Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Requiem in D minor, K. 626

- Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 -- 5 December 1791) - Orchestra: English Baroque Soloists - Choir: Monteverdi Choir - Conductor: John Eliot Gardiner - Soloists: Barbara Bonney (soprano), Anne Sofie von Otter (contralto), Hans Peter Blochwitz (tenor), Willard White (bass) - Year of recording: 1990 Requiem in D minor for soloists, chorus & orchestra, K. 626, written in 1791. This version is the Süssmayr completion of the Requiem, with the following structure: 00:00 - I. Introitus: Requiem aeternam (choir and soprano solo) 04:44 - II. Kyrie eleison (choir) ----- III. Sequentia: (text based on sections of the Dies Irae) 07:15 - Dies irae (choir) 09:01 - Tuba mirum (soprano, contralto, tenor and bass solo) 12:09 - Rex tremendae majestatis (choir) 14:20 - Recordare, Jesu pie (soprano, contralto, tenor and bass solo) 19:02 - Confutatis maledictis (choir) 21:17 - Lacrimosa dies illa (choir) ----- IV. Offertorium: 24:05 - Domine Jesu Christe (choir with solo quartet) 27:38 - Versus: Hostias et preces (choir) ----- V. Sanctus: 31:35 - Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth (choir) 32:58 - Benedictus (solo quartet, then choir) 38:12 - VI. Agnus Dei (choir) ----- VII. Communio: 41:25 - Lux aeterna (soprano solo and choir) The Requiem was composed in Vienna in 1791 and left unfinished at the composer’s death on the 5th of December. A completion dated 1792 by Franz Xaver Süssmayr was delivered to Count Franz von Walsegg, who had anonymously commissioned the piece for a requiem mass to commemorate the 14th of February anniversary of his wife’s death. The autograph manuscript shows the finished and orchestrated introit in Mozart’s hand, as well as detailed drafts of the Kyrie and the sequence Dies Irae as far as the first nine bars of “Lacrimosa“, and the offertory. It cannot be shown to what extent Süssmayr may have depended on now lost “scraps of paper“ for the remainder; he later claimed the Sanctus and Agnus Dei as his own. Walsegg probably intended to pass the Requiem off as his own composition, the bulk of this copy derives from the hand of Franz Süssmayr. The Requiem contains five sections, each capped by a fugue: Requiem/Kyrie, Sequence (“Dies Irae“), Offertory, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei. Throughout, choral writing drives Mozart’s music; even the four soloists rarely sing alone. The darkly colored orchestra supports the choir with often vivid motives. This pictorial aspect is most evident in the Sequence: “Tuba mirum“ (solo trombone), “Rex tremendae“ (regal dotted-rhythms), “Confutatis“ (fiery accompaniment), and “Lachrymosa“ (sighing strings). Not only do individual movements display an extraordinary level of motivic unity, Mozart carefully creates motivic relationships across the entire Requiem. The very first melody sung by the basses (“Requiem aeternam“), for instance, is repeated at the very end and also echoes throughout the work; the opening melody of “Dies irae“ translates into major mode to open the “Sanctus.“ Mozart is never afraid, however, of acknowledging his debt to earlier traditions of church music. His fugues deliberately reference Bach, and in the first movement alone he quotes from Michael Haydn’s Requiem, Handel’s funeral anthem for Queen Caroline, Messiah, and the Gregorian chant known as the “Pilgrim’s Tone.“