Mozart Requiem

Mozart Requiem
Name	Requiem in D minor, K. 626
Composer	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Caption	First page of the autograph fragment
Key	D minor
Catalogue	K. 626
Genre	Mass for the dead
Composed	1791
Dedication	Unknown
Premiere	1791, Vienna
Duration	50–70 minutes

Mozart Requiem The Requiem in D minor, K. 626, is a late choral composition associated with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, completed in 1791 and left unfinished at his death. Commissioned by a mysterious patron, it has been central to debates involving figures such as Franz Xaver Süssmayr, Constanze Mozart, and Emanuel Schikaneder, and has influenced Franz Schubert, Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, and Gustav Mahler through its aesthetic and liturgical profile. The work occupies a pivotal place in narratives of Vienna's late-18th-century music culture, intersecting with institutions like the Burgtheater, the Vienna Court Opera, and the Masonic Lodge milieu.

Background and commission

The commission for the Requiem was arranged in the autumn of 1791 by an intermediary, the enigmatic Count Franz von Walsegg, who employed an anonymous agent to procure a solemn mass for his late wife, paralleling private commissions known to involve Count Franz von Walsegg-Stuppach and the practice of patronage exemplified by Archduke Rudolf of Austria, Prince Esterházy, and other aristocrats. Negotiations took place against the backdrop of Vienna's theatrical scene featuring figures like Emperor Leopold II, the Schikaneder troupe, and venues such as the Theater auf der Wieden. The commission overlapped with Mozart's engagements composing the singspiel Die Zauberflöte and the opera La clemenza di Tito, as well as social links to Constanze Mozart, Leopold Mozart, and contemporaries including Antonio Salieri and Joseph Haydn.

Composition and musical structure

Mozart sketched the Requiem's opening movements in autograph leaves, delineating sections following the Roman Catholic Requiem mass liturgy: the Introitus (Requiem aeternam), Kyrie, Sequence (Dies irae and subsections), Offertorium, Sanctus, Benedictus, Agnus Dei, and Communio. The surviving material exhibits orchestral scoring for strings, basset horns, bassoons, trumpets, trombones, timpani, and choir, reflecting scoring practices used by Baron Gottfried van Swieten, Salieri, and ensembles at the Burgtheater. Harmonic language and contrapuntal devices recall models such as Johann Sebastian Bach's choral idiom, George Frideric Handel's oratorio writing, and the dramatic rhetoric of Christoph Willibald Gluck. The structure embraces contrasting fugues, homophonic choruses, and solo arias, linking to the formal experiments present in works by Haydn and late works by Mozart like the Jupiter Symphony.

Completion and Süssmayr's contributions

After Mozart's death, his widow Constanze engaged Franz Xaver Süssmayr to complete the Requiem, commissioning additions that would satisfy Count Walsegg and secure payment. Süssmayr provided missing movements including the Sanctus, Benedictus, and Agnus Dei, and supplied orchestration and realization for sketches of the Offertorium and Communio, in a manner comparable to editorial completions by Franz Xaver Süßmayr's contemporaries. His completion integrated thematic material and counterpoint referencing Mozartian motifs, echoing approaches used by Johann Nepomuk Hummel and Carl Maria von Weber when finishing fragmentary scores. The completed score was delivered to the commissioner and performed in Vienna, with involvement from figures like Georg Nikolaus von Nissen and musicians connected to the Imperial Court Chapel.

Authenticity debates and alternative completions

From the 19th century, musicologists and composers including Franz Xaver Niemetschek, Hermann Abert, Alfred Einstein, and later Werner Schmid and Alfred Krips have questioned Süssmayr's authorship extent, citing discrepancies in orchestration, thematic development, and fugue technique. Alternative completions have been proposed by Ludwig van Beethoven's admirers, by editors like Franz Beyer, Richard Maunder, and composers such as Robert Levin, who offered reconstructions incorporating sources including Mozart's sketches, contemporary autograph fragments, and stylistic comparison to works modeled on Viennese Classical period practices. Debates involve attribution studies comparable to controversies surrounding Handel's oratorios, the authenticity scholarship of Bach's Passions, and editorial principles employed in the Urtext movement.

Performance history and reception

The Requiem's earliest performances in Vienna were surrounded by rumor and publicity, attracting audiences that included members of the Habsburg dynasty, patrons from the Austrian nobility, and musical figures like Sarti and Antonio Salieri. Critical reception evolved through the 19th and 20th centuries: Romantic composers and critics such as Franz Liszt, Richard Wagner, Hector Berlioz, and Robert Schumann praised its dramatic intensity, while scholars in the 20th century examined its liturgical function and historical context. The work became a staple of concert repertoire alongside masses by Bach, Haydn, and Brahms, and played roles in commemorative events tied to institutions like the Vienna Philharmonic, the Royal Albert Hall, and major cathedrals across Europe and the United States.

Recordings and editions

Numerous editions and recordings have proliferated, reflecting differing editorial philosophies from Urtext editions by scholars tied to Bärenreiter and Kassel to variant completions recorded by conductors such as Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Leonard Bernstein, Karl Böhm, Herbert von Karajan, John Eliot Gardiner, Sir Colin Davis, Sir Neville Marriner, Christopher Hogwood, and Roger Norrington. Historic recordings from the early phonograph era capture interpretations influenced by period orchestras and modern symphony orchestras, while contemporary HIP (historically informed performance) ensembles have used reconstructions by Robert Levin and Franz Beyer. Editions continue to be issued by publishing houses such as Universal Edition, Eulenburg, and Henle Verlag, each foregrounding debates about Süssmayr's role and Mozart's autograph fragments, with ongoing scholarship appearing in journals associated with Grove Music Online, Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, and university musicology departments at Oxford University, University of Cambridge, and The Juilliard School.

Category:Compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart