The Requiem from 1791 is Mozart's last composition. Although only about two-thirds of it was actually written by Mozart, it is one of his most popular and highly regarded works. Mozart died while composing it. Since it was a commissioned work, Joseph Eybler and Franz Xaver Süßmayr, students of Mozart, completed the Requiem at the urgent request of Constanze Mozart, the composer's widow, as she needed the money that had been promised by the client. Not only have the quality of the subsequent additions become the subject of heated debate, also the unusual circumstances of the commission and the temporal connection of this requiem mass with Mozart's early death have stimulated lavish myth-making. I was going to skip the Requiem, as it is rather popular and also only partly by Mozart, but the start of the music (genuine Mozart) is indeed very good, and on top of that, its background forms a nice story...
In the course of 1791, Mozart was commissioned to compose a Requiem through intermediaries acting for the eccentric Count Franz von Walsegg, and received half of the payment in advance. Von Walsegg's wife Anna had died on Feb. 14, 1791, and as an avid music lover, he wanted to perform a requiem composition in her honor at a memorial service. The requiem was to be delivered anonymously so that Von Walsegg could pass it off as his own work (as he apparently also had done with other music). As a model for his requiem setting, Mozart kept in mind the Requiem of Michael Haydn, the younger brother of Joseph Haydn.
While working on the Requiem, Mozart's health quickly deteriorated and he became seriously ill. By the time of his death on December 5, 1791, he had written down only the opening movement of the Introit (Requiem aeternam) with all orchestral and vocal parts. The following Kyrie and most of the Dies irae sequence (from the Dies irae to the Confutatis) were completed only in the vocal parts and the figured bass; in addition, several important orchestral parts (such as the trombone solo in the Tuba mirum, and more often the voice of the first violins) were briefly sketched. The last movement of the sequence, the Lacrimosa, broke off after eight measures and remained incomplete. The next two movements of the Offertory, the Domine Jesu Christe and the Hostias, were again elaborated in the vocal parts and partly in the continuo. But Sanctus with Benedictus, Agnus Dei and Communio were completely missing.
Mozart's widow, Constanze Mozart, was understandably very anxious that the incomplete work be completed so that she would not have to repay the advance payment and receive the second half of the purchase sum. She therefore commissioned several students of Mozart to complete it. At first, she turned to Joseph Eybler, who worked on the orchestration of the movements from the Dies irae to the Lacrimosa, but then returned the commission for unknown reasons. Next, the work was entrusted to another young composer and student of Mozart, Franz Xaver Süßmayr, who could draw on Eybler's work for the orchestration. He completed the orchestration of the sequence as well as the Offertory, finished the Lacrimosa, and composed other movements: Sanctus, Benedictus, and Agnus Dei. Then he completed the Communio (Lux aeterna) by repeating the two opening movements, which Mozart had still composed himself, and underlaying them with the text of the Lux aeterna. He made a neat copy of the Requiem to deliver to Count Franz von Walsegg, and forged Mozart's signature under the composition, adding the date of 1792 (!). By the way, it is possible that other composers also helped Süßmayr complete the requiem. Constanze was properly paid the final fee by the count, which was important for securing her future as a widow.
The orchestra employed lacks the high woodwinds (flutes, oboes) and
French horns, and instead the dark tone of the basset horns is employed,
which leads automatically to a sombre mood.
From the beginning, the composition of the Mozart Requiem was surrounded by legends. It was rumored that the commission had been given Mozart by a "gray messenger," who was seen by the ill Mozart as a messenger from the afterlife, who had been sent to him to announce his end. He then worked obsessively day and night and until he fainted, because he believed that he was "working on this piece for his own death celebration." Another rumor linked with this was that Mozart had fallen victim to a poisoning, possibly by his rival Antonio Salieri. This fiction has played a central role in the reception of the work from the early 19th century to the present day, from Alexander Pushkin's drama Mozart and Salieri (which served as the basis for Rimsky-Korsakov's opera of the same name) to Miloš Forman's film Amadeus. The world is full of lies...
The mixed authorship (Mozart's pupils struggling to cope with his overwhelming legacy) gives the work a somewhat uncomfortable feel. One could think that there is not enough of Mozart in the work to justify the many performances it receives. But then listen to the first bars of the opening of the Requiem, definitely written by Mozart himself: these could well be the most moving bars ever written...
Listen to the Orchestre National de France and the Choeur de Radio France conducted by James Gaffigan,
Choral Masterworks