Mozart's Requiem

[Forte]

Mozart's "Requiem" is such a brilliant masterpiece! The powerful vocals, the inspiring accompanyment...all meld together in a truly spectacular way. I could not tell you how many hours of my life I have spent listening to it.

What do you think of it? and which are your favourite parts?

[Will Kirk]

I absolutely adore the second part of the first 3 sections. Heh, I practically adore the entire thing

[Shiva]

I love Mozart's Requiem. It's probably my favorite piece that Mozart ever composed. I love all parts of the Requiem, but my most favorite parts would be:

• Kyrie eleison
  
• Tuba Mirum
  
• Recordare
  
• Domine Jesu Christe
  
• Benedictus
  
• Agnus Dei

[val]

The Requiem is a beautiful work, but some parts were not composed by Mozart. Mozart finished the first two parts, Requiem and Kyrie, and almost all the Sequence, from the Dies Irae to the Confutatis.
Other parts were finished by Süssmair, a friend of Mozart (and perhaps lover of Constance).

[Joshua Yu]

Originally Posted by val

The Requiem is a beautiful work, but some parts were not composed by Mozart. Mozart finished the first two parts, Requiem and Kyrie, and almost all the Sequence, from the Dies Irae to the Confutatis.
Other parts were finished by Süssmair, a friend of Mozart (and perhaps lover of Constance).

Mozart completed until the middle of Lacrimosa. Süssmayr only added the last line of "Amen" and completed Domine Jesu Christe and the remaining with the sketch of Mozart.
Süssmayr was a student of Mozart. Mozart loves this student and even has one of his sons' name the same with Süssmayr, Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart. Later, the two survived sons of Mozart received musical instructions form Süssmayr.

[Boneman]

I noticed when I played this a few years ago that the piece was heavily doubled between instruments and orchestra.

[MaestroX]

The story behind it is very interesting: Mozart received a comission from a mysterious visitor, asking for a requiem. Mozart took it desperately because at the time, he was very poor. He was also abusing alcohol and was growing ill with (supposedly) typhus fever. As he wrote it he began to fade away. Eventually he would just work in tears. Strangely, he wrote the requiem looking for peace in death, not grief and anger like all the aerlier composers. The libretto sugests otherwise, but the libretto was the classic Catholic death mass, not his own lyrics.
Supposedly he died halfway through it, on the 7th movement. I read that on this movement (Lachrymosa), he and a group of singers practiced it while working, while he was on his sickbed! He himself sang the alto line.
He left notes for his pupil Sussmayer on all the unfinished parts.

It turns out, the messenger was a steward for Count Franz von Walsegg, who wanted to steal the requiem as his own work. He was foiled because Mozart put his signature on every page!

But it's so sad...Mozart died so suddenly and young, and with such sadness! All for nothing, too...if he'd lived, can you even imagine what he could have done?

[Will Kirk]

I wonder if Salieri was responsible for Mozart's death. I guess we'll never know

[Joshua Yu]

Originally Posted by Will Kirk

I wonder if Salieri was responsible for Mozart's death. I guess we'll never know

He claimed himself yes. That's why he was sent for treatments.

[Student]

Originally Posted by Joshua Yu

He claimed himself yes. That's why he was sent for treatments.

That's a myth.

Actually towards the end of his life rumours did circulate that he killed Mozart, but he denied these. Later nationalism between Austria and Italy made him out to be a bad guy, but Salieri probably wasn't.

I also want to give some credit to the poor man. In his own way he was as important if not more important to music than Mozart, not as a composer but as a teacher.

Originally Posted by Grove

Salieri, who benefited so much from his teachers and mentors, devoted much of his energy to teaching, especially after retiring from operatic composition. As a teacher of singers he specialized in the development of brilliant coloratura sopranos; Catharina Cavalieri and Therese Gassmann (Florian Gassmann's daughter) were among his pupils. With Beethoven, Schubert and many other young composers who came to him for lessons...

He was Schuberts primary teacher through much of the younger man's life and he was instrumental in shaping the artist that Beethoven became. In other words his historical importance cannot be understated.

As a composer Salieri was inferior to Mozart, but as a teacher he was infinitely superior to Amadeus. This world needs good teachers as much, if not more, than it needs brilliant composers.