Mozart's Requiem
April 25, 2009 — 8 pm
Sanders Theatre
Harvard-Radcliffe Chorus
Kevin Leong, HRC Conductor
Mara Bonde, Soprano
Deborah Rentz-Moore, Mezzo-soprano
Lawrence Jones, Tenor
Sumner Thompson, Baritone
Mozart,
Requiem, K626 (Completion by Robert D. Levin)
Wolfgang Amadè Mozart
Requiem, K626 (Completion by Robert D. Levin)
I. Origin and Sources of the Work
Mozart's Requiem—the composer's last and unfinished work—was commissioned by Count Franz von Wallsegg, who wished to have it performed in memory of his departed wife as his own composition. In order not to forfeit the handsome commission fee, Mozart's widow Constanze decided to have the work completed in secrecy, so that the finished version could be presented as her husband's final effort. The Requiem is known to the general public in the version undertaken immediately after Mozart's death by his pupil Franz Xaver Süssmayr.
The work in its traditional form, as finished by Süssmayr, consists of the fourteen sections listed above. Its musical sources are as follows:
The completed version of the Requiem consisted of Mozart's autograph of the INTROITUS and KYRIE (the latter with added orchestration) and Süssmayr's manuscript of the rest. Bearing a forged signature "di me W. A. Mozart mpr 1792" in Süssmayr's hand on the first page of the score, it was sent to the Count—after Constanze had it copied, in violation of the terms of the contract. (In further violation of the contract, she had the work published by Breitkopf & Härtel, in 1799.)
II. Questions of Authorship
A description of the sources does not answer the fundamental question as to whether any sections of the Requiem that are not in Mozart's hand were based on his ideas. Both Constanze and Süssmayr claimed that these movements were completely Süssmayr's work. Nonetheless, some specialists have insisted over the years that some of this music is of a quality that Süssmayr could not have produced unaided. There has always been a contrary view.
The attacks against Süssmayr's completion began in 1825, when the so-called "Requiem Controversy" erupted. Indeed, Süssmayr commits serious flaws, which are foreign to Mozart's idiom. These errors encompass grammatical and compositional issues, e.g., glaring parallel fifths in the orchestral accompaniment of the SANCTUS (m. 4, Violin I/Soprano), the Hosanna fugue's clumsy voice leading and insufficient length, and the reprise of the fugue after the Benedictus not in the original key of D major, but in B-flat major, which conflicts with normal eighteenth-century church music practice. Such obvious flaws, which characterize Süssmayr's entire completion, might easily prompt the conclusion that the SANCTUS/Hosanna, Benedictus, and AGNUS DEI are the exclusive product of Süssmayr's pen. This hypothesis, widely accepted in the scholarly community, is nonetheless challenged by revealing details in Süssmayr's version.
Süssmayr normally composed movement by movement, without regard for overall thematic integrity in a multi-movement work. In this regard he resembles the majority of his contemporaries, who seem to have favored apparent thematic variety to rigorous thematic economy even within movements. On the other hand, Mozart's Requiem fragment is characterized by tight motivic and structural relationships.
Given the lack of such thematic relationships in Süssmayr's own works, we would scarcely expect them to appear in his completion of the Requiem. However, the movements attributed to him display the same thematic unity found in Mozart's fragment. How is it possible that this motivic consistency can be observed only in a single work of Süssmayr? Moreover, within the parts attributed to Süssmayr there are unmistakable discrepancies between idiomatically Mozartean lines and incorrect voice leadings.
These findings give credence to the theory that the "few scraps of music" (Constanze Mozart), which Constanze gave to Süssmayr together with Mozart's manuscript, contained material not found in Mozart's draft. That such "scraps" existed can no longer be doubted since Wolfgang Plath's discovery of the sketch leaf mentioned above. We also know that Constanze and Georg Nikolaus Nissen, her second husband, destroyed many Mozart sketches in 1799. Whether these included Requiem sketches can no longer be ascertained. It is also quite possible that Mozart suggested certain ideas to Süssmayr at the keyboard. While such hypotheses are in the realm of speculation, the state of affairs described above cannot be reconciled with Süssmayr's exclusive authorship.
III. The Present Completion
The completion heard tonight seeks to respect both of the tendencies of the newer versions. On the one hand, the compositional problems of the Lacrimosa, the Amen fugue, and the movements surviving only in Süssmayr's hand have not been overlooked out of blind piety for their 200-year-old origin. On the other hand, the historical and performance tradition of the Requiem demands respect. A clearly drawn line of separation, in which everything except the contents of Mozart's autograph draft was to be considered spurious per se, was explicitly rejected. Quite the contrary: the goal was to revise not as much, but as little as possible, attempting in the revisions to observe the character, texture, voice leading, continuity, and structure of Mozart's music. The traditional version has been retained insofar as it agrees with idiomatic Mozartean practice.
As critical as the challenge of the movements requiring completion may be, the rescoring of the movements drafted by Mozart presents the greatest task of a new version. Süssmayr's violations of Mozart's style are manifest not only in the already cited grammatical errors, but also through the use of an overly thick orchestral texture. This weakens the ability of the choir and solo voices to function as the expressive focus of the work. The first priority, then, was a more transparent instrumentation, derived in the first instance from Mozart's other church music. The choir is placed in the foreground through the use of a two-part string texture (unison violins vis-à-vis unison viola and bass), or a three-part texture with independent parts for the two violins—which in Salzburg was necessary because violas were not used in the church orchestra.
The Lacrimosa underwent some light retouching and now leads into a non-modulating Amen fugue. Because Mozart's sketch prescribes an intricate, "difficult" counterpoint (note the voice crossings), a voice leading with considerable friction between the voices was intentionally chosen. This solution, with its prominent dissonances, seemed structurally and dramatically justified for the torment and anguish of the Last Judgment (the SEQUENCE).
The active violin part in the SANCTUS was inspired by the same movement in the C-Minor Mass, K 427. The cross-relation in the bass and the curious tonal discrepancies of mm. 6–10 have been eliminated through reworking. Now the chorus respects Mozart's practice in following a consistent path to the tonic. The newly composed Hosanna fugue displays the proportions of a Mozartean church fugue (again modeled after the C-Minor Mass).
In the Benedictus, the vocal quartet in mm. 3–18 has been retained as the heart of the reworked movement. Süssmayr's use of the brass—uncharacteristic for a solo vocal movement—has been deleted. The all too vague relationship between Süssmayr's middle and final orchestral interludes with the "et lux perpetua" passage from the INTROITUS encouraged the author to replace this indirect reference with a direct quotation. The recapitulation itself has been slightly revised, and a new transition, derived from the INTROITUS (mm. 50–54) and the Kyrie in D Minor, K 341 (mm. 54–56), leads to a shortened reprise of the Hosanna fugue in the original key of D major (not in B-flat major, as in Süssmayr's version). The shortened reprise of the fugue reflects Mozart's practice in the C-Minor Mass.
The structure of the AGNUS DEI has been retained, but the infelicities of Süssmayr's version have been averted in the second and third sections. The connection between the two constituent ideas ("Agnus Dei"—"dona eis Requiem") was accomplished differently. The course of the third section is derived from passages in the Recordare and the Hostias. Süssmayr's diminished seventh chord in m. 45—which produces voice leading problems for him and an unconvincing connection to the G-flat major chord that follows—has been replaced by a simple deceptive cadence on G-flat. The final measures have been expanded to provide a complete four-part choral imitation and Süssmayr's crescendo has been deleted.
In the Cum sanctis tuis fugue, Süssmayr's version does not let the phrase "quia pius es" appear until the last three measures. This treatment conflicts with the general church music practice of the eighteenth century, in which, apart from immediate repetitions of individual words, the entire phrase ("Cum sanctis tuis in aeternum quia pius es") should be set before the beginning of the phrase repeats. Süssmayr himself sets the entire sentence together in the Lux aeterna. This problem has been solved by revising the textual underlay.
Mozart's unfinished Requiem presents a breathtaking tableau of Baroque and Classical style. The present completion seeks a stylistically idiomatic restoration that fully respects its 200-year history. All of its changes seek to emphasize the spiritual and dramatic power of Mozart's fragment by placing it in a more focused light. As inadequate as such attempts must be, it is hoped that it will serve Mozart's spirit while honoring his craftsmanship.
© Copyright 2009
Robert D. Levin (www.music.fas.harvard.edu/faculty/levin.html)