I so appreciate Butt's appreciation of all of the versions and musicologists who have worked on the Requiem and speak with respect for them without saying, like some do, that they were "less than" and wrong. Butt makes it clear that he, like others, does his best to piece the Requiem together. Bravo.
The clumsy ‘Amen’ plagal cadence in D-major closing out the ‘Suessmayrean’ end of the Lacrymosa fragment is hard to take now that (Berlin, 1960) a skizze in Mozart’s own hand turn’d up with a 16-bar Amen Double Fugue exposition in d-minor on the same 12-staff sheet (tho’ the bottom two staves have been razor’d off leaving only 10 staves) as part of the Rex Tremendae & the theme of the Overture to Die Zauberfloete on the same sheet (dated mid to late Sept 1791); Mozart was able to set down ‘in neat’ only the first 8-bars of the Lacrymosa (Suessmayr lied to Breitkopf &c in his notorious letter of 8 Feb 1800 when he claim’d his ‘completion’ (ganz new verfertigt) began at bar 7-(See Mozart’s autograph fragment of the Lacrymosa in Codex 17561a); bars 9-22 seem perfectly Mozartean in the vocal parts & figur’d bass but Suessmayr chose to set the wrong words (Dona EIS !! Re-Qui-EM !!) at the recapitulation (mark’d fortissimo) which surely would have been set (had M. liv’d to put the finishing-touches on his Requiem...) to the words ‘Lacrymosa !! Dies Illa !! and would have ended the Lacrymosa pianissimo after adding say 12-18 bars more-then leading into the 3/8 Allegro Double Fugue Amen CATB Chorus which would have provided the Dies Irae Sequentia Trope with (7) movements not (6) as it now stands; interestingly the Osanna in D following the Sanctus is only really workable for the first 16-bars before it collapses like a spoilt soufflé-suggesting he was likewise working from a 16-bar skizze of Mozart himself (with just enough room to allow all 4 voices to enter...) and Constanza admitted that she handed Suessmayr a pile of skizze she found in his stand up Writing Table-Desk in Jan 1792...after Eybler had given up (he attempted bars 9/10 of his own invention at the Lacrymosa before throwing in the towel) & Suessmayr claim’d to have heard Mozart play through those parts not set down fully in writing to him on his klavier so Suessmayr in many places (opening 10 bars of the Agnus Dei & the closing few bars including the setting of the word Sempiternam (which he mark’d fortissimo instead of ‘Sotto Voce’ for example) was using Mozart’s own plan for the completion but he also fell short of the mark in many obvious places too (‘The cows are on the hill again not knowing how to get down again !’ Constanza said she heard M. shout at poor Suessmayr from the other room when he was sketching some secci recitativi for Mozart to include in ‘Tito’ in August 1791)-but we shall remain grateful to Suessmayr for cobbling together a performing score that is at least ‘passable’ - tho’ several attempts to complete the Amen Fugue in d-minor to close out the Dies Irae Sequentia Trope are now in the public domain (Maunder, Levin etal.)
I am rather new to listening Dunedin Consort but I already love your work alot. This recording is also amazing too... Probably the best Agnus Dei, Recordare and Confutatis I have ever listened. But Rex Tremenda and Lacrymosa feels lacking. Hope you take this as a constructive criticisim, which I really am aiming for. Regards,
Apparently all Mozarts work was written without corrections, or changes. It was written just like dictation, which means he walked around with all that glorious music rolling around in his mind constantly. I wonder if he could ever turn it off. Ever get a break from his own genius. His music is so wonderful, it reaches into your soul and does all sorts of weird things. I think he would have loved to live in our time!
I so appreciate Butt's appreciation of all of the versions and musicologists who have worked on the Requiem and speak with respect for them without saying, like some do, that they were "less than" and wrong. Butt makes it clear that he, like others, does his best to piece the Requiem together. Bravo.
The passion that man has talking about Mozart's work is amazing....
Fascinating interview. Butt always enthuses the listener.
One of my idols, absolutely fascinating, just love him.
The clumsy ‘Amen’ plagal cadence in D-major closing out the ‘Suessmayrean’ end of the Lacrymosa fragment is hard to take now that (Berlin, 1960) a skizze in Mozart’s own hand turn’d up with a 16-bar Amen Double Fugue exposition in d-minor on the same 12-staff sheet (tho’ the bottom two staves have been razor’d off leaving only 10 staves) as part of the Rex Tremendae & the theme of the Overture to Die Zauberfloete on the same sheet (dated mid to late Sept 1791); Mozart was able to set down ‘in neat’ only the first 8-bars of the Lacrymosa (Suessmayr lied to Breitkopf &c in his notorious letter of 8 Feb 1800 when he claim’d his ‘completion’ (ganz new verfertigt) began at bar 7-(See Mozart’s autograph fragment of the Lacrymosa in Codex 17561a); bars 9-22 seem perfectly Mozartean in the vocal parts & figur’d bass but Suessmayr chose to set the wrong words (Dona EIS !! Re-Qui-EM !!) at the recapitulation (mark’d fortissimo) which surely would have been set (had M. liv’d to put the finishing-touches on his Requiem...) to the words ‘Lacrymosa !! Dies Illa !! and would have ended the Lacrymosa pianissimo after adding say 12-18 bars more-then leading into the 3/8 Allegro Double Fugue Amen CATB Chorus which would have provided the Dies Irae Sequentia Trope with (7) movements not (6) as it now stands; interestingly the Osanna in D following the Sanctus is only really workable for the first 16-bars before it collapses like a spoilt soufflé-suggesting he was likewise working from a 16-bar skizze of Mozart himself (with just enough room to allow all 4 voices to enter...) and Constanza admitted that she handed Suessmayr a pile of skizze she found in his stand up Writing Table-Desk in Jan 1792...after Eybler had given up (he attempted bars 9/10 of his own invention at the Lacrymosa before throwing in the towel) & Suessmayr claim’d to have heard Mozart play through those parts not set down fully in writing to him on his klavier so Suessmayr in many places (opening 10 bars of the Agnus Dei & the closing few bars including the setting of the word Sempiternam (which he mark’d fortissimo instead of ‘Sotto Voce’ for example) was using Mozart’s own plan for the completion but he also fell short of the mark in many obvious places too (‘The cows are on the hill again not knowing how to get down again !’ Constanza said she heard M. shout at poor Suessmayr from the other room when he was sketching some secci recitativi for Mozart to include in ‘Tito’ in August 1791)-but we shall remain grateful to Suessmayr for cobbling together a performing score that is at least ‘passable’ - tho’ several attempts to complete the Amen Fugue in d-minor to close out the Dies Irae Sequentia Trope are now in the public domain (Maunder, Levin etal.)
I am rather new to listening Dunedin Consort but I already love your work alot. This recording is also amazing too... Probably the best Agnus Dei, Recordare and Confutatis I have ever listened. But Rex Tremenda and Lacrymosa feels lacking. Hope you take this as a constructive criticisim, which I really am aiming for.
Regards,
So can anyone tell me what parts of the requiem were done by mozart?
Kinda depressed at the subscriber count. But; quantity is not quality, and here we are.
Blissimo.
Apparently all Mozarts work was written without corrections, or changes. It was written just like dictation, which means he walked around with all that glorious music rolling around in his mind constantly. I wonder if he could ever turn it off. Ever get a break from his own genius. His music is so wonderful, it reaches into your soul and does all sorts of weird things. I think he would have loved to live in our time!