Too long I have neglected the topic of music and today finds me back at it. On Sunday, I had the pleasure, thanks to a new babysitter extraordinaire, Luke, of attending the College of St. Catherine's performance of a choral and orchestral piece credited to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart entitled Requiem in D Minor, catalogued as K.626. The origin is from Vienna in approximately 1791, and is scored for Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass; four part choir and instrumentation of 2 basset horns (a type of tenor clarinet), 2 bassoons, 2 trumpets, timpani, 3 trombones, strings, and organ. There is much written about this piece, and the layers of legend have increased in these 215 years since its first performance. Most of the stories agree that there was some mystery surrounding the commission of the piece. All of the stories agree that Mozart did work on the piece, but did not finish it before his death. Something I was not aware of until Sunday is that there are more than one "version" of this piece performed today. The performance on Sunday was of the "original" finished work, or the Sussmayr completion. Franz Sussmayr was a student of Mozart at the time of his death, and is credited as one of the students that finished the Requiem, attempting to stay loyal to Mozarts original intentions for the piece. Sussmayr set the text of the concluding "Communio" to the music of the opening movements to round out the work. Some of the movements, primarily the overly brief "Osannas" and the Tuba mirum are somewhat awkwardly scored in this original version, and this adds some credibility to his claim claimed "student's hand".
A number of revised scores have been produced in the last 80 years. The revisions range from modest corrections of "wrong" notes and awkward part writing, to complete reworkings of certain movements from the original sketches, including a recently discovered fragment of an "Amen" fugue at the end of the "lacrymosa", to radical attempts to remove everything that is not demonstrably attributable to Mozart.
I own two recordings of this piece and have my eye set on a third. Because I don't have the liner notes, I am having some difficulty tracking down information as to which version these recordings used, but I look forward to the effort of the search. Currently I have the two entwined on my ipod, each movement of the Leipzieger Kammerorchester recording paired with the same movement on the other recording (of which no information carried over from the original disc I had.) Its interesting to hear each section in two formats. The german recording is more stern and formal, as I expected. Both appear to be the same scoring, although of course I am not yet sure of that.
If you would like to learn more about this piece and about the stories surrounding it, may I recommend this site? And if you haven't heard this piece, treat yourself. The Leipzieger Kammerorchester recording is available on Itunes for only $5.99 and it is a pretty good recording, if you want to get in cheap. For $9.99 you can have the version I am seeking, also on Itunes, performed by Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy and Chorus of St. Martin-in-the-Fields. Lovely.
I'll leave you with some of the text translation from the latin:
Sequenz No 4 recordare
Remember kind Jesus
that I am the reason for your life on earth.
Do not let me be lost on that day
Though weary, you resolutely sought me.
You redeemed me by your suffering on the cross.
Let not such great labour be in vain.
Judge who punishes justly,
give me the gift of forgiveness
before the day of reckoning.
I groan like the guilty man.
My face is red with guilt.
Spare me, who kneel before you, O God.
You who absolved Mary Magdalen
and favourably listened to the good thief--
to me also, you give hope.
My prayers are unworthy,
but you, full of goodness, treat me kindly
so that I will not burn in fire forever.
Find a place for me amongst they sheep
and separate me from the loathsome goats
and stand me on your right side.
The audacity of this text astounds me. It reminds me of some of the writings in Psalms by David. It strikes me as carrying the signature of a proud male hand. "God, you are gonna look bad and will have wasted your time if you do not make me victorious." Would that I could be so brave and forthright in my communication with the Creator. I tend to speak more in the mode of, "If it's not too much of a bother and if you have time in your busy schedule, I know this is petty and unimportant, but if you could help me out that would be wonderful."
Luke.
Warm.
Sigh.
