(K. 626) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was composed in
1791. The requiem was Mozart's last composition, and is one of his most popular
and most respected works. There has been a debate over how much of the music
Mozart managed to complete before his death, and how much was later composed by
his student Franz Xaver Süssmayr, or possibly others.
Structure
The Requiem is
divided into fourteen movements, with the following structure:
- Introitus: Requiem aeternam (Choir)
- Kyrie eleison (Choir)
- Sequenz:
- Dies irae (Choir)
- Tuba mirum (Soprano, Alto, Tenor
and Bass Solo)
- Rex tremendae majestatis (Choir)
- Recordare, Jesu pie (Soprano, Alto, Tenor
and Bass Solo)
- Confutatis maledictis (Choir)
- Lacrimosa dies illa (Choir)
- Offertorium:
- Domine Jesu Christe (Choir with Solo
Quartet)
- Versus: Hostias et preces (Choir)
- Sanctus:
- Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth (Choir)
- Benedictus (Solo Quartet then Choir)
- Agnus Dei (Choir)
- Communio:
- Lux aeterna (Choir)
Instrumentation
The Requiem is scored for 2 basset
horns in F, 2 bassoons,
2 trumpets in
D, 3 trombones
(alto, tenor & bass), timpani (2 drums), , and violins, viola and basso
continuo (cello,
double
bass, and organ or harpsichord).
The vocal forces include soprano, alto, tenor,
and bass soloists
and an SATB mixed choir.
Composition and completion
At the time of Mozart's death on 5 December
1791 he had only
completed the opening movement (Requiem aeternam) in all of the
orchestral and vocal parts. The following Kyrie (a double fugue), and most of
the Sequence (from Dies Irae to Confutatis), is complete only in
the vocal parts and the continuo (the figured
organ bass), though occasionally some of the prominent orchestral parts have
been briefly indicated, such as the violin part of the Confutatis and
the musical bridges in the Recordare. The last movement of the Sequence,
the Lacrimosa, breaks off after only eight bars and was unfinished. The
following two movements of the Offertorium were again partially done -- the Domine
Jesu Christe in the vocal parts and continuo (up until the fugue, which contains
some indications of the violin part) and the Hostias in the vocal parts
only.
In the 1960s a sketch for an Amen
fugue was discovered, which some musicologists (Levin, Maunder) believe belongs
to the Requiem at the conclusion of the Sequence after the Lacrimosa. H.C. Robbins Landon argues that this Amen fugue
was not intended for the Requiem, rather that it "may have been for a
separate unfinished Mass in D minor" to which the Kyrie K341 also
belonged. There is, however, compelling evidence placing the "Amen
Fugue" in the Requiem based on current Mozart scholarship. Firstly, the
principal subject is comprised of the main theme of the requiem (stated at the
beginning, and throughout the work) in strict inversion. Secondly, it is found
on the same page as a sketch for the Rex Tremendae (together with a sketch for
the overture of his last opera The
Magic Flute), and thus surely dates from late 1791. The only place where
the word 'Amen' occurs in anything that Mozart wrote in late 1791 is in the
Sequence of the Requiem. Thirdly, as Levin points out in the foreword to his
completion of the Requiem, the addition of the Amen Fugue at the end of the
Sequence results in an overall design that ends each large section with a
fugue.
The eccentric count Franz
von Walsegg commissioned the Requiem from Mozart anonymously through
intermediaries acting on his behalf. The count, an amateur chamber musician who
routinely commissioned works by composers and passed them off as his own,
wanted a Requiem mass he could claim he composed to memorialize the recent
passing of his wife. Mozart received only half of the payment in advance, so
upon his death his widow Constanze was keen to have the work completed
secretly by someone else, submit it to the count as having been completed by
Mozart and collect the final payment. Joseph
von Eybler was one of the first composers to be asked to complete the
score, and had worked on the movements from the Dies irae up until the Lacrimosa.
In addition, a striking similarity between the openings of the Domine Jesu
Christe movements in the requiems of the two composers suggests that Eybler
at least looked at later sections. Following this work, he felt unable to
complete the remainder, and gave the manuscript back to Constanze Mozart.
The task was then given to
another composer, Franz Xaver Süssmayr, who had already helped
the ailing Mozart in writing the score, since in his final days the composer's
limbs had become extremely swollen. Süssmayr borrowed some of Eybler's work in
making his completion, and added his own orchestration to the movements from
the Dies Irae onward (the Kyrie was orchestrated before either Süssmayr or Eybler began
their work), completed the Lacrimosa, and added several new movements
which a Requiem would normally comprise: Sanctus, Benedictus, and
Agnus Dei. He then added a final section, Lux aeterna by adapting
the opening two movements which Mozart had written to the different words which
finish the Requiem Mass, which according to both Süssmayr and Mozart's wife was
done according to Mozart's directions. Whether or not that is true, some people
consider it unlikely that Mozart would have repeated the opening two sections
if he had survived to finish the work completely. However, the fact that the
work ends with a recapitulation of the first movement creates a work which,
overall, displays characteristics of sonata form,
which may help to authenticate the idea for the repetition of the first
movement as the final movement. As has often been stated, Mozart was not the
only composer to do this, and many requiems written before his repeat the first
movement as the last. (In regular Masses a similar practice existed where the
last movement, the Agnus Dei, was indicated only by the words "ut
Kyrie", "as the Kyrie".)
Other composers may have helped
Süssmayr. The elder composer Maximilian
Stadler is suspected of having completed the orchestration of the Domine
Jesu for Süssmayr. The Agnus Dei is suspected by some scholars[citation needed] to have been
based on instruction or sketches from Mozart because of its similarity to a
section from the Gloria of a previous Mass (K.220) by Mozart, as was first
pointed out by Richard Maunder. Many of the arguments dealing with this matter,
though, center on the perception that if part of the work is high quality, it
must have been written by Mozart (or from sketches), and if part of the work
contains errors and faults, it must have been all Süssmayr's doing. A frequent
meta-debate is whether or not this is a fair way to judge the authorship of the
parts of the work.
Another controversy is the
suggestion that Mozart left explicit instructions for the completion of the
Requiem on "little scraps of paper." It is commonly believed this
claim was made by Constanza Mozart after it was public knowledge that the
Requiem was actually completed by Süssmayr as a way to increase the impression
of authenticity.
The completed score, initially by
Mozart but largely finished by Süssmayr, was then dispatched to Count Walsegg
complete with a counterfeited signature of Mozart and dated 1792. The various
complete and incomplete manuscripts eventually turned up in the 19th century, but
many of the figures involved did not leave unambiguous statements on record as
to how they were involved in the affair. Despite the controversy over how much
of the music is actually Mozart's, the commonly performed Süssmayr version has
become widely accepted by the public. This acceptance is quite strong, even
when alternate completions provide logical and compelling solutions for the
work. A completion dating from 1819 by Sigismund Neukomm has recently been
recorded under the baton of Jean-Claude Malgoire. Salzburg-born Neukomm, a
student of Joseph Haydn, provided a concluding Libera me,
Domine for a performance of the Requiem on the feast of St Cecilia in Rio
de Janeiro at the behest of Nunes Garcia.
History of the
Requiem (timeline)
- February
14, 1791:
Anna, Count von Walsegg's wife, passed away at the
age of 20.
- mid-July: A messenger (probably Franz Anton
Leitgeb, the Count's steward) arrived with note asking Mozart to write a
Requiem Mass.
- mid-July: Commission from Domenico
Guardasoni, Impresario of the Prague National Theater to compose the
opera, La clemenza di Tito, for the festivities surrounding the
coronation on September 6 of Leopold II as King of Bohemia.
- August: Mozart works mainly on La clemenza di
Tito; completed by September 5.
- August 25: Mozart leaves for Prague.
- September 6: Mozart conducts premiere of La
clemenza di Tito.
- mid-September - September 28: Revision and
completion of The Magic Flute.
- September 30: Premiere of The Magic Flute.
- October 7: Completed concerto in A for
clarinet.
- October 8 - Nov. 20: Mozart worked on the
Requiem and a Cantata.
- November 20: Confined to the bed due to his
illness.
- December 5: Mozart died shortly after
midnight of acute rheumatic fever[citation needed].
- December 7: Burial in St. Marx Cemetery.
- December 10: Requiem performed in St. Michael
for a memorial for Mozart by the staff of the Theater auf der Wieden.
- early-March 1792: probably the time Süssmayr
finished the Requiem.
- January 2, 1793: Performance of Requiem for
Constanze's benefit arranged by Gottfried van Swieten.
- early December 1793: Requiem delivered to the
Count.
- December 14 1793: Requiem performed in the
memory of the Count's wife in the church at Wiener-Neustadt.[1]
- February 14, 1794: Requiem performed again in
Patronat Church at Maria-Schutz on Semmering
- 1799: Breitkopf & Hartel published the
Requiem.
- 1809: Requiem was performed at Haydn's
funeral on June 15 at Vienna
- 1825: Debates started over authorship of
Requiem.
- 1833: Eybler suffered stroke while conducting
a performance of Mozart's Requiem. He died in 1846.
Modern
completions
Since the 1970s several
musicologists, dissatisfied with the traditional "Süssmayr"
completion, have attempted alternative completions of the Requiem. These include
Franz
Beyer, Duncan
Druce, C.
Richard F. Maunder, H.C. Robbins Landon, Robert
D. Levin and Simon Andrews. Each version follows a distinct
methodology for completion; for example, the Beyer edition makes revisions to Süssmayr's orchestration in an attempt to
create a more Mozartian style, whereas Robbins Landon has chosen to orchestrate
parts of the completion using the partial work by Eybler, thinking that
Eybler's work is a more reliable guide of Mozart's intentions. Maunder's
edition dispenses completely with the parts known to be written by Süssmayr,
but retains the Agnus Dei after discovering an extensive paraphrase from
an earlier Mass (Kv.220). Andrews' and Levin's versions retain the structure of
Süssmayr while adjusting orchestration, voice leading and in some cases
rewriting entire sections in an effort to make the work more Mozartean. For
example, in the Levin and Andrews versions, the Sanctus fugue is completely
rewritten and reproprortioned and the Benedictus is restructured to allow for a
reprise of the Sanctus fugue in the key of D (rather than Süssmayr's use of B
flat).
Both Maunder and Levin use the
sketch for the Amen fugue discovered in the 1960s to compose a longer and more
substantial setting to the words "Amen" at the end of the Sequence.
In the Süssmayr version, "Amen" is set to the last two chords of the
Lacrimosa: the Andrews version uses the Süssmayr ending. Maunder and Levin
recompose the ending of the Lacrimosa to lead to an entire movement with
"Amen" as the text. Other authors have also attempted the completion.
Myths surrounding the Requiem
The Requiem has a complex
history, riddled with deception and manipulation of public opinion. The work
was commissioned by a count who wanted to pass off the work as his own[2],
so the circumstances of the commission were kept secret. Upon Mozart's death,
Constanze had the work completed by other composers, but to receive final
payment, their assistance had to remain a secret. At the same time, Constanze
wanted to present the work as having been written by Mozart to completion, so
as to receive revenue from the work. When it became known that others beside
Mozart had a hand in writing the Requiem, Constanze insisted that Mozart
left explicit instructions for the work's completion.
With all of these levels of
deceptions and secrets, it is inevitable that many myths would emerge with
respect to the circumstances of the work's completion. One series of myths
surrounding the Requiem involves the role Antonio
Salieri played in the commissioning and completion of the Requiem and in
Mozart's death generally. While the most recent retelling of this myth is Peter
Shaffer's play Amadeus and the movie
made from it, it is important to note that the source of misinformation was
actually a 19th century play by Alexander
Pushkin, Mozart and Salieri, which was turned into an opera by Rimsky-Korsakov and subsequently used as
the framework for Amadeus [3],
.
While Amadeus was never
intended to be historically accurate, many people have taken it as fact,
reawakening the myth started in the 19th century. The following explores myths
surrounding the Requiem.
Some of the most commonly held
myths about Mozart's Requiem are:
- Myth: Antonio Salieri commissioned the Requiem
from Mozart so it could be played at Mozart's own funeral after Salieri
poisoned the composer.
- Reality: The Requiem was actually commissioned by Franz von Walsegg so he could pass it off
as his own to memorialize the death of his wife. Count von Walsegg, an amateur musician,
often commissioned works by composers and performed them with friends in
musicales as his own. The count took the extra step of using a messenger
to take extra precautions to maintain confidentiality, given that this
event was much more public than the private musicales that he was
accustomed to using for representing "his" works.
- Myth: Antonio
Salieri helped to complete the Requiem on the deathbed of
Mozart.
- Reality: At Mozart's death, Constanze took on the
responsibility of the Requiem, engaging a series of composers to attempt
the completion, the last of which was Süssmayr. There is nothing to
suggest that Salieri had anything to do with any part of the Requiem.
This myth was incorporated into Pushkin's play, and in turn, the film
version of "Amadeus".
- Myth: Mozart actively worked on the Requiem
up to the moment he died.
- Reality: In the last days of his life he had become
too sick (his hands were swollen) to work on it any more. He did have the
Requiem (as far as it went) sung to him on one of his last days
(reportedly the Lacrimosa moved him to tears), and there is a report of
him trying to voice drum parts at the very end of his life, but the
notion of Mozart working through the night just before he died is not
accurate.
- Myth: It was played at Mozart's funeral.
- Reality: Mozart died in the early hours of December
5, 1791,
had a small funeral and was buried in an unmarked grave. A memorial
service on December 10, 1791 was
organized by Mozart's friend and librettist, Emanuel Schikaneder, at which one of the
completed movements (the Introitus) might have been performed; we do not
know what music was in fact played.
- Myth: Everything after the Lacrimosa was composed
by Süssmayr.
- Reality: Although the Lacrimosa breaks off
incomplete after 8 bars, as noted above, the vocal and continuo of the Domine
Jesu and the vocal parts of the Hostias are in Mozart's hand.
The complexity of the Domine Jesu, with its frequent use of counterpoint
and three fugues, would be very unlikely as the work of Süssmayr, given
the nature of the Hosanna fugue which he did compose.
- Myth: Mozart gave Süssmayr detailed instructions
on how to complete the Requiem.
- Reality: This myth was started by Constanze when
the fact that Mozart left the Requiem unfinished at his death became
public knowledge. To maximize the value of the Requiem, and improve
Constanze's security, the public had to believe that Mozart somehow
guided the entire work. Exactly what Mozart might have told Süssmayr
about the Requiem is not clear. Both Constanze and Süssmayr created the
myth of Mozart leaving "scraps of paper" with "detailed
instructions", but it was ultimately discovered that it was untrue.
She and Süssmayr stated that they were on other "scraps of
paper", but it was discovered that the remainder of the Requiem was
sketched out on blank manuscript.
- Myth: Süssmayr was Mozart's pupil.
- Reality: As with the "scraps of paper",
Constanze promoted Süssmayr as a pupil of Mozart to maximize the
perceived value of the Requiem after it became known that Mozart left the
Requiem unfinished at his death. Süssmayr was more of a colleague and
friend to the Mozarts and even accompanied Constanze on her spa trips in
1791. Süssmayr did not study with Mozart. There is discussion in some of
the sources cited in this article of the possibility that Süssmayr was
actually having an affair with Constanze, and that Constanze's initial
reluctance to engage Süssmayr to complete the Requiem upon Wolfgang's
death was due to a "lover's quarrel".
- Myth: The movie "Amadeus" created all
of the confusion surrounding the history of the Requiem
- Reality: The confusion between myth and reality
regarding the events surrounding the commission, composition, completion
and release of the Requiem stem from much earlier than the theater and
movie production of Amadeus. First of all, Amadeus in both
its movie and play forms, was based on Alexander Pushkin's play The
Little Tragedy of Mozart and Salieri, which contained many of the
falsehoods that were ultimately passed on in Amadeus.
Constanze Mozart
and the Requiem after Mozart's death
The confusion surrounding the
circumstances of the Requiem's composition was created in a large part by
Mozart's wife, Constanze. Constanze had a difficult task in front of her. She
had to keep secret the fact that the Requiem was unfinished at Mozart's death,
so she could collect the final payment from the commission. For a period of
time, she also needed to keep secret the fact that Mozart had anything to do
with the composition of the Requiem at all in order to allow Count Walsegg the
impression that he wrote the work. Once she received the commission, she needed
to carefully promote the work as Mozart's so she could continue to receive
revenue from the work's publication and performance. During this phase of the
Requiem's history, it was still important that the public accepted that Mozart
wrote the whole piece, as it would fetch larger sums from publishers and the
public if it were completely by Mozart.
It is Constanze's efforts that
created the flurry of half-truths and myths almost instantly after Mozart's
death. Source materials written soon after Mozart’s death contain serious
discrepancies which leave a level of subjectivity when assembling the
"facts" about Mozart’s composition of the Requiem. For
example, at least three of the conflicting sources, both dated within two
decades following Mozart’s death, cite Constanze
Mozart (Mozart’s wife) as their primary source of interview information. In
1798, Friedrich Rochlitz, the German biographical author and amateur composer,
published a set of Mozart anecdotes which he claimed to have collected during
his meeting with Constanze in 1796.[4] The Rochlitz publication makes the following statements:
- Mozart was unaware of his commissioner’s
identity at the time he accepted the project.
- He was not bound to any date of completion of
the work
- He stated that it would take him around four
weeks to complete.
- He requested, and received, 100 ducats at the
time of the first commissioning message.
- He began the project immediately after
receiving the commission.
- His health was poor from the outset; he
fainted multiple times while working
- He took a break from writing the work to
visit the Prater with his wife.
- He shared with his wife that for certain he
was writing this piece for his own funeral.
- He spoke of "very strange thoughts"
regarding the unpredicted appearance and commission of this unknown man.
- He noted that the departure of Leopold to
Prague for the coronation was approaching.
The most highly disputed of these
claims is the last one, the chronology of this setting. According to Rochlitz,
the messenger arrives quite some time before the departure of Leopold for the
coronation, yet we have record of his departure occurring in mid-July 1791.
However, Constanze was in Baden during all of June to mid-July, she would not
have been present for the commission or the drive they were said to have taken
together.[4] Furthermore, The
Magic Flute (except for the Overture and March of the Priests) was
completed by mid-July. La Clemenza Di Tito was commissioned by
mid-July.[4] There was no time for Mozart to work on the Requiem on
the large scale indicated by the Rochlitz publication in the time frame
provided.
Also in 1798, Constanze is noted
to have given another interview to Franz Xaver Niemetschek[5], another biographer looking to publish a compendium of
Mozart's life. He published his biography in 1808, containing the following
claims about Mozart’s receipt of the Requiem commission:
- Mozart received the commission very shortly
before the Coronation of Emperor Leopold II, and before he received
the commission to go to Prague.
- He did not accept the messenger’s request
immediately; he wrote the commissioner and agreed to the project stating
his fee, but urging that he could not predict the time required to
complete the work.
- The same messenger appeared later, paying
Mozart the sum requested plus a note promising a bonus at the work’s
completion.
- He started composing the work upon his return
from Prague.
- He fell ill while writing the work
- He told Constanze "I am only too
conscious," he continued, "my end will not be long in coming:
for sure, someone has poisoned me! I cannot rid my mind of this
thought."
- Constanze thought that the Requiem was overstraining
him; she called the doctor and took away the score.
- On the day of his death he had the score
brought to his bed.
- The messenger took the unfinished Requiem
soon after Mozart’s death.
- Constanze never learned the commissioner’s
name.
This account, too, has fallen
under scrutiny and criticism for its accuracy. According to letters, Constanze
most certainly knew the name of the commissioner by the time this interview was
released in 1800.[5] Additionally, the Requiem was not given to the messenger
until some time after Mozart’s death.[4] This interview contains the only account of the claim
that Constanze took the Requiem away from Wolfgang for a significant duration
during his composition of it from Constanze herself[4]. Otherwise, the timeline provided in this account is
historically probable. However, the most highly accepted text attributed to
Constanze is the interview to her second husband, Georg Nikolaus von Nissen.[4] After Nissen’s death in 1826, Constanze released the
biography of Wolfgang (1828) that Nissen had compiled, which included this
interview. Nissen states:
- Mozart received the commission shortly before
the coronation of Emperor Leopold and before he received the commission to
go to Prague.
- He did not accept the messenger’s request immediately;
he wrote the commissioner and agreed to the project stating his fee, but
urging that he could not predict the time required to complete the work.
- The same messenger appeared later, paying
Mozart the sum requested plus a note promising a bonus at the work’s
completion.
- He started composing the work upon his return
from Prague.
The Nissen publication lacks
information following Mozart’s return from Prague.[4]
From the various accounts of
Constanze’s words, historians try to assemble the details of Mozart’s “Requiem”
commission and completion.
The autograph at
the 1958 World's Fair
The autograph of the Requiem
was placed on display at the World's Fair in 1958 in Brussels. At
some point during the fair, someone was able to gain access to the manuscript,
tearing off the bottom right-hand corner of the second to last page (folio
99r/45r), containing the words "Quam olim d: C:" (an instruction that
the "Quam olim" fugue of the Domine Jesu was to be repeated
"da capo", at the end of the Hostias). To this day the perpetrator
has not been identified and the fragment has not been recovered. [6]
If the most common authorship
theory is true, then "Quam olim d: C:" might very well be the last
words Mozart wrote before he died. It is probable that whoever stole the
fragment believed that to be the case.
Discography
Selected recordings,
alphabetically by conductor:
- Claudio
Abbado conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded live in
1999 and released in 1999 by Deutsche Grammophon.
- Daniel Barenboim conducting the Paris Symphony
Orchestra and Paris Symphony Chorus. Released in 1990 by EMI Classics.
Soloists are Kathleen Battle (Soprano), Ann Murray (Mezzo Soprano), David
Rendall (Tenor), Matti Salminen (Bass).
- Frieder
Bernius conducting the Stuttgart Baroque Ensemble. Recorded in
2000 and released in 2002 by Carus-verlag.
- Leonard Bernstein conducting the Bavarian
Radio Symphony Orchestra. Recorded in 1986 and released in 1989 by
Deutsche Grammophon.
- Karl
Böhm conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded in 1971
and released in 1975 by Deutsche Grammophon. Soloists are: Edith Mathis
(soprano), Julia Hamari (Alt), Wieslaw Ochman (tenor), Karl Ridderbusch
(Bass). Organist is Hans Haselböck.
- Sergiu Celibidache conducting the Munich
Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded live in 1995 and released in 2004 by EMI
Classics
- John Eliot Gardiner conducting the English
Baroque Soloists. Released in 1990 by Philips.
- Gregory
Glenn conducting the boys and girls choir of The Madeleine
Choir school with symphony in The Cathedral of the Madeleine.
- Carlo Maria Giulini conducting the
Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus(London). Released in 1979 by Angel.
- Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting the
Vienna Concentus Musicus. Recorded in 2003 and released in 2004 by
Deutsche Harmonia Mundi.
- Philippe Herreweghe conducting the
Orchestre des Champs Elysees. Recorded live in 1994 and released in 1997
by Harmonia Mundi.
- Christopher Hogwood conducting the Academy
of Ancient Music Chorus & Orchestra, and Westminster Cathedral Boys
Choir. Recorded in 1983 and released in 1984 by Editions de L'Oiseau-Lyre.
Performance of the Maunder completion.
- Herbert von Karajan conducting the
Berliner Philharmoniker. Recorded in 1975 on September 27 and 28 and
released on Deutsche Grammophon.
- Herbert von Karajan conducting the Wiener
Philharmoniker. Recorded in 1986 and released on Deutsche Grammophon.
Soloists are Anna Tomowa-Sintow (Soprano), Helga Müller
Molinari (Alt/contralto), Vinson
Cole (Tenor), Paata Burchuladze (Bass).
- Ton
Koopman conducting the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra. Recorded live in
1989 and released in 1990 by Erato-Disques.
- Zdenek
Kosler conducting the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded
in 1985 and released in 1986 by OPUS.
- Sir Neville Marriner conducting the Academy of
St. Martin in the Fields. Recorded in 1990 and released in 1991 by
Philips.
- Riccardo
Muti conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded in 1987
and released in 1987 by EMI Classics. Awarded a "Timbre de
Platine".
- Roger Norrington conducting The London
Classical Players & The Schutz Choir of London. Recorded in 1992 by
Emi Records for Virgin Classics Limited. Performance of the Druce
completion.
- Martin Pearlman conducting the Boston
Baroque. Recorded in 1995 and released on Telarc
Records. This was the first period instrument recording of the Robert
D. Levin completion.
- Helmuth
Rilling conducting the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart. Released in
1979/1987 by CBS Schallplatten GmbH/CBS Records. Rilling later re-recorded
the Requiem with the completion by Robert
D. Levin in 1991 for Hanssler Classic.
- Jordi
Savall conducting Le Concert des Nations and La Capella Reial de
Catalunya; Montserrat Figueras, Claudia Schubert, Gerd Türk, and Stephan
Schreckenberger, soloists. Released in 1992/1998 & 2000 by Astrée/Auvidis
Fontalis/Naïve.
- Peter
Schreier conducting the Dresden State Orchestra. Recorded in 1987 and
released in 1990 by Philips.
- Mikhail "Misha" Shtangrud conducted
the Burbank Chorale and a twenty-two piece orchestra on a 2006 recording
released by the Burbank Chorale. (LISTEN) [1][2]
- Robert Shaw conducting the Atlanta
Symphony Orchestra. Recorded in 1986 and released in 1990 by Telarc.
- Sir Georg
Solti conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded in 1991
and released in 1992 by Decca.
- Yuri
Temirkanov conducting the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra & Stat
Academic Russian Chorus. Recorded in 1983 and released in 1995 by Melodiya -
The Russian Label. Soloists are Nadezhda Krasnaya (Soprano), Evgenia
Gorokhovskaya (Mezzo Soprano), Yuri Marusin (Tenor), Sergei Leiferkus
(Bariton).
- Christian Thielemann conducting the
Munich Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded and released in 2006 by Deutsche
Grammophon.
- Jos van Veldhoven conducting The Netherlands
Bach Society. Recorded live in 2001 and released in 2002 by Channel
Classics.
- Bruno
Walter conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded in 1937.
First 20th-century recording.
- Bruno
Walter conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded live in
1956 and released in 1996 by Orfeo.
- Franz Welser-Möst conducting the London
Philharmonic Choir & Orchestra. Recorded in 1989 and released in 1990
by EMI Classics.
References
- ^ This is not verifiable by the sources
of the Neukloster in Wiener Neustadt!
- ^ Machlis, Joseph and Forney,
Kristine. "Mozart and Chamber Music." The Enjoyment of Music: An
Introduction to Perceptive Listening. 9th Ed. W.W. Norton & Company:
2003
- ^ Gregory Allen Robbins. "Mozart
& Salieri, Cain & Abel: A Cinematic Transformation of Genesis
4." Journal of Religion and Film: Vol. 1, No. 1 April 1997 Journal of Religion and
Film
- ^ a b c d e f g Landon, H. C. Robbins
(1988). 1791: Mozart's Last Year. New York: Schirmer
Books.
- ^ a b Steve Boerner (December
16, 2000).
"K. 626:
Requiem in D Minor". The Mozart Project.
- ^ Facsimile of
the manuscript's last page, showing the missing corner
Bibliography
- C. R. F. Maunder (1988). Mozart's Requiem: On Preparing a New
Edition. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN
0-19-316413-2.
- Christoph Wolff (1994). Mozart's Requiem: Historical and
Analytical Studies, Documents, Score. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN
0-520-07709-1.
- Brendan Cormican (1991). Mozart's death - Mozart's
requiem : an investigation. Belfast, Northern Ireland: Amadeus Press. ISBN
0-951-03570-3.
- Heinz Gärtner (1991). Constanze Mozart : after the
Requiem. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press. ISBN
0-931-34039-X.
Video Performances of Mozart's Requiem
Audio Performances
of Mozart's Requiem
Scores of Mozart's Requiem
- Requiem: Score
and critical
report (German) in the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe
- Eybler's and Süssmayr's amendments: Score
in the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe
- Requiem free scores in the Choral Public Domain Library
(ChoralWiki)
- Requiem: Free
scores at the International Music
Score Library Project.
- Dies irae (Choir)
- Tuba mirum (Soprano, Alto, Tenor
and Bass Solo)
- Rex tremendae majestatis (Choir)
- Recordare, Jesu pie (Soprano, Alto, Tenor
and Bass Solo)
- Confutatis maledictis (Choir)
- Lacrimosa dies illa (Choir)
- Domine Jesu Christe (Choir with Solo
Quartet)
- Versus: Hostias et preces (Choir)
- Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth (Choir)
- Benedictus (Solo Quartet then Choir)
- Lux aeterna (Choir)
The Requiem is scored for 2 basset
horns in F, 2 bassoons,
2 trumpets in
D, 3 trombones
(alto, tenor & bass), timpani (2 drums), , and violins, viola and basso
continuo (cello,
double
bass, and organ or harpsichord).
The vocal forces include soprano, alto, tenor,
and bass soloists
and an SATB mixed choir.
Composition and completion
At the time of Mozart's death on 5 December
1791 he had only
completed the opening movement (Requiem aeternam) in all of the
orchestral and vocal parts. The following Kyrie (a double fugue), and most of
the Sequence (from Dies Irae to Confutatis), is complete only in
the vocal parts and the continuo (the figured
organ bass), though occasionally some of the prominent orchestral parts have
been briefly indicated, such as the violin part of the Confutatis and
the musical bridges in the Recordare. The last movement of the Sequence,
the Lacrimosa, breaks off after only eight bars and was unfinished. The
following two movements of the Offertorium were again partially done -- the Domine
Jesu Christe in the vocal parts and continuo (up until the fugue, which contains
some indications of the violin part) and the Hostias in the vocal parts
only.
In the 1960s a sketch for an Amen
fugue was discovered, which some musicologists (Levin, Maunder) believe belongs
to the Requiem at the conclusion of the Sequence after the Lacrimosa. H.C. Robbins Landon argues that this Amen fugue
was not intended for the Requiem, rather that it "may have been for a
separate unfinished Mass in D minor" to which the Kyrie K341 also
belonged. There is, however, compelling evidence placing the "Amen
Fugue" in the Requiem based on current Mozart scholarship. Firstly, the
principal subject is comprised of the main theme of the requiem (stated at the
beginning, and throughout the work) in strict inversion. Secondly, it is found
on the same page as a sketch for the Rex Tremendae (together with a sketch for
the overture of his last opera The
Magic Flute), and thus surely dates from late 1791. The only place where
the word 'Amen' occurs in anything that Mozart wrote in late 1791 is in the
Sequence of the Requiem. Thirdly, as Levin points out in the foreword to his
completion of the Requiem, the addition of the Amen Fugue at the end of the
Sequence results in an overall design that ends each large section with a
fugue.
The eccentric count Franz
von Walsegg commissioned the Requiem from Mozart anonymously through
intermediaries acting on his behalf. The count, an amateur chamber musician who
routinely commissioned works by composers and passed them off as his own,
wanted a Requiem mass he could claim he composed to memorialize the recent
passing of his wife. Mozart received only half of the payment in advance, so
upon his death his widow Constanze was keen to have the work completed
secretly by someone else, submit it to the count as having been completed by
Mozart and collect the final payment. Joseph
von Eybler was one of the first composers to be asked to complete the
score, and had worked on the movements from the Dies irae up until the Lacrimosa.
In addition, a striking similarity between the openings of the Domine Jesu
Christe movements in the requiems of the two composers suggests that Eybler
at least looked at later sections. Following this work, he felt unable to
complete the remainder, and gave the manuscript back to Constanze Mozart.
The task was then given to
another composer, Franz Xaver Süssmayr, who had already helped
the ailing Mozart in writing the score, since in his final days the composer's
limbs had become extremely swollen. Süssmayr borrowed some of Eybler's work in
making his completion, and added his own orchestration to the movements from
the Dies Irae onward (the Kyrie was orchestrated before either Süssmayr or Eybler began
their work), completed the Lacrimosa, and added several new movements
which a Requiem would normally comprise: Sanctus, Benedictus, and
Agnus Dei. He then added a final section, Lux aeterna by adapting
the opening two movements which Mozart had written to the different words which
finish the Requiem Mass, which according to both Süssmayr and Mozart's wife was
done according to Mozart's directions. Whether or not that is true, some people
consider it unlikely that Mozart would have repeated the opening two sections
if he had survived to finish the work completely. However, the fact that the
work ends with a recapitulation of the first movement creates a work which,
overall, displays characteristics of sonata form,
which may help to authenticate the idea for the repetition of the first
movement as the final movement. As has often been stated, Mozart was not the
only composer to do this, and many requiems written before his repeat the first
movement as the last. (In regular Masses a similar practice existed where the
last movement, the Agnus Dei, was indicated only by the words "ut
Kyrie", "as the Kyrie".)
Other composers may have helped
Süssmayr. The elder composer Maximilian
Stadler is suspected of having completed the orchestration of the Domine
Jesu for Süssmayr. The Agnus Dei is suspected by some scholars[citation needed] to have been
based on instruction or sketches from Mozart because of its similarity to a
section from the Gloria of a previous Mass (K.220) by Mozart, as was first
pointed out by Richard Maunder. Many of the arguments dealing with this matter,
though, center on the perception that if part of the work is high quality, it
must have been written by Mozart (or from sketches), and if part of the work
contains errors and faults, it must have been all Süssmayr's doing. A frequent
meta-debate is whether or not this is a fair way to judge the authorship of the
parts of the work.
Another controversy is the
suggestion that Mozart left explicit instructions for the completion of the
Requiem on "little scraps of paper." It is commonly believed this
claim was made by Constanza Mozart after it was public knowledge that the
Requiem was actually completed by Süssmayr as a way to increase the impression
of authenticity.
The completed score, initially by
Mozart but largely finished by Süssmayr, was then dispatched to Count Walsegg
complete with a counterfeited signature of Mozart and dated 1792. The various
complete and incomplete manuscripts eventually turned up in the 19th century, but
many of the figures involved did not leave unambiguous statements on record as
to how they were involved in the affair. Despite the controversy over how much
of the music is actually Mozart's, the commonly performed Süssmayr version has
become widely accepted by the public. This acceptance is quite strong, even
when alternate completions provide logical and compelling solutions for the
work. A completion dating from 1819 by Sigismund Neukomm has recently been
recorded under the baton of Jean-Claude Malgoire. Salzburg-born Neukomm, a
student of Joseph Haydn, provided a concluding Libera me,
Domine for a performance of the Requiem on the feast of St Cecilia in Rio
de Janeiro at the behest of Nunes Garcia.
History of the
Requiem (timeline)
- February
14, 1791:
Anna, Count von Walsegg's wife, passed away at the
age of 20.
- mid-July: A messenger (probably Franz Anton
Leitgeb, the Count's steward) arrived with note asking Mozart to write a
Requiem Mass.
- mid-July: Commission from Domenico
Guardasoni, Impresario of the Prague National Theater to compose the
opera, La clemenza di Tito, for the festivities surrounding the
coronation on September 6 of Leopold II as King of Bohemia.
- August: Mozart works mainly on La clemenza di
Tito; completed by September 5.
- August 25: Mozart leaves for Prague.
- September 6: Mozart conducts premiere of La
clemenza di Tito.
- mid-September - September 28: Revision and
completion of The Magic Flute.
- September 30: Premiere of The Magic Flute.
- October 7: Completed concerto in A for
clarinet.
- October 8 - Nov. 20: Mozart worked on the
Requiem and a Cantata.
- November 20: Confined to the bed due to his
illness.
- December 5: Mozart died shortly after
midnight of acute rheumatic fever[citation needed].
- December 7: Burial in St. Marx Cemetery.
- December 10: Requiem performed in St. Michael
for a memorial for Mozart by the staff of the Theater auf der Wieden.
- early-March 1792: probably the time Süssmayr
finished the Requiem.
- January 2, 1793: Performance of Requiem for
Constanze's benefit arranged by Gottfried van Swieten.
- early December 1793: Requiem delivered to the
Count.
- December 14 1793: Requiem performed in the
memory of the Count's wife in the church at Wiener-Neustadt.[1]
- February 14, 1794: Requiem performed again in
Patronat Church at Maria-Schutz on Semmering
- 1799: Breitkopf & Hartel published the
Requiem.
- 1809: Requiem was performed at Haydn's
funeral on June 15 at Vienna
- 1825: Debates started over authorship of
Requiem.
- 1833: Eybler suffered stroke while conducting
a performance of Mozart's Requiem. He died in 1846.
Modern
completions
Since the 1970s several
musicologists, dissatisfied with the traditional "Süssmayr"
completion, have attempted alternative completions of the Requiem. These include
Franz
Beyer, Duncan
Druce, C.
Richard F. Maunder, H.C. Robbins Landon, Robert
D. Levin and Simon Andrews. Each version follows a distinct
methodology for completion; for example, the Beyer edition makes revisions to Süssmayr's orchestration in an attempt to
create a more Mozartian style, whereas Robbins Landon has chosen to orchestrate
parts of the completion using the partial work by Eybler, thinking that
Eybler's work is a more reliable guide of Mozart's intentions. Maunder's
edition dispenses completely with the parts known to be written by Süssmayr,
but retains the Agnus Dei after discovering an extensive paraphrase from
an earlier Mass (Kv.220). Andrews' and Levin's versions retain the structure of
Süssmayr while adjusting orchestration, voice leading and in some cases
rewriting entire sections in an effort to make the work more Mozartean. For
example, in the Levin and Andrews versions, the Sanctus fugue is completely
rewritten and reproprortioned and the Benedictus is restructured to allow for a
reprise of the Sanctus fugue in the key of D (rather than Süssmayr's use of B
flat).
Both Maunder and Levin use the
sketch for the Amen fugue discovered in the 1960s to compose a longer and more
substantial setting to the words "Amen" at the end of the Sequence.
In the Süssmayr version, "Amen" is set to the last two chords of the
Lacrimosa: the Andrews version uses the Süssmayr ending. Maunder and Levin
recompose the ending of the Lacrimosa to lead to an entire movement with
"Amen" as the text. Other authors have also attempted the completion.
Myths surrounding the Requiem
The Requiem has a complex
history, riddled with deception and manipulation of public opinion. The work
was commissioned by a count who wanted to pass off the work as his own[2],
so the circumstances of the commission were kept secret. Upon Mozart's death,
Constanze had the work completed by other composers, but to receive final
payment, their assistance had to remain a secret. At the same time, Constanze
wanted to present the work as having been written by Mozart to completion, so
as to receive revenue from the work. When it became known that others beside
Mozart had a hand in writing the Requiem, Constanze insisted that Mozart
left explicit instructions for the work's completion.
With all of these levels of
deceptions and secrets, it is inevitable that many myths would emerge with
respect to the circumstances of the work's completion. One series of myths
surrounding the Requiem involves the role Antonio
Salieri played in the commissioning and completion of the Requiem and in
Mozart's death generally. While the most recent retelling of this myth is Peter
Shaffer's play Amadeus and the movie
made from it, it is important to note that the source of misinformation was
actually a 19th century play by Alexander
Pushkin, Mozart and Salieri, which was turned into an opera by Rimsky-Korsakov and subsequently used as
the framework for Amadeus [3],
.
While Amadeus was never
intended to be historically accurate, many people have taken it as fact,
reawakening the myth started in the 19th century. The following explores myths
surrounding the Requiem.
Some of the most commonly held
myths about Mozart's Requiem are:
- Myth: Antonio Salieri commissioned the Requiem
from Mozart so it could be played at Mozart's own funeral after Salieri
poisoned the composer.
- Reality: The Requiem was actually commissioned by Franz von Walsegg so he could pass it off
as his own to memorialize the death of his wife. Count von Walsegg, an amateur musician,
often commissioned works by composers and performed them with friends in
musicales as his own. The count took the extra step of using a messenger
to take extra precautions to maintain confidentiality, given that this
event was much more public than the private musicales that he was
accustomed to using for representing "his" works.
- Myth: Antonio
Salieri helped to complete the Requiem on the deathbed of
Mozart.
- Reality: At Mozart's death, Constanze took on the
responsibility of the Requiem, engaging a series of composers to attempt
the completion, the last of which was Süssmayr. There is nothing to
suggest that Salieri had anything to do with any part of the Requiem.
This myth was incorporated into Pushkin's play, and in turn, the film
version of "Amadeus".
- Myth: Mozart actively worked on the Requiem
up to the moment he died.
- Reality: In the last days of his life he had become
too sick (his hands were swollen) to work on it any more. He did have the
Requiem (as far as it went) sung to him on one of his last days
(reportedly the Lacrimosa moved him to tears), and there is a report of
him trying to voice drum parts at the very end of his life, but the
notion of Mozart working through the night just before he died is not
accurate.
- Myth: It was played at Mozart's funeral.
- Reality: Mozart died in the early hours of December
5, 1791,
had a small funeral and was buried in an unmarked grave. A memorial
service on December 10, 1791 was
organized by Mozart's friend and librettist, Emanuel Schikaneder, at which one of the
completed movements (the Introitus) might have been performed; we do not
know what music was in fact played.
- Myth: Everything after the Lacrimosa was composed
by Süssmayr.
- Reality: Although the Lacrimosa breaks off
incomplete after 8 bars, as noted above, the vocal and continuo of the Domine
Jesu and the vocal parts of the Hostias are in Mozart's hand.
The complexity of the Domine Jesu, with its frequent use of counterpoint
and three fugues, would be very unlikely as the work of Süssmayr, given
the nature of the Hosanna fugue which he did compose.
- Myth: Mozart gave Süssmayr detailed instructions
on how to complete the Requiem.
- Reality: This myth was started by Constanze when
the fact that Mozart left the Requiem unfinished at his death became
public knowledge. To maximize the value of the Requiem, and improve
Constanze's security, the public had to believe that Mozart somehow
guided the entire work. Exactly what Mozart might have told Süssmayr
about the Requiem is not clear. Both Constanze and Süssmayr created the
myth of Mozart leaving "scraps of paper" with "detailed
instructions", but it was ultimately discovered that it was untrue.
She and Süssmayr stated that they were on other "scraps of
paper", but it was discovered that the remainder of the Requiem was
sketched out on blank manuscript.
- Myth: Süssmayr was Mozart's pupil.
- Reality: As with the "scraps of paper",
Constanze promoted Süssmayr as a pupil of Mozart to maximize the
perceived value of the Requiem after it became known that Mozart left the
Requiem unfinished at his death. Süssmayr was more of a colleague and
friend to the Mozarts and even accompanied Constanze on her spa trips in
1791. Süssmayr did not study with Mozart. There is discussion in some of
the sources cited in this article of the possibility that Süssmayr was
actually having an affair with Constanze, and that Constanze's initial
reluctance to engage Süssmayr to complete the Requiem upon Wolfgang's
death was due to a "lover's quarrel".
- Myth: The movie "Amadeus" created all
of the confusion surrounding the history of the Requiem
- Reality: The confusion between myth and reality
regarding the events surrounding the commission, composition, completion
and release of the Requiem stem from much earlier than the theater and
movie production of Amadeus. First of all, Amadeus in both
its movie and play forms, was based on Alexander Pushkin's play The
Little Tragedy of Mozart and Salieri, which contained many of the
falsehoods that were ultimately passed on in Amadeus.
Constanze Mozart
and the Requiem after Mozart's death
The confusion surrounding the
circumstances of the Requiem's composition was created in a large part by
Mozart's wife, Constanze. Constanze had a difficult task in front of her. She
had to keep secret the fact that the Requiem was unfinished at Mozart's death,
so she could collect the final payment from the commission. For a period of
time, she also needed to keep secret the fact that Mozart had anything to do
with the composition of the Requiem at all in order to allow Count Walsegg the
impression that he wrote the work. Once she received the commission, she needed
to carefully promote the work as Mozart's so she could continue to receive
revenue from the work's publication and performance. During this phase of the
Requiem's history, it was still important that the public accepted that Mozart
wrote the whole piece, as it would fetch larger sums from publishers and the
public if it were completely by Mozart.
It is Constanze's efforts that
created the flurry of half-truths and myths almost instantly after Mozart's
death. Source materials written soon after Mozart’s death contain serious
discrepancies which leave a level of subjectivity when assembling the
"facts" about Mozart’s composition of the Requiem. For
example, at least three of the conflicting sources, both dated within two
decades following Mozart’s death, cite Constanze
Mozart (Mozart’s wife) as their primary source of interview information. In
1798, Friedrich Rochlitz, the German biographical author and amateur composer,
published a set of Mozart anecdotes which he claimed to have collected during
his meeting with Constanze in 1796.[4] The Rochlitz publication makes the following statements:
- Mozart was unaware of his commissioner’s
identity at the time he accepted the project.
- He was not bound to any date of completion of
the work
- He stated that it would take him around four
weeks to complete.
- He requested, and received, 100 ducats at the
time of the first commissioning message.
- He began the project immediately after
receiving the commission.
- His health was poor from the outset; he
fainted multiple times while working
- He took a break from writing the work to
visit the Prater with his wife.
- He shared with his wife that for certain he
was writing this piece for his own funeral.
- He spoke of "very strange thoughts"
regarding the unpredicted appearance and commission of this unknown man.
- He noted that the departure of Leopold to
Prague for the coronation was approaching.
The most highly disputed of these
claims is the last one, the chronology of this setting. According to Rochlitz,
the messenger arrives quite some time before the departure of Leopold for the
coronation, yet we have record of his departure occurring in mid-July 1791.
However, Constanze was in Baden during all of June to mid-July, she would not
have been present for the commission or the drive they were said to have taken
together.[4] Furthermore, The
Magic Flute (except for the Overture and March of the Priests) was
completed by mid-July. La Clemenza Di Tito was commissioned by
mid-July.[4] There was no time for Mozart to work on the Requiem on
the large scale indicated by the Rochlitz publication in the time frame
provided.
Also in 1798, Constanze is noted
to have given another interview to Franz Xaver Niemetschek[5], another biographer looking to publish a compendium of
Mozart's life. He published his biography in 1808, containing the following
claims about Mozart’s receipt of the Requiem commission:
- Mozart received the commission very shortly
before the Coronation of Emperor Leopold II, and before he received
the commission to go to Prague.
- He did not accept the messenger’s request
immediately; he wrote the commissioner and agreed to the project stating
his fee, but urging that he could not predict the time required to
complete the work.
- The same messenger appeared later, paying
Mozart the sum requested plus a note promising a bonus at the work’s
completion.
- He started composing the work upon his return
from Prague.
- He fell ill while writing the work
- He told Constanze "I am only too
conscious," he continued, "my end will not be long in coming:
for sure, someone has poisoned me! I cannot rid my mind of this
thought."
- Constanze thought that the Requiem was overstraining
him; she called the doctor and took away the score.
- On the day of his death he had the score
brought to his bed.
- The messenger took the unfinished Requiem
soon after Mozart’s death.
- Constanze never learned the commissioner’s
name.
This account, too, has fallen
under scrutiny and criticism for its accuracy. According to letters, Constanze
most certainly knew the name of the commissioner by the time this interview was
released in 1800.[5] Additionally, the Requiem was not given to the messenger
until some time after Mozart’s death.[4] This interview contains the only account of the claim
that Constanze took the Requiem away from Wolfgang for a significant duration
during his composition of it from Constanze herself[4]. Otherwise, the timeline provided in this account is
historically probable. However, the most highly accepted text attributed to
Constanze is the interview to her second husband, Georg Nikolaus von Nissen.[4] After Nissen’s death in 1826, Constanze released the
biography of Wolfgang (1828) that Nissen had compiled, which included this
interview. Nissen states:
- Mozart received the commission shortly before
the coronation of Emperor Leopold and before he received the commission to
go to Prague.
- He did not accept the messenger’s request immediately;
he wrote the commissioner and agreed to the project stating his fee, but
urging that he could not predict the time required to complete the work.
- The same messenger appeared later, paying
Mozart the sum requested plus a note promising a bonus at the work’s
completion.
- He started composing the work upon his return
from Prague.
The Nissen publication lacks
information following Mozart’s return from Prague.[4]
From the various accounts of
Constanze’s words, historians try to assemble the details of Mozart’s “Requiem”
commission and completion.
The autograph at
the 1958 World's Fair
The autograph of the Requiem
was placed on display at the World's Fair in 1958 in Brussels. At
some point during the fair, someone was able to gain access to the manuscript,
tearing off the bottom right-hand corner of the second to last page (folio
99r/45r), containing the words "Quam olim d: C:" (an instruction that
the "Quam olim" fugue of the Domine Jesu was to be repeated
"da capo", at the end of the Hostias). To this day the perpetrator
has not been identified and the fragment has not been recovered. [6]
If the most common authorship
theory is true, then "Quam olim d: C:" might very well be the last
words Mozart wrote before he died. It is probable that whoever stole the
fragment believed that to be the case.
Discography
Selected recordings,
alphabetically by conductor:
- Claudio
Abbado conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded live in
1999 and released in 1999 by Deutsche Grammophon.
- Daniel Barenboim conducting the Paris Symphony
Orchestra and Paris Symphony Chorus. Released in 1990 by EMI Classics.
Soloists are Kathleen Battle (Soprano), Ann Murray (Mezzo Soprano), David
Rendall (Tenor), Matti Salminen (Bass).
- Frieder
Bernius conducting the Stuttgart Baroque Ensemble. Recorded in
2000 and released in 2002 by Carus-verlag.
- Leonard Bernstein conducting the Bavarian
Radio Symphony Orchestra. Recorded in 1986 and released in 1989 by
Deutsche Grammophon.
- Karl
Böhm conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded in 1971
and released in 1975 by Deutsche Grammophon. Soloists are: Edith Mathis
(soprano), Julia Hamari (Alt), Wieslaw Ochman (tenor), Karl Ridderbusch
(Bass). Organist is Hans Haselböck.
- Sergiu Celibidache conducting the Munich
Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded live in 1995 and released in 2004 by EMI
Classics
- John Eliot Gardiner conducting the English
Baroque Soloists. Released in 1990 by Philips.
- Gregory
Glenn conducting the boys and girls choir of The Madeleine
Choir school with symphony in The Cathedral of the Madeleine.
- Carlo Maria Giulini conducting the
Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus(London). Released in 1979 by Angel.
- Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting the
Vienna Concentus Musicus. Recorded in 2003 and released in 2004 by
Deutsche Harmonia Mundi.
- Philippe Herreweghe conducting the
Orchestre des Champs Elysees. Recorded live in 1994 and released in 1997
by Harmonia Mundi.
- Christopher Hogwood conducting the Academy
of Ancient Music Chorus & Orchestra, and Westminster Cathedral Boys
Choir. Recorded in 1983 and released in 1984 by Editions de L'Oiseau-Lyre.
Performance of the Maunder completion.
- Herbert von Karajan conducting the
Berliner Philharmoniker. Recorded in 1975 on September 27 and 28 and
released on Deutsche Grammophon.
- Herbert von Karajan conducting the Wiener
Philharmoniker. Recorded in 1986 and released on Deutsche Grammophon.
Soloists are Anna Tomowa-Sintow (Soprano), Helga Müller
Molinari (Alt/contralto), Vinson
Cole (Tenor), Paata Burchuladze (Bass).
- Ton
Koopman conducting the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra. Recorded live in
1989 and released in 1990 by Erato-Disques.
- Zdenek
Kosler conducting the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded
in 1985 and released in 1986 by OPUS.
- Sir Neville Marriner conducting the Academy of
St. Martin in the Fields. Recorded in 1990 and released in 1991 by
Philips.
- Riccardo
Muti conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded in 1987
and released in 1987 by EMI Classics. Awarded a "Timbre de
Platine".
- Roger Norrington conducting The London
Classical Players & The Schutz Choir of London. Recorded in 1992 by
Emi Records for Virgin Classics Limited. Performance of the Druce
completion.
- Martin Pearlman conducting the Boston
Baroque. Recorded in 1995 and released on Telarc
Records. This was the first period instrument recording of the Robert
D. Levin completion.
- Helmuth
Rilling conducting the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart. Released in
1979/1987 by CBS Schallplatten GmbH/CBS Records. Rilling later re-recorded
the Requiem with the completion by Robert
D. Levin in 1991 for Hanssler Classic.
- Jordi
Savall conducting Le Concert des Nations and La Capella Reial de
Catalunya; Montserrat Figueras, Claudia Schubert, Gerd Türk, and Stephan
Schreckenberger, soloists. Released in 1992/1998 & 2000 by Astrée/Auvidis
Fontalis/Naïve.
- Peter
Schreier conducting the Dresden State Orchestra. Recorded in 1987 and
released in 1990 by Philips.
- Mikhail "Misha" Shtangrud conducted
the Burbank Chorale and a twenty-two piece orchestra on a 2006 recording
released by the Burbank Chorale. (LISTEN) [1][2]
- Robert Shaw conducting the Atlanta
Symphony Orchestra. Recorded in 1986 and released in 1990 by Telarc.
- Sir Georg
Solti conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded in 1991
and released in 1992 by Decca.
- Yuri
Temirkanov conducting the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra & Stat
Academic Russian Chorus. Recorded in 1983 and released in 1995 by Melodiya -
The Russian Label. Soloists are Nadezhda Krasnaya (Soprano), Evgenia
Gorokhovskaya (Mezzo Soprano), Yuri Marusin (Tenor), Sergei Leiferkus
(Bariton).
- Christian Thielemann conducting the
Munich Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded and released in 2006 by Deutsche
Grammophon.
- Jos van Veldhoven conducting The Netherlands
Bach Society. Recorded live in 2001 and released in 2002 by Channel
Classics.
- Bruno
Walter conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded in 1937.
First 20th-century recording.
- Bruno
Walter conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded live in
1956 and released in 1996 by Orfeo.
- Franz Welser-Möst conducting the London
Philharmonic Choir & Orchestra. Recorded in 1989 and released in 1990
by EMI Classics.
References
- ^ This is not verifiable by the sources
of the Neukloster in Wiener Neustadt!
- ^ Machlis, Joseph and Forney,
Kristine. "Mozart and Chamber Music." The Enjoyment of Music: An
Introduction to Perceptive Listening. 9th Ed. W.W. Norton & Company:
2003
- ^ Gregory Allen Robbins. "Mozart
& Salieri, Cain & Abel: A Cinematic Transformation of Genesis
4." Journal of Religion and Film: Vol. 1, No. 1 April 1997 Journal of Religion and
Film
- ^ a b c d e f g Landon, H. C. Robbins
(1988). 1791: Mozart's Last Year. New York: Schirmer
Books.
- ^ a b Steve Boerner (December
16, 2000).
"K. 626:
Requiem in D Minor". The Mozart Project.
- ^ Facsimile of
the manuscript's last page, showing the missing corner
Bibliography
- C. R. F. Maunder (1988). Mozart's Requiem: On Preparing a New
Edition. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN
0-19-316413-2.
- Christoph Wolff (1994). Mozart's Requiem: Historical and
Analytical Studies, Documents, Score. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN
0-520-07709-1.
- Brendan Cormican (1991). Mozart's death - Mozart's
requiem : an investigation. Belfast, Northern Ireland: Amadeus Press. ISBN
0-951-03570-3.
- Heinz Gärtner (1991). Constanze Mozart : after the
Requiem. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press. ISBN
0-931-34039-X.
Video Performances of Mozart's Requiem
Audio Performances
of Mozart's Requiem
Scores of Mozart's Requiem
- Requiem: Score
and critical
report (German) in the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe
- Eybler's and Süssmayr's amendments: Score
in the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe
- Requiem free scores in the Choral Public Domain Library
(ChoralWiki)
- Requiem: Free
scores at the International Music
Score Library Project.
Requiem (timeline)
- February
14, 1791:
Anna, Count von Walsegg's wife, passed away at the
age of 20.
- mid-July: A messenger (probably Franz Anton
Leitgeb, the Count's steward) arrived with note asking Mozart to write a
Requiem Mass.
- mid-July: Commission from Domenico
Guardasoni, Impresario of the Prague National Theater to compose the
opera, La clemenza di Tito, for the festivities surrounding the
coronation on September 6 of Leopold II as King of Bohemia.
- August: Mozart works mainly on La clemenza di
Tito; completed by September 5.
- August 25: Mozart leaves for Prague.
- September 6: Mozart conducts premiere of La
clemenza di Tito.
- mid-September - September 28: Revision and
completion of The Magic Flute.
- September 30: Premiere of The Magic Flute.
- October 7: Completed concerto in A for
clarinet.
- October 8 - Nov. 20: Mozart worked on the
Requiem and a Cantata.
- November 20: Confined to the bed due to his
illness.
- December 5: Mozart died shortly after
midnight of acute rheumatic fever[citation needed].
- December 7: Burial in St. Marx Cemetery.
- December 10: Requiem performed in St. Michael
for a memorial for Mozart by the staff of the Theater auf der Wieden.
- early-March 1792: probably the time Süssmayr
finished the Requiem.
- January 2, 1793: Performance of Requiem for
Constanze's benefit arranged by Gottfried van Swieten.
- early December 1793: Requiem delivered to the
Count.
- December 14 1793: Requiem performed in the
memory of the Count's wife in the church at Wiener-Neustadt.[1]
- February 14, 1794: Requiem performed again in
Patronat Church at Maria-Schutz on Semmering
- 1799: Breitkopf & Hartel published the
Requiem.
- 1809: Requiem was performed at Haydn's
funeral on June 15 at Vienna
- 1825: Debates started over authorship of
Requiem.
- 1833: Eybler suffered stroke while conducting
a performance of Mozart's Requiem. He died in 1846.
Modern
completions
Since the 1970s several
musicologists, dissatisfied with the traditional "Süssmayr"
completion, have attempted alternative completions of the Requiem. These include
Franz
Beyer, Duncan
Druce, C.
Richard F. Maunder, H.C. Robbins Landon, Robert
D. Levin and Simon Andrews. Each version follows a distinct
methodology for completion; for example, the Beyer edition makes revisions to Süssmayr's orchestration in an attempt to
create a more Mozartian style, whereas Robbins Landon has chosen to orchestrate
parts of the completion using the partial work by Eybler, thinking that
Eybler's work is a more reliable guide of Mozart's intentions. Maunder's
edition dispenses completely with the parts known to be written by Süssmayr,
but retains the Agnus Dei after discovering an extensive paraphrase from
an earlier Mass (Kv.220). Andrews' and Levin's versions retain the structure of
Süssmayr while adjusting orchestration, voice leading and in some cases
rewriting entire sections in an effort to make the work more Mozartean. For
example, in the Levin and Andrews versions, the Sanctus fugue is completely
rewritten and reproprortioned and the Benedictus is restructured to allow for a
reprise of the Sanctus fugue in the key of D (rather than Süssmayr's use of B
flat).
Both Maunder and Levin use the
sketch for the Amen fugue discovered in the 1960s to compose a longer and more
substantial setting to the words "Amen" at the end of the Sequence.
In the Süssmayr version, "Amen" is set to the last two chords of the
Lacrimosa: the Andrews version uses the Süssmayr ending. Maunder and Levin
recompose the ending of the Lacrimosa to lead to an entire movement with
"Amen" as the text. Other authors have also attempted the completion.
Myths surrounding the Requiem
The Requiem has a complex
history, riddled with deception and manipulation of public opinion. The work
was commissioned by a count who wanted to pass off the work as his own[2],
so the circumstances of the commission were kept secret. Upon Mozart's death,
Constanze had the work completed by other composers, but to receive final
payment, their assistance had to remain a secret. At the same time, Constanze
wanted to present the work as having been written by Mozart to completion, so
as to receive revenue from the work. When it became known that others beside
Mozart had a hand in writing the Requiem, Constanze insisted that Mozart
left explicit instructions for the work's completion.
With all of these levels of
deceptions and secrets, it is inevitable that many myths would emerge with
respect to the circumstances of the work's completion. One series of myths
surrounding the Requiem involves the role Antonio
Salieri played in the commissioning and completion of the Requiem and in
Mozart's death generally. While the most recent retelling of this myth is Peter
Shaffer's play Amadeus and the movie
made from it, it is important to note that the source of misinformation was
actually a 19th century play by Alexander
Pushkin, Mozart and Salieri, which was turned into an opera by Rimsky-Korsakov and subsequently used as
the framework for Amadeus [3],
.
While Amadeus was never
intended to be historically accurate, many people have taken it as fact,
reawakening the myth started in the 19th century. The following explores myths
surrounding the Requiem.
Some of the most commonly held
myths about Mozart's Requiem are:
- Myth: Antonio Salieri commissioned the Requiem
from Mozart so it could be played at Mozart's own funeral after Salieri
poisoned the composer.
- Reality: The Requiem was actually commissioned by Franz von Walsegg so he could pass it off
as his own to memorialize the death of his wife. Count von Walsegg, an amateur musician,
often commissioned works by composers and performed them with friends in
musicales as his own. The count took the extra step of using a messenger
to take extra precautions to maintain confidentiality, given that this
event was much more public than the private musicales that he was
accustomed to using for representing "his" works.
- Myth: Antonio
Salieri helped to complete the Requiem on the deathbed of
Mozart.
- Reality: At Mozart's death, Constanze took on the
responsibility of the Requiem, engaging a series of composers to attempt
the completion, the last of which was Süssmayr. There is nothing to
suggest that Salieri had anything to do with any part of the Requiem.
This myth was incorporated into Pushkin's play, and in turn, the film
version of "Amadeus".
- Myth: Mozart actively worked on the Requiem
up to the moment he died.
- Reality: In the last days of his life he had become
too sick (his hands were swollen) to work on it any more. He did have the
Requiem (as far as it went) sung to him on one of his last days
(reportedly the Lacrimosa moved him to tears), and there is a report of
him trying to voice drum parts at the very end of his life, but the
notion of Mozart working through the night just before he died is not
accurate.
- Myth: It was played at Mozart's funeral.
- Reality: Mozart died in the early hours of December
5, 1791,
had a small funeral and was buried in an unmarked grave. A memorial
service on December 10, 1791 was
organized by Mozart's friend and librettist, Emanuel Schikaneder, at which one of the
completed movements (the Introitus) might have been performed; we do not
know what music was in fact played.
- Myth: Everything after the Lacrimosa was composed
by Süssmayr.
- Reality: Although the Lacrimosa breaks off
incomplete after 8 bars, as noted above, the vocal and continuo of the Domine
Jesu and the vocal parts of the Hostias are in Mozart's hand.
The complexity of the Domine Jesu, with its frequent use of counterpoint
and three fugues, would be very unlikely as the work of Süssmayr, given
the nature of the Hosanna fugue which he did compose.
- Myth: Mozart gave Süssmayr detailed instructions
on how to complete the Requiem.
- Reality: This myth was started by Constanze when
the fact that Mozart left the Requiem unfinished at his death became
public knowledge. To maximize the value of the Requiem, and improve
Constanze's security, the public had to believe that Mozart somehow
guided the entire work. Exactly what Mozart might have told Süssmayr
about the Requiem is not clear. Both Constanze and Süssmayr created the
myth of Mozart leaving "scraps of paper" with "detailed
instructions", but it was ultimately discovered that it was untrue.
She and Süssmayr stated that they were on other "scraps of
paper", but it was discovered that the remainder of the Requiem was
sketched out on blank manuscript.
- Myth: Süssmayr was Mozart's pupil.
- Reality: As with the "scraps of paper",
Constanze promoted Süssmayr as a pupil of Mozart to maximize the
perceived value of the Requiem after it became known that Mozart left the
Requiem unfinished at his death. Süssmayr was more of a colleague and
friend to the Mozarts and even accompanied Constanze on her spa trips in
1791. Süssmayr did not study with Mozart. There is discussion in some of
the sources cited in this article of the possibility that Süssmayr was
actually having an affair with Constanze, and that Constanze's initial
reluctance to engage Süssmayr to complete the Requiem upon Wolfgang's
death was due to a "lover's quarrel".
- Myth: The movie "Amadeus" created all
of the confusion surrounding the history of the Requiem
- Reality: The confusion between myth and reality
regarding the events surrounding the commission, composition, completion
and release of the Requiem stem from much earlier than the theater and
movie production of Amadeus. First of all, Amadeus in both
its movie and play forms, was based on Alexander Pushkin's play The
Little Tragedy of Mozart and Salieri, which contained many of the
falsehoods that were ultimately passed on in Amadeus.
Constanze Mozart
and the Requiem after Mozart's death
The confusion surrounding the
circumstances of the Requiem's composition was created in a large part by
Mozart's wife, Constanze. Constanze had a difficult task in front of her. She
had to keep secret the fact that the Requiem was unfinished at Mozart's death,
so she could collect the final payment from the commission. For a period of
time, she also needed to keep secret the fact that Mozart had anything to do
with the composition of the Requiem at all in order to allow Count Walsegg the
impression that he wrote the work. Once she received the commission, she needed
to carefully promote the work as Mozart's so she could continue to receive
revenue from the work's publication and performance. During this phase of the
Requiem's history, it was still important that the public accepted that Mozart
wrote the whole piece, as it would fetch larger sums from publishers and the
public if it were completely by Mozart.
It is Constanze's efforts that
created the flurry of half-truths and myths almost instantly after Mozart's
death. Source materials written soon after Mozart’s death contain serious
discrepancies which leave a level of subjectivity when assembling the
"facts" about Mozart’s composition of the Requiem. For
example, at least three of the conflicting sources, both dated within two
decades following Mozart’s death, cite Constanze
Mozart (Mozart’s wife) as their primary source of interview information. In
1798, Friedrich Rochlitz, the German biographical author and amateur composer,
published a set of Mozart anecdotes which he claimed to have collected during
his meeting with Constanze in 1796.[4] The Rochlitz publication makes the following statements:
- Mozart was unaware of his commissioner’s
identity at the time he accepted the project.
- He was not bound to any date of completion of
the work
- He stated that it would take him around four
weeks to complete.
- He requested, and received, 100 ducats at the
time of the first commissioning message.
- He began the project immediately after
receiving the commission.
- His health was poor from the outset; he
fainted multiple times while working
- He took a break from writing the work to
visit the Prater with his wife.
- He shared with his wife that for certain he
was writing this piece for his own funeral.
- He spoke of "very strange thoughts"
regarding the unpredicted appearance and commission of this unknown man.
- He noted that the departure of Leopold to
Prague for the coronation was approaching.
The most highly disputed of these
claims is the last one, the chronology of this setting. According to Rochlitz,
the messenger arrives quite some time before the departure of Leopold for the
coronation, yet we have record of his departure occurring in mid-July 1791.
However, Constanze was in Baden during all of June to mid-July, she would not
have been present for the commission or the drive they were said to have taken
together.[4] Furthermore, The
Magic Flute (except for the Overture and March of the Priests) was
completed by mid-July. La Clemenza Di Tito was commissioned by
mid-July.[4] There was no time for Mozart to work on the Requiem on
the large scale indicated by the Rochlitz publication in the time frame
provided.
Also in 1798, Constanze is noted
to have given another interview to Franz Xaver Niemetschek[5], another biographer looking to publish a compendium of
Mozart's life. He published his biography in 1808, containing the following
claims about Mozart’s receipt of the Requiem commission:
- Mozart received the commission very shortly
before the Coronation of Emperor Leopold II, and before he received
the commission to go to Prague.
- He did not accept the messenger’s request
immediately; he wrote the commissioner and agreed to the project stating
his fee, but urging that he could not predict the time required to
complete the work.
- The same messenger appeared later, paying
Mozart the sum requested plus a note promising a bonus at the work’s
completion.
- He started composing the work upon his return
from Prague.
- He fell ill while writing the work
- He told Constanze "I am only too
conscious," he continued, "my end will not be long in coming:
for sure, someone has poisoned me! I cannot rid my mind of this
thought."
- Constanze thought that the Requiem was overstraining
him; she called the doctor and took away the score.
- On the day of his death he had the score
brought to his bed.
- The messenger took the unfinished Requiem
soon after Mozart’s death.
- Constanze never learned the commissioner’s
name.
This account, too, has fallen
under scrutiny and criticism for its accuracy. According to letters, Constanze
most certainly knew the name of the commissioner by the time this interview was
released in 1800.[5] Additionally, the Requiem was not given to the messenger
until some time after Mozart’s death.[4] This interview contains the only account of the claim
that Constanze took the Requiem away from Wolfgang for a significant duration
during his composition of it from Constanze herself[4]. Otherwise, the timeline provided in this account is
historically probable. However, the most highly accepted text attributed to
Constanze is the interview to her second husband, Georg Nikolaus von Nissen.[4] After Nissen’s death in 1826, Constanze released the
biography of Wolfgang (1828) that Nissen had compiled, which included this
interview. Nissen states:
- Mozart received the commission shortly before
the coronation of Emperor Leopold and before he received the commission to
go to Prague.
- He did not accept the messenger’s request immediately;
he wrote the commissioner and agreed to the project stating his fee, but
urging that he could not predict the time required to complete the work.
- The same messenger appeared later, paying
Mozart the sum requested plus a note promising a bonus at the work’s
completion.
- He started composing the work upon his return
from Prague.
The Nissen publication lacks
information following Mozart’s return from Prague.[4]
From the various accounts of
Constanze’s words, historians try to assemble the details of Mozart’s “Requiem”
commission and completion.
The autograph at
the 1958 World's Fair
The autograph of the Requiem
was placed on display at the World's Fair in 1958 in Brussels. At
some point during the fair, someone was able to gain access to the manuscript,
tearing off the bottom right-hand corner of the second to last page (folio
99r/45r), containing the words "Quam olim d: C:" (an instruction that
the "Quam olim" fugue of the Domine Jesu was to be repeated
"da capo", at the end of the Hostias). To this day the perpetrator
has not been identified and the fragment has not been recovered. [6]
If the most common authorship
theory is true, then "Quam olim d: C:" might very well be the last
words Mozart wrote before he died. It is probable that whoever stole the
fragment believed that to be the case.
Discography
Selected recordings,
alphabetically by conductor:
- Claudio
Abbado conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded live in
1999 and released in 1999 by Deutsche Grammophon.
- Daniel Barenboim conducting the Paris Symphony
Orchestra and Paris Symphony Chorus. Released in 1990 by EMI Classics.
Soloists are Kathleen Battle (Soprano), Ann Murray (Mezzo Soprano), David
Rendall (Tenor), Matti Salminen (Bass).
- Frieder
Bernius conducting the Stuttgart Baroque Ensemble. Recorded in
2000 and released in 2002 by Carus-verlag.
- Leonard Bernstein conducting the Bavarian
Radio Symphony Orchestra. Recorded in 1986 and released in 1989 by
Deutsche Grammophon.
- Karl
Böhm conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded in 1971
and released in 1975 by Deutsche Grammophon. Soloists are: Edith Mathis
(soprano), Julia Hamari (Alt), Wieslaw Ochman (tenor), Karl Ridderbusch
(Bass). Organist is Hans Haselböck.
- Sergiu Celibidache conducting the Munich
Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded live in 1995 and released in 2004 by EMI
Classics
- John Eliot Gardiner conducting the English
Baroque Soloists. Released in 1990 by Philips.
- Gregory
Glenn conducting the boys and girls choir of The Madeleine
Choir school with symphony in The Cathedral of the Madeleine.
- Carlo Maria Giulini conducting the
Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus(London). Released in 1979 by Angel.
- Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting the
Vienna Concentus Musicus. Recorded in 2003 and released in 2004 by
Deutsche Harmonia Mundi.
- Philippe Herreweghe conducting the
Orchestre des Champs Elysees. Recorded live in 1994 and released in 1997
by Harmonia Mundi.
- Christopher Hogwood conducting the Academy
of Ancient Music Chorus & Orchestra, and Westminster Cathedral Boys
Choir. Recorded in 1983 and released in 1984 by Editions de L'Oiseau-Lyre.
Performance of the Maunder completion.
- Herbert von Karajan conducting the
Berliner Philharmoniker. Recorded in 1975 on September 27 and 28 and
released on Deutsche Grammophon.
- Herbert von Karajan conducting the Wiener
Philharmoniker. Recorded in 1986 and released on Deutsche Grammophon.
Soloists are Anna Tomowa-Sintow (Soprano), Helga Müller
Molinari (Alt/contralto), Vinson
Cole (Tenor), Paata Burchuladze (Bass).
- Ton
Koopman conducting the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra. Recorded live in
1989 and released in 1990 by Erato-Disques.
- Zdenek
Kosler conducting the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded
in 1985 and released in 1986 by OPUS.
- Sir Neville Marriner conducting the Academy of
St. Martin in the Fields. Recorded in 1990 and released in 1991 by
Philips.
- Riccardo
Muti conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded in 1987
and released in 1987 by EMI Classics. Awarded a "Timbre de
Platine".
- Roger Norrington conducting The London
Classical Players & The Schutz Choir of London. Recorded in 1992 by
Emi Records for Virgin Classics Limited. Performance of the Druce
completion.
- Martin Pearlman conducting the Boston
Baroque. Recorded in 1995 and released on Telarc
Records. This was the first period instrument recording of the Robert
D. Levin completion.
- Helmuth
Rilling conducting the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart. Released in
1979/1987 by CBS Schallplatten GmbH/CBS Records. Rilling later re-recorded
the Requiem with the completion by Robert
D. Levin in 1991 for Hanssler Classic.
- Jordi
Savall conducting Le Concert des Nations and La Capella Reial de
Catalunya; Montserrat Figueras, Claudia Schubert, Gerd Türk, and Stephan
Schreckenberger, soloists. Released in 1992/1998 & 2000 by Astrée/Auvidis
Fontalis/Naïve.
- Peter
Schreier conducting the Dresden State Orchestra. Recorded in 1987 and
released in 1990 by Philips.
- Mikhail "Misha" Shtangrud conducted
the Burbank Chorale and a twenty-two piece orchestra on a 2006 recording
released by the Burbank Chorale. (LISTEN) [1][2]
- Robert Shaw conducting the Atlanta
Symphony Orchestra. Recorded in 1986 and released in 1990 by Telarc.
- Sir Georg
Solti conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded in 1991
and released in 1992 by Decca.
- Yuri
Temirkanov conducting the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra & Stat
Academic Russian Chorus. Recorded in 1983 and released in 1995 by Melodiya -
The Russian Label. Soloists are Nadezhda Krasnaya (Soprano), Evgenia
Gorokhovskaya (Mezzo Soprano), Yuri Marusin (Tenor), Sergei Leiferkus
(Bariton).
- Christian Thielemann conducting the
Munich Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded and released in 2006 by Deutsche
Grammophon.
- Jos van Veldhoven conducting The Netherlands
Bach Society. Recorded live in 2001 and released in 2002 by Channel
Classics.
- Bruno
Walter conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded in 1937.
First 20th-century recording.
- Bruno
Walter conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded live in
1956 and released in 1996 by Orfeo.
- Franz Welser-Möst conducting the London
Philharmonic Choir & Orchestra. Recorded in 1989 and released in 1990
by EMI Classics.
References
- ^ This is not verifiable by the sources
of the Neukloster in Wiener Neustadt!
- ^ Machlis, Joseph and Forney,
Kristine. "Mozart and Chamber Music." The Enjoyment of Music: An
Introduction to Perceptive Listening. 9th Ed. W.W. Norton & Company:
2003
- ^ Gregory Allen Robbins. "Mozart
& Salieri, Cain & Abel: A Cinematic Transformation of Genesis
4." Journal of Religion and Film: Vol. 1, No. 1 April 1997 Journal of Religion and
Film
- ^ a b c d e f g Landon, H. C. Robbins
(1988). 1791: Mozart's Last Year. New York: Schirmer
Books.
- ^ a b Steve Boerner (December
16, 2000).
"K. 626:
Requiem in D Minor". The Mozart Project.
- ^ Facsimile of
the manuscript's last page, showing the missing corner
Bibliography
- C. R. F. Maunder (1988). Mozart's Requiem: On Preparing a New
Edition. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN
0-19-316413-2.
- Christoph Wolff (1994). Mozart's Requiem: Historical and
Analytical Studies, Documents, Score. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN
0-520-07709-1.
- Brendan Cormican (1991). Mozart's death - Mozart's
requiem : an investigation. Belfast, Northern Ireland: Amadeus Press. ISBN
0-951-03570-3.
- Heinz Gärtner (1991). Constanze Mozart : after the
Requiem. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press. ISBN
0-931-34039-X.
Video Performances of Mozart's Requiem
Audio Performances
of Mozart's Requiem
Scores of Mozart's Requiem
- Requiem: Score
and critical
report (German) in the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe
- Eybler's and Süssmayr's amendments: Score
in the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe
- Requiem free scores in the Choral Public Domain Library
(ChoralWiki)
- Requiem: Free
scores at the International Music
Score Library Project.
The Requiem has a complex
history, riddled with deception and manipulation of public opinion. The work
was commissioned by a count who wanted to pass off the work as his own[2],
so the circumstances of the commission were kept secret. Upon Mozart's death,
Constanze had the work completed by other composers, but to receive final
payment, their assistance had to remain a secret. At the same time, Constanze
wanted to present the work as having been written by Mozart to completion, so
as to receive revenue from the work. When it became known that others beside
Mozart had a hand in writing the Requiem, Constanze insisted that Mozart
left explicit instructions for the work's completion.
With all of these levels of
deceptions and secrets, it is inevitable that many myths would emerge with
respect to the circumstances of the work's completion. One series of myths
surrounding the Requiem involves the role Antonio
Salieri played in the commissioning and completion of the Requiem and in
Mozart's death generally. While the most recent retelling of this myth is Peter
Shaffer's play Amadeus and the movie
made from it, it is important to note that the source of misinformation was
actually a 19th century play by Alexander
Pushkin, Mozart and Salieri, which was turned into an opera by Rimsky-Korsakov and subsequently used as
the framework for Amadeus [3],
.
While Amadeus was never
intended to be historically accurate, many people have taken it as fact,
reawakening the myth started in the 19th century. The following explores myths
surrounding the Requiem.
Some of the most commonly held
myths about Mozart's Requiem are:
- Myth: Antonio Salieri commissioned the Requiem
from Mozart so it could be played at Mozart's own funeral after Salieri
poisoned the composer.
- Reality: The Requiem was actually commissioned by Franz von Walsegg so he could pass it off
as his own to memorialize the death of his wife. Count von Walsegg, an amateur musician,
often commissioned works by composers and performed them with friends in
musicales as his own. The count took the extra step of using a messenger
to take extra precautions to maintain confidentiality, given that this
event was much more public than the private musicales that he was
accustomed to using for representing "his" works.
- Myth: Antonio
Salieri helped to complete the Requiem on the deathbed of
Mozart.
- Reality: At Mozart's death, Constanze took on the
responsibility of the Requiem, engaging a series of composers to attempt
the completion, the last of which was Süssmayr. There is nothing to
suggest that Salieri had anything to do with any part of the Requiem.
This myth was incorporated into Pushkin's play, and in turn, the film
version of "Amadeus".
- Myth: Mozart actively worked on the Requiem
up to the moment he died.
- Reality: In the last days of his life he had become
too sick (his hands were swollen) to work on it any more. He did have the
Requiem (as far as it went) sung to him on one of his last days
(reportedly the Lacrimosa moved him to tears), and there is a report of
him trying to voice drum parts at the very end of his life, but the
notion of Mozart working through the night just before he died is not
accurate.
- Myth: It was played at Mozart's funeral.
- Reality: Mozart died in the early hours of December
5, 1791,
had a small funeral and was buried in an unmarked grave. A memorial
service on December 10, 1791 was
organized by Mozart's friend and librettist, Emanuel Schikaneder, at which one of the
completed movements (the Introitus) might have been performed; we do not
know what music was in fact played.
- Myth: Everything after the Lacrimosa was composed
by Süssmayr.
- Reality: Although the Lacrimosa breaks off
incomplete after 8 bars, as noted above, the vocal and continuo of the Domine
Jesu and the vocal parts of the Hostias are in Mozart's hand.
The complexity of the Domine Jesu, with its frequent use of counterpoint
and three fugues, would be very unlikely as the work of Süssmayr, given
the nature of the Hosanna fugue which he did compose.
- Myth: Mozart gave Süssmayr detailed instructions
on how to complete the Requiem.
- Reality: This myth was started by Constanze when
the fact that Mozart left the Requiem unfinished at his death became
public knowledge. To maximize the value of the Requiem, and improve
Constanze's security, the public had to believe that Mozart somehow
guided the entire work. Exactly what Mozart might have told Süssmayr
about the Requiem is not clear. Both Constanze and Süssmayr created the
myth of Mozart leaving "scraps of paper" with "detailed
instructions", but it was ultimately discovered that it was untrue.
She and Süssmayr stated that they were on other "scraps of
paper", but it was discovered that the remainder of the Requiem was
sketched out on blank manuscript.
- Myth: Süssmayr was Mozart's pupil.
- Reality: As with the "scraps of paper",
Constanze promoted Süssmayr as a pupil of Mozart to maximize the
perceived value of the Requiem after it became known that Mozart left the
Requiem unfinished at his death. Süssmayr was more of a colleague and
friend to the Mozarts and even accompanied Constanze on her spa trips in
1791. Süssmayr did not study with Mozart. There is discussion in some of
the sources cited in this article of the possibility that Süssmayr was
actually having an affair with Constanze, and that Constanze's initial
reluctance to engage Süssmayr to complete the Requiem upon Wolfgang's
death was due to a "lover's quarrel".
- Myth: The movie "Amadeus" created all
of the confusion surrounding the history of the Requiem
- Reality: The confusion between myth and reality
regarding the events surrounding the commission, composition, completion
and release of the Requiem stem from much earlier than the theater and
movie production of Amadeus. First of all, Amadeus in both
its movie and play forms, was based on Alexander Pushkin's play The
Little Tragedy of Mozart and Salieri, which contained many of the
falsehoods that were ultimately passed on in Amadeus.
Constanze Mozart
and the Requiem after Mozart's death
The confusion surrounding the
circumstances of the Requiem's composition was created in a large part by
Mozart's wife, Constanze. Constanze had a difficult task in front of her. She
had to keep secret the fact that the Requiem was unfinished at Mozart's death,
so she could collect the final payment from the commission. For a period of
time, she also needed to keep secret the fact that Mozart had anything to do
with the composition of the Requiem at all in order to allow Count Walsegg the
impression that he wrote the work. Once she received the commission, she needed
to carefully promote the work as Mozart's so she could continue to receive
revenue from the work's publication and performance. During this phase of the
Requiem's history, it was still important that the public accepted that Mozart
wrote the whole piece, as it would fetch larger sums from publishers and the
public if it were completely by Mozart.
It is Constanze's efforts that
created the flurry of half-truths and myths almost instantly after Mozart's
death. Source materials written soon after Mozart’s death contain serious
discrepancies which leave a level of subjectivity when assembling the
"facts" about Mozart’s composition of the Requiem. For
example, at least three of the conflicting sources, both dated within two
decades following Mozart’s death, cite Constanze
Mozart (Mozart’s wife) as their primary source of interview information. In
1798, Friedrich Rochlitz, the German biographical author and amateur composer,
published a set of Mozart anecdotes which he claimed to have collected during
his meeting with Constanze in 1796.[4] The Rochlitz publication makes the following statements:
- Mozart was unaware of his commissioner’s
identity at the time he accepted the project.
- He was not bound to any date of completion of
the work
- He stated that it would take him around four
weeks to complete.
- He requested, and received, 100 ducats at the
time of the first commissioning message.
- He began the project immediately after
receiving the commission.
- His health was poor from the outset; he
fainted multiple times while working
- He took a break from writing the work to
visit the Prater with his wife.
- He shared with his wife that for certain he
was writing this piece for his own funeral.
- He spoke of "very strange thoughts"
regarding the unpredicted appearance and commission of this unknown man.
- He noted that the departure of Leopold to
Prague for the coronation was approaching.
The most highly disputed of these
claims is the last one, the chronology of this setting. According to Rochlitz,
the messenger arrives quite some time before the departure of Leopold for the
coronation, yet we have record of his departure occurring in mid-July 1791.
However, Constanze was in Baden during all of June to mid-July, she would not
have been present for the commission or the drive they were said to have taken
together.[4] Furthermore, The
Magic Flute (except for the Overture and March of the Priests) was
completed by mid-July. La Clemenza Di Tito was commissioned by
mid-July.[4] There was no time for Mozart to work on the Requiem on
the large scale indicated by the Rochlitz publication in the time frame
provided.
Also in 1798, Constanze is noted
to have given another interview to Franz Xaver Niemetschek[5], another biographer looking to publish a compendium of
Mozart's life. He published his biography in 1808, containing the following
claims about Mozart’s receipt of the Requiem commission:
- Mozart received the commission very shortly
before the Coronation of Emperor Leopold II, and before he received
the commission to go to Prague.
- He did not accept the messenger’s request
immediately; he wrote the commissioner and agreed to the project stating
his fee, but urging that he could not predict the time required to
complete the work.
- The same messenger appeared later, paying
Mozart the sum requested plus a note promising a bonus at the work’s
completion.
- He started composing the work upon his return
from Prague.
- He fell ill while writing the work
- He told Constanze "I am only too
conscious," he continued, "my end will not be long in coming:
for sure, someone has poisoned me! I cannot rid my mind of this
thought."
- Constanze thought that the Requiem was overstraining
him; she called the doctor and took away the score.
- On the day of his death he had the score
brought to his bed.
- The messenger took the unfinished Requiem
soon after Mozart’s death.
- Constanze never learned the commissioner’s
name.
This account, too, has fallen
under scrutiny and criticism for its accuracy. According to letters, Constanze
most certainly knew the name of the commissioner by the time this interview was
released in 1800.[5] Additionally, the Requiem was not given to the messenger
until some time after Mozart’s death.[4] This interview contains the only account of the claim
that Constanze took the Requiem away from Wolfgang for a significant duration
during his composition of it from Constanze herself[4]. Otherwise, the timeline provided in this account is
historically probable. However, the most highly accepted text attributed to
Constanze is the interview to her second husband, Georg Nikolaus von Nissen.[4] After Nissen’s death in 1826, Constanze released the
biography of Wolfgang (1828) that Nissen had compiled, which included this
interview. Nissen states:
- Mozart received the commission shortly before
the coronation of Emperor Leopold and before he received the commission to
go to Prague.
- He did not accept the messenger’s request immediately;
he wrote the commissioner and agreed to the project stating his fee, but
urging that he could not predict the time required to complete the work.
- The same messenger appeared later, paying
Mozart the sum requested plus a note promising a bonus at the work’s
completion.
- He started composing the work upon his return
from Prague.
The Nissen publication lacks
information following Mozart’s return from Prague.[4]
From the various accounts of
Constanze’s words, historians try to assemble the details of Mozart’s “Requiem”
commission and completion.
The autograph at
the 1958 World's Fair
The autograph of the Requiem
was placed on display at the World's Fair in 1958 in Brussels. At
some point during the fair, someone was able to gain access to the manuscript,
tearing off the bottom right-hand corner of the second to last page (folio
99r/45r), containing the words "Quam olim d: C:" (an instruction that
the "Quam olim" fugue of the Domine Jesu was to be repeated
"da capo", at the end of the Hostias). To this day the perpetrator
has not been identified and the fragment has not been recovered. [6]
If the most common authorship
theory is true, then "Quam olim d: C:" might very well be the last
words Mozart wrote before he died. It is probable that whoever stole the
fragment believed that to be the case.
Discography
Selected recordings,
alphabetically by conductor:
- Claudio
Abbado conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded live in
1999 and released in 1999 by Deutsche Grammophon.
- Daniel Barenboim conducting the Paris Symphony
Orchestra and Paris Symphony Chorus. Released in 1990 by EMI Classics.
Soloists are Kathleen Battle (Soprano), Ann Murray (Mezzo Soprano), David
Rendall (Tenor), Matti Salminen (Bass).
- Frieder
Bernius conducting the Stuttgart Baroque Ensemble. Recorded in
2000 and released in 2002 by Carus-verlag.
- Leonard Bernstein conducting the Bavarian
Radio Symphony Orchestra. Recorded in 1986 and released in 1989 by
Deutsche Grammophon.
- Karl
Böhm conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded in 1971
and released in 1975 by Deutsche Grammophon. Soloists are: Edith Mathis
(soprano), Julia Hamari (Alt), Wieslaw Ochman (tenor), Karl Ridderbusch
(Bass). Organist is Hans Haselböck.
- Sergiu Celibidache conducting the Munich
Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded live in 1995 and released in 2004 by EMI
Classics
- John Eliot Gardiner conducting the English
Baroque Soloists. Released in 1990 by Philips.
- Gregory
Glenn conducting the boys and girls choir of The Madeleine
Choir school with symphony in The Cathedral of the Madeleine.
- Carlo Maria Giulini conducting the
Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus(London). Released in 1979 by Angel.
- Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting the
Vienna Concentus Musicus. Recorded in 2003 and released in 2004 by
Deutsche Harmonia Mundi.
- Philippe Herreweghe conducting the
Orchestre des Champs Elysees. Recorded live in 1994 and released in 1997
by Harmonia Mundi.
- Christopher Hogwood conducting the Academy
of Ancient Music Chorus & Orchestra, and Westminster Cathedral Boys
Choir. Recorded in 1983 and released in 1984 by Editions de L'Oiseau-Lyre.
Performance of the Maunder completion.
- Herbert von Karajan conducting the
Berliner Philharmoniker. Recorded in 1975 on September 27 and 28 and
released on Deutsche Grammophon.
- Herbert von Karajan conducting the Wiener
Philharmoniker. Recorded in 1986 and released on Deutsche Grammophon.
Soloists are Anna Tomowa-Sintow (Soprano), Helga Müller
Molinari (Alt/contralto), Vinson
Cole (Tenor), Paata Burchuladze (Bass).
- Ton
Koopman conducting the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra. Recorded live in
1989 and released in 1990 by Erato-Disques.
- Zdenek
Kosler conducting the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded
in 1985 and released in 1986 by OPUS.
- Sir Neville Marriner conducting the Academy of
St. Martin in the Fields. Recorded in 1990 and released in 1991 by
Philips.
- Riccardo
Muti conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded in 1987
and released in 1987 by EMI Classics. Awarded a "Timbre de
Platine".
- Roger Norrington conducting The London
Classical Players & The Schutz Choir of London. Recorded in 1992 by
Emi Records for Virgin Classics Limited. Performance of the Druce
completion.
- Martin Pearlman conducting the Boston
Baroque. Recorded in 1995 and released on Telarc
Records. This was the first period instrument recording of the Robert
D. Levin completion.
- Helmuth
Rilling conducting the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart. Released in
1979/1987 by CBS Schallplatten GmbH/CBS Records. Rilling later re-recorded
the Requiem with the completion by Robert
D. Levin in 1991 for Hanssler Classic.
- Jordi
Savall conducting Le Concert des Nations and La Capella Reial de
Catalunya; Montserrat Figueras, Claudia Schubert, Gerd Türk, and Stephan
Schreckenberger, soloists. Released in 1992/1998 & 2000 by Astrée/Auvidis
Fontalis/Naïve.
- Peter
Schreier conducting the Dresden State Orchestra. Recorded in 1987 and
released in 1990 by Philips.
- Mikhail "Misha" Shtangrud conducted
the Burbank Chorale and a twenty-two piece orchestra on a 2006 recording
released by the Burbank Chorale. (LISTEN) [1][2]
- Robert Shaw conducting the Atlanta
Symphony Orchestra. Recorded in 1986 and released in 1990 by Telarc.
- Sir Georg
Solti conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded in 1991
and released in 1992 by Decca.
- Yuri
Temirkanov conducting the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra & Stat
Academic Russian Chorus. Recorded in 1983 and released in 1995 by Melodiya -
The Russian Label. Soloists are Nadezhda Krasnaya (Soprano), Evgenia
Gorokhovskaya (Mezzo Soprano), Yuri Marusin (Tenor), Sergei Leiferkus
(Bariton).
- Christian Thielemann conducting the
Munich Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded and released in 2006 by Deutsche
Grammophon.
- Jos van Veldhoven conducting The Netherlands
Bach Society. Recorded live in 2001 and released in 2002 by Channel
Classics.
- Bruno
Walter conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded in 1937.
First 20th-century recording.
- Bruno
Walter conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded live in
1956 and released in 1996 by Orfeo.
- Franz Welser-Möst conducting the London
Philharmonic Choir & Orchestra. Recorded in 1989 and released in 1990
by EMI Classics.
References
- ^ This is not verifiable by the sources
of the Neukloster in Wiener Neustadt!
- ^ Machlis, Joseph and Forney,
Kristine. "Mozart and Chamber Music." The Enjoyment of Music: An
Introduction to Perceptive Listening. 9th Ed. W.W. Norton & Company:
2003
- ^ Gregory Allen Robbins. "Mozart
& Salieri, Cain & Abel: A Cinematic Transformation of Genesis
4." Journal of Religion and Film: Vol. 1, No. 1 April 1997 Journal of Religion and
Film
- ^ a b c d e f g Landon, H. C. Robbins
(1988). 1791: Mozart's Last Year. New York: Schirmer
Books.
- ^ a b Steve Boerner (December
16, 2000).
"K. 626:
Requiem in D Minor". The Mozart Project.
- ^ Facsimile of
the manuscript's last page, showing the missing corner
Bibliography
- C. R. F. Maunder (1988). Mozart's Requiem: On Preparing a New
Edition. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN
0-19-316413-2.
- Christoph Wolff (1994). Mozart's Requiem: Historical and
Analytical Studies, Documents, Score. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN
0-520-07709-1.
- Brendan Cormican (1991). Mozart's death - Mozart's
requiem : an investigation. Belfast, Northern Ireland: Amadeus Press. ISBN
0-951-03570-3.
- Heinz Gärtner (1991). Constanze Mozart : after the
Requiem. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press. ISBN
0-931-34039-X.
Video Performances of Mozart's Requiem
Audio Performances
of Mozart's Requiem
Scores of Mozart's Requiem
- Requiem: Score
and critical
report (German) in the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe
- Eybler's and Süssmayr's amendments: Score
in the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe
- Requiem free scores in the Choral Public Domain Library
(ChoralWiki)
- Requiem: Free
scores at the International Music
Score Library Project.
identity at the time he accepted the project.
the work
weeks to complete.
time of the first commissioning message.
receiving the commission.
fainted multiple times while working
visit the Prater with his wife.
was writing this piece for his own funeral.
regarding the unpredicted appearance and commission of this unknown man.
Prague for the coronation was approaching.
before the Coronation of Emperor Leopold II, and before he received
the commission to go to Prague.
immediately; he wrote the commissioner and agreed to the project stating
his fee, but urging that he could not predict the time required to
complete the work.
Mozart the sum requested plus a note promising a bonus at the work’s
completion.
from Prague.
conscious," he continued, "my end will not be long in coming:
for sure, someone has poisoned me! I cannot rid my mind of this
thought."
him; she called the doctor and took away the score.
brought to his bed.
soon after Mozart’s death.
name.
the coronation of Emperor Leopold and before he received the commission to
go to Prague.
he wrote the commissioner and agreed to the project stating his fee, but
urging that he could not predict the time required to complete the work.
Mozart the sum requested plus a note promising a bonus at the work’s
completion.
from Prague.
the 1958 World's Fair
The autograph of the Requiem
was placed on display at the World's Fair in 1958 in Brussels. At
some point during the fair, someone was able to gain access to the manuscript,
tearing off the bottom right-hand corner of the second to last page (folio
99r/45r), containing the words "Quam olim d: C:" (an instruction that
the "Quam olim" fugue of the Domine Jesu was to be repeated
"da capo", at the end of the Hostias). To this day the perpetrator
has not been identified and the fragment has not been recovered. [6]
If the most common authorship
theory is true, then "Quam olim d: C:" might very well be the last
words Mozart wrote before he died. It is probable that whoever stole the
fragment believed that to be the case.
Discography
Selected recordings,
alphabetically by conductor:
- Claudio
Abbado conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded live in
1999 and released in 1999 by Deutsche Grammophon.
- Daniel Barenboim conducting the Paris Symphony
Orchestra and Paris Symphony Chorus. Released in 1990 by EMI Classics.
Soloists are Kathleen Battle (Soprano), Ann Murray (Mezzo Soprano), David
Rendall (Tenor), Matti Salminen (Bass).
- Frieder
Bernius conducting the Stuttgart Baroque Ensemble. Recorded in
2000 and released in 2002 by Carus-verlag.
- Leonard Bernstein conducting the Bavarian
Radio Symphony Orchestra. Recorded in 1986 and released in 1989 by
Deutsche Grammophon.
- Karl
Böhm conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded in 1971
and released in 1975 by Deutsche Grammophon. Soloists are: Edith Mathis
(soprano), Julia Hamari (Alt), Wieslaw Ochman (tenor), Karl Ridderbusch
(Bass). Organist is Hans Haselböck.
- Sergiu Celibidache conducting the Munich
Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded live in 1995 and released in 2004 by EMI
Classics
- John Eliot Gardiner conducting the English
Baroque Soloists. Released in 1990 by Philips.
- Gregory
Glenn conducting the boys and girls choir of The Madeleine
Choir school with symphony in The Cathedral of the Madeleine.
- Carlo Maria Giulini conducting the
Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus(London). Released in 1979 by Angel.
- Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting the
Vienna Concentus Musicus. Recorded in 2003 and released in 2004 by
Deutsche Harmonia Mundi.
- Philippe Herreweghe conducting the
Orchestre des Champs Elysees. Recorded live in 1994 and released in 1997
by Harmonia Mundi.
- Christopher Hogwood conducting the Academy
of Ancient Music Chorus & Orchestra, and Westminster Cathedral Boys
Choir. Recorded in 1983 and released in 1984 by Editions de L'Oiseau-Lyre.
Performance of the Maunder completion.
- Herbert von Karajan conducting the
Berliner Philharmoniker. Recorded in 1975 on September 27 and 28 and
released on Deutsche Grammophon.
- Herbert von Karajan conducting the Wiener
Philharmoniker. Recorded in 1986 and released on Deutsche Grammophon.
Soloists are Anna Tomowa-Sintow (Soprano), Helga Müller
Molinari (Alt/contralto), Vinson
Cole (Tenor), Paata Burchuladze (Bass).
- Ton
Koopman conducting the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra. Recorded live in
1989 and released in 1990 by Erato-Disques.
- Zdenek
Kosler conducting the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded
in 1985 and released in 1986 by OPUS.
- Sir Neville Marriner conducting the Academy of
St. Martin in the Fields. Recorded in 1990 and released in 1991 by
Philips.
- Riccardo
Muti conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded in 1987
and released in 1987 by EMI Classics. Awarded a "Timbre de
Platine".
- Roger Norrington conducting The London
Classical Players & The Schutz Choir of London. Recorded in 1992 by
Emi Records for Virgin Classics Limited. Performance of the Druce
completion.
- Martin Pearlman conducting the Boston
Baroque. Recorded in 1995 and released on Telarc
Records. This was the first period instrument recording of the Robert
D. Levin completion.
- Helmuth
Rilling conducting the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart. Released in
1979/1987 by CBS Schallplatten GmbH/CBS Records. Rilling later re-recorded
the Requiem with the completion by Robert
D. Levin in 1991 for Hanssler Classic.
- Jordi
Savall conducting Le Concert des Nations and La Capella Reial de
Catalunya; Montserrat Figueras, Claudia Schubert, Gerd Türk, and Stephan
Schreckenberger, soloists. Released in 1992/1998 & 2000 by Astrée/Auvidis
Fontalis/Naïve.
- Peter
Schreier conducting the Dresden State Orchestra. Recorded in 1987 and
released in 1990 by Philips.
- Mikhail "Misha" Shtangrud conducted
the Burbank Chorale and a twenty-two piece orchestra on a 2006 recording
released by the Burbank Chorale. (LISTEN) [1][2]
- Robert Shaw conducting the Atlanta
Symphony Orchestra. Recorded in 1986 and released in 1990 by Telarc.
- Sir Georg
Solti conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded in 1991
and released in 1992 by Decca.
- Yuri
Temirkanov conducting the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra & Stat
Academic Russian Chorus. Recorded in 1983 and released in 1995 by Melodiya -
The Russian Label. Soloists are Nadezhda Krasnaya (Soprano), Evgenia
Gorokhovskaya (Mezzo Soprano), Yuri Marusin (Tenor), Sergei Leiferkus
(Bariton).
- Christian Thielemann conducting the
Munich Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded and released in 2006 by Deutsche
Grammophon.
- Jos van Veldhoven conducting The Netherlands
Bach Society. Recorded live in 2001 and released in 2002 by Channel
Classics.
- Bruno
Walter conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded in 1937.
First 20th-century recording.
- Bruno
Walter conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded live in
1956 and released in 1996 by Orfeo.
- Franz Welser-Möst conducting the London
Philharmonic Choir & Orchestra. Recorded in 1989 and released in 1990
by EMI Classics.
References
- ^ This is not verifiable by the sources
of the Neukloster in Wiener Neustadt!
- ^ Machlis, Joseph and Forney,
Kristine. "Mozart and Chamber Music." The Enjoyment of Music: An
Introduction to Perceptive Listening. 9th Ed. W.W. Norton & Company:
2003
- ^ Gregory Allen Robbins. "Mozart
& Salieri, Cain & Abel: A Cinematic Transformation of Genesis
4." Journal of Religion and Film: Vol. 1, No. 1 April 1997 Journal of Religion and
Film
- ^ a b c d e f g Landon, H. C. Robbins
(1988). 1791: Mozart's Last Year. New York: Schirmer
Books.
- ^ a b Steve Boerner (December
16, 2000).
"K. 626:
Requiem in D Minor". The Mozart Project.
- ^ Facsimile of
the manuscript's last page, showing the missing corner
Bibliography
- C. R. F. Maunder (1988). Mozart's Requiem: On Preparing a New
Edition. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN
0-19-316413-2.
- Christoph Wolff (1994). Mozart's Requiem: Historical and
Analytical Studies, Documents, Score. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN
0-520-07709-1.
- Brendan Cormican (1991). Mozart's death - Mozart's
requiem : an investigation. Belfast, Northern Ireland: Amadeus Press. ISBN
0-951-03570-3.
- Heinz Gärtner (1991). Constanze Mozart : after the
Requiem. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press. ISBN
0-931-34039-X.
Video Performances of Mozart's Requiem
Audio Performances
of Mozart's Requiem
Scores of Mozart's Requiem
- Requiem: Score
and critical
report (German) in the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe
- Eybler's and Süssmayr's amendments: Score
in the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe
- Requiem free scores in the Choral Public Domain Library
(ChoralWiki)
- Requiem: Free
scores at the International Music
Score Library Project.
Abbado conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded live in
1999 and released in 1999 by Deutsche Grammophon.
Orchestra and Paris Symphony Chorus. Released in 1990 by EMI Classics.
Soloists are Kathleen Battle (Soprano), Ann Murray (Mezzo Soprano), David
Rendall (Tenor), Matti Salminen (Bass).
Bernius conducting the Stuttgart Baroque Ensemble. Recorded in
2000 and released in 2002 by Carus-verlag.
Radio Symphony Orchestra. Recorded in 1986 and released in 1989 by
Deutsche Grammophon.
Böhm conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded in 1971
and released in 1975 by Deutsche Grammophon. Soloists are: Edith Mathis
(soprano), Julia Hamari (Alt), Wieslaw Ochman (tenor), Karl Ridderbusch
(Bass). Organist is Hans Haselböck.
Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded live in 1995 and released in 2004 by EMI
Classics
Baroque Soloists. Released in 1990 by Philips.
Glenn conducting the boys and girls choir of The Madeleine
Choir school with symphony in The Cathedral of the Madeleine.
Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus(London). Released in 1979 by Angel.
Vienna Concentus Musicus. Recorded in 2003 and released in 2004 by
Deutsche Harmonia Mundi.
Orchestre des Champs Elysees. Recorded live in 1994 and released in 1997
by Harmonia Mundi.
of Ancient Music Chorus & Orchestra, and Westminster Cathedral Boys
Choir. Recorded in 1983 and released in 1984 by Editions de L'Oiseau-Lyre.
Performance of the Maunder completion.
Berliner Philharmoniker. Recorded in 1975 on September 27 and 28 and
released on Deutsche Grammophon.
Philharmoniker. Recorded in 1986 and released on Deutsche Grammophon.
Soloists are Anna Tomowa-Sintow (Soprano), Helga Müller
Molinari (Alt/contralto), Vinson
Cole (Tenor), Paata Burchuladze (Bass).
Koopman conducting the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra. Recorded live in
1989 and released in 1990 by Erato-Disques.
Kosler conducting the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded
in 1985 and released in 1986 by OPUS.
St. Martin in the Fields. Recorded in 1990 and released in 1991 by
Philips.
Muti conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded in 1987
and released in 1987 by EMI Classics. Awarded a "Timbre de
Platine".
Classical Players & The Schutz Choir of London. Recorded in 1992 by
Emi Records for Virgin Classics Limited. Performance of the Druce
completion.
Baroque. Recorded in 1995 and released on Telarc
Records. This was the first period instrument recording of the Robert
D. Levin completion.
Rilling conducting the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart. Released in
1979/1987 by CBS Schallplatten GmbH/CBS Records. Rilling later re-recorded
the Requiem with the completion by Robert
D. Levin in 1991 for Hanssler Classic.
Savall conducting Le Concert des Nations and La Capella Reial de
Catalunya; Montserrat Figueras, Claudia Schubert, Gerd Türk, and Stephan
Schreckenberger, soloists. Released in 1992/1998 & 2000 by Astrée/Auvidis
Fontalis/Naïve.
Schreier conducting the Dresden State Orchestra. Recorded in 1987 and
released in 1990 by Philips.
the Burbank Chorale and a twenty-two piece orchestra on a 2006 recording
released by the Burbank Chorale. (LISTEN) [1][2]
Symphony Orchestra. Recorded in 1986 and released in 1990 by Telarc.
Solti conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded in 1991
and released in 1992 by Decca.
Temirkanov conducting the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra & Stat
Academic Russian Chorus. Recorded in 1983 and released in 1995 by Melodiya -
The Russian Label. Soloists are Nadezhda Krasnaya (Soprano), Evgenia
Gorokhovskaya (Mezzo Soprano), Yuri Marusin (Tenor), Sergei Leiferkus
(Bariton).
Munich Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded and released in 2006 by Deutsche
Grammophon.
Bach Society. Recorded live in 2001 and released in 2002 by Channel
Classics.
Walter conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded in 1937.
First 20th-century recording.
Walter conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded live in
1956 and released in 1996 by Orfeo.
Philharmonic Choir & Orchestra. Recorded in 1989 and released in 1990
by EMI Classics.
- ^ This is not verifiable by the sources
of the Neukloster in Wiener Neustadt!
- ^ Machlis, Joseph and Forney,
Kristine. "Mozart and Chamber Music." The Enjoyment of Music: An
Introduction to Perceptive Listening. 9th Ed. W.W. Norton & Company:
2003
- ^ Gregory Allen Robbins. "Mozart
& Salieri, Cain & Abel: A Cinematic Transformation of Genesis
4." Journal of Religion and Film: Vol. 1, No. 1 April 1997 Journal of Religion and
Film
- ^ a b c d e f g Landon, H. C. Robbins
(1988). 1791: Mozart's Last Year. New York: Schirmer
Books.
- ^ a b Steve Boerner (December
16, 2000).
"K. 626:
Requiem in D Minor". The Mozart Project.
- ^ Facsimile of
the manuscript's last page, showing the missing corner
Bibliography
- C. R. F. Maunder (1988). Mozart's Requiem: On Preparing a New
Edition. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN
0-19-316413-2.
- Christoph Wolff (1994). Mozart's Requiem: Historical and
Analytical Studies, Documents, Score. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN
0-520-07709-1.
- Brendan Cormican (1991). Mozart's death - Mozart's
requiem : an investigation. Belfast, Northern Ireland: Amadeus Press. ISBN
0-951-03570-3.
- Heinz Gärtner (1991). Constanze Mozart : after the
Requiem. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press. ISBN
0-931-34039-X.
Video Performances of Mozart's Requiem
Audio Performances
of Mozart's Requiem
Scores of Mozart's Requiem
- Requiem: Score
and critical
report (German) in the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe
- Eybler's and Süssmayr's amendments: Score
in the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe
- Requiem free scores in the Choral Public Domain Library
(ChoralWiki)
- Requiem: Free
scores at the International Music
Score Library Project.
Edition. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN
0-19-316413-2.
Analytical Studies, Documents, Score. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN
0-520-07709-1.
requiem : an investigation. Belfast, Northern Ireland: Amadeus Press. ISBN
0-951-03570-3.
Requiem. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press. ISBN
0-931-34039-X.
Audio Performances
of Mozart's Requiem
Scores of Mozart's Requiem
- Requiem: Score
and critical
report (German) in the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe
- Eybler's and Süssmayr's amendments: Score
in the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe
- Requiem free scores in the Choral Public Domain Library
(ChoralWiki)
- Requiem: Free
scores at the International Music
Score Library Project.
- Requiem: Score
and critical
report (German) in the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe
- Eybler's and Süssmayr's amendments: Score
in the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe
- Requiem free scores in the Choral Public Domain Library
(ChoralWiki)
- Requiem: Free
scores at the International Music
Score Library Project.
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