Requiem (Mozart)

Requiem (Mozart)
Public domain · source
Name	Requiem in D minor, K. 626
Composer	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Caption	Posthumous portrait of Mozart
Key	D minor
Catalogue	K. 626
Genre	Mass, Requiem
Composed	1791
Performed	Vienna, 1791 (private)
Duration	c. 50–70 minutes

Requiem (Mozart) is the posthumous Requiem mass in D minor, K. 626, associated with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, composed in the last year of his life and left unfinished at his death. Commissioned anonymously and later completed by others, the work has become central to the repertories of Vienna concert life, Salzburg musical heritage, Classical period sacred composition and studies of authorship controversies involving figures such as Franz Xaver Süssmayr, Leopold Mozart, Antonio Salieri, Joseph Haydn and Ludwig van Beethoven.

Background and Composition

The commission that produced the Requiem involved patrons and intermediaries from Vienna society such as the nobleman Count Franz von Walsegg, the copyist Johann Nepomuk von Eybler, the publisher Artaria and the impresario milieu centered on Theater an der Wien, with Mozart working in parallel on operas like La clemenza di Tito, piano concertos, and chamber pieces for patrons including Karl Theodor von Dalberg and Emperor Leopold II. During 1791 Mozart balanced secular commissions such as Die Zauberflöte and the opera seria milieu around Prague while receiving the shadowy Requiem commission delivered through intermediaries linked to salons of Vienna and charitable foundations allied to Imperial court musical practice. Mozart's late style reflects influences from Baroque liturgical models like Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel while absorbing contemporary trends from colleagues including Joseph Haydn and Antonio Salieri.

Authorship and Completion Controversy

After Mozart's death on 5 December 1791 the Requiem remained incomplete, prompting debates implicating figures such as Franz Xaver Süssmayr, who produced a performing version, and other contemporaries like Johann Nepomuk Maelzel, Emanuel Schikaneder, Michael Puchberg and Constanze Mozart regarding payment and provenance. Scholarly controversy has involved twentieth-century editors and musicologists including Alfred Einstein, Rudolf Elvers, Hermann Abert, Nicholas Kenyon and David Black, with forensic study by institutions such as the Mozarteum and archives in Salzburg revealing sketches, autograph fragments, and attributions contested by proponents of reconstructions by Franz Beyer, Robert Levin, Roger Norrington and Michael Ostrzyga. Theories alleging involvement by Antonio Salieri, rivalries with Leopold Mozart or machinations of the Habsburg court persist in popular narratives alongside academic rebuttals citing documentary evidence from the Imperial Court records and correspondence with Constanze.

Structure and Movements

The Requiem follows the Roman Catholic Requiem mass sequence—Introitus, Kyrie, Sequence (Dies irae), Offertory, Sanctus, Benedictus, Agnus Dei—organized into movements with distinct tempi, keys and orchestration in D minor and related keys. Surviving autograph material for movements such as the Introitus and Kyrie shows Mozart's handwriting and orchestral indications, while movements completed by Süssmayr, including the Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei, exhibit stylistic differences noted by analysts like Charles Rosen and Donald Tovey. Movements contain choral-writing, solo episodes for soprano, alto, tenor and bass and orchestral tuttis featuring strings, oboes, bassoons, horns and timpani, with contrapuntal sections recalling Bach and dramatic gestures linked to Handel.

Performance History and Reception

The Requiem entered the repertory through private performances in Vienna and memorial services connected to figures such as Emperor Leopold II and later public concerts across Europe in cities like London, Paris, Berlin and Prague. Nineteenth-century reception involved promulgation by conductors and impresarios including Franz Liszt, Felix Mendelssohn, Hector Berlioz and Gustav Mahler, while editions by publishers such as Breitkopf & Härtel and scholars at the British Library shaped performance practice. Twentieth- and twenty-first-century performances have been influenced by historically informed practice advocates like Nikolaus Harnoncourt, John Eliot Gardiner, Christopher Hogwood and modern conductors Herbert von Karajan, Leonard Bernstein, Karl Böhm and Zubin Mehta, provoking debates about authenticity, orchestration, vocal forces and liturgical function in venues ranging from St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna to Carnegie Hall.

Musical Analysis and Style

Analysts have noted Mozart's fusion of late Classical period clarity with contrapuntal devices drawn from Baroque models, producing expressive use of modality, chromaticism, dramatic tempo contrasts, and motivic unity across movements. Thematic links between the Dies irae sequence and the Lacrimosa reveal motivic economy comparable to Mozart's operatic theater works such as Don Giovanni and Le nozze di Figaro, while contrapuntal passages evoke Bach and Handel in fugues and voice leading analyzed by scholars like Alfred Einstein and Gustav Nottebohm. Orchestration balances chamber textures with full-choral tuttis, and harmonic devices including Neapolitan sixths and diminished seventh progressions align the Requiem with late works such as String Quintet in C major, K. 515 and Clarinet Concerto in A major, K. 622 in terms of maturity and expressivity.

Editions and Reconstructions

Numerous editions and reconstructions have been produced by editors and musicologists including Franz Xaver Süssmayr (traditional completion), Franz Beyer, Robert Levin, Nicholas Kenyon, Roger Norrington, Benno Ziegler, Ernst Hess, Hans Redlich and contemporary scholars at institutions like the Mozarteum Foundation Salzburg and university departments in Oxford, Cambridge and Harvard University. Modern critical editions attempt to integrate autograph fragments kept in collections such as the Austrian National Library and the Salzburg Mozarteum while offering variant readings for conductors influenced by the historically informed performance movement represented by Christopher Hogwood and John Eliot Gardiner. Debates over authenticity, editorial intervention, and performance practice continue in journals and conferences hosted by bodies like the International Musicological Society and national archives.

Category:Compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart