Essay on Compositional Techniques in Mozart's Requiem

Amadeus Wolfgang Mozart’s requiem was his final masterpiece, despite being unfinished. Mozart finished the full score of Introitus, and had written the full vocal parts and bass line with an outline of the instrumentation for almost all of the Sequenz, which includes Dies Irae (Gutmann, 2009). Dies Irae was strongly influenced by the classical era because it was the era of freedom and experimentation.

The final composition of Mozart, The Requiem mass in D Minor, containing “Dies Irae,” is known to be one of his most powerful and commended works. This piece was composed in 1791 while Mozart was, unfortunately, on his death bed. However, he was unable to complete it so it was then passed on to his assistant and later finished by this man. The choral work can be very dark, for it concerns the Day of Wrath, when God will return to this earth and pass judgment on all creatures that remain, either granting them salvation or perpetual damnation to hell. This theme alone provides one with fear, thus it can be assumed that even

It is evident that most composers have made an attempt to stand against the test of time. Alas, most have failed to accomplish feat and their works have faded in the wind. However, there are those who stood against time and won. One famous composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart has accomplished this feat and his works are still remembered in today’s ominous society. One of his most famous work’s, Requiem, is still honored and heard throughout the entire world. Despite having partially completing it, Requiem is heavily influenced by Mozart’s musical style and can be compared to most of his famous works (Service). Although Requiem can be played in many different keys, I chose to listen to it in D minor, thus, attaining a darker, melancholic tone, which

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart baptized as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart lived from January 27, 1756 to December 5, 1791. Mozart was a very influential and prolific composer of more than 600 works, including symphonies, concertante, chamber, piano, opera, and choral music. Regarded as a child prodigy, Mozart composed and performed in the European courts from the age of five, and was engaged at the Salzburg court at 17. Mozart’s musical style can be classified as Classical, although he learned from many of his contemporaries throughout his musical career. In order to better understand Mozart’s genius it is best to begin looking at his earliest contributions to the musical world as a child. From there, an exploration of his

In the sixteenth century, the Protestant Church of England was using new music and hymns that would still be used today. According to “Elizabethan”, this time was the “high point in the English Liturgical Style”. The Mass Ordinary was created in the fifteenth century. There are five sections that go in a cycle basing each movement on the same musical material. The five sections, according to Raeburn, include Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei (11). For more somber religious events, such as funerals, a requiem mass would be used. This mass was relatively peaceful and the melody would tend to wander. Ongaro tells un in his book “Music of the Renaissance” that choirs in this era had up to sixteen members that would dance, sing, and act (32). Religious music was the work of many composers that would give us hymns and musical works that we use

The two most common rites of the Mass are the Tridentine rite and the Novus Ordo rite. The Tridentine rite was used before Vatican II and is now, mostly, replaced by the Novus Ordo rite. These two rites have many similarities and differences.

Mozart’s Requiem is “one of the most performed and studied pieces of music in history” (Stango, n.d.). The story behind the start of this piece begins with Count Franz von Walsegg, who commissioned a requiem mass for his wife Anna (who had passed away). Throughout his work on this piece, Mozart began to get so emotionally involved with the piece that he believed that he was writing a death mass for himself. Mozart died December 5, 1791, with only half of the Requiem finished (through Lacrimosa). Franz Xaver Süssmayr finished the Requiem based on Mozart’s specifications from notes and what he had already written. The completed work is dated 1792 by Süssmayr and was performed for the first time on January 2, 1793. Mozart’s intent for this

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven are two of the greatest composers ever to write music. Both men lived in the early 18th and 19th century, but their music and influences are still felt today. The men faced similar experiences, yet they both lead very different lives. All together the pieces that these men composed amounts to over 300 published, and unpublished works of art. The people of their time period often had mixed feelings about these men, some “complained that Mozart’s music presented them with too many ideas and that his melodies moved from one to the next faster than audiences could follow, yet the ideas themselves seem effortless and natural, clear and

Mozart’s Requiem is one of his most well-known pieces, both for its beauty and for the fact that it was his final piece. There are many stories and myths surrounding this piece, its composition, and its effect of the man. It might also be considered a forgery, since Mozart didn’t actually write the majority of the piece.

In the last decade, the problem of Mozart’s Requiem has divided itself into three categories which most of the scholars have majored on in an attempt to come up with a clear analysis of the arguments and various evidence. The three main problems include the authenticity problem viewed in a narrower sense, the instrumentation problem and the dating problem. According to Friedrich Blume, the question of authenticity comes in when the question of which parts were completed by Mozart and the other parts that were completed by the another composer. It is hard to determine if the other composer followed the concerns that Mozart would wish to be addressed. The issue of instrumentation also becomes of concern in the sense that whether the Sussmayr’s manuscript of the whole Requiem uses the instrumentation that Mozart had indicated or whether it is out of the creativity of the master. The dating problem was whether Mozart finished the work when he was on his deathbed or whether he had composed the Requiem before he fell ill. Such problems of the Requiem could only be answered by his close friends who died before the controversy arose. Looking further into this investigation this document will analyze the problems of the Requiem based on arguments from the five scholars: Thomas Bauman, Paul Moseley, Simon Keefe, Christoph Wolff, and Richard Maunder.

Every time I hear about famous composers, like Bach or Mozart, the names themselves put me to sleep quicker than any anesthesia ever could. So, it was no surprise that I absolutely dreaded the idea of seeing a piece written by any of these composers. I attended Mozart’s requiem at the Seattle symphony, I grunted at the idea of paying $38 for something I wasn’t even interested in. How dare they charge an absurd amount for something that was written before time itself? I took my seat and looked out at the sea of older retired couples and couldn’t believe this would be my fate someday. Ludovic Morlot was conducting for the evening, I have never heard the name in my life and only learned of it from the magazine I was handed before taking my seat. Morlot is French born musician, and currently the music director for the Seattle symphony.

Thesis: Wolfgang Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 in G minor has been admired and analyzed numerous times. Although it has been criticized by many, I believe deeply interpreting this piece will aid in a better understanding of the music during the Classical

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as he is generally known, was baptized in a Salzburg Cathedral on the day after his birth as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus. The first and last given names come from his godfather Joannes Theophilus Pergmayr, although Mozart preferred the Latin form of this last name, Amadeus, more often Amadé, or the Italiano Amadeo, and occasionally the Deutsch Gottlieb. Whatever the case may be, he rarely - if ever - used Theophilus in his signature. The name Chrysostomus originates from St. John Chrysostom, whose feast falls on the 27th of January. The name Wolfgang was given to him in honor of his maternal grandfather, Wolfgang Nikolaus Pertl.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the Austrian wunderkind, was an accomplished and magnificently gifted musician. He is attributed with the composition of 22 operas in his 35-year life, but his most successful theatre work was his last. Die Zauberflöte, completed in 1791, was written specifically for the Theater auf der Wieden in Vienna. The theatre housed a troupe of actors led by Emmanuel Schikaneder, a versatile actor and writer who crafted the libretto of Zauberflöte and portrayed Papageno at its premiere. Zauberflöte was written in the singspiel operatic style; the libretto is in the vernacular – German – language, spoken dialogue is interspersed with recitative and aria, and there is a folk-like strophic style in the music. Schikaneder had

cyclic Mass, which is a work featuring the major sections of the liturgy (the Ordinary) as one