoons, two trumpets, three trombones,
timpani, organ and strings.
Notes by Janet E. Bedell, © 2017

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