Chapter XLV: The Requiem (2)

I have seen nothing in Süssmayr's works which can justify me in ascribing to him the conception of this movement; much, on the contrary, to convince me that the chief ideas at least are Mozart's, and that Süssmayr can hardly have had a more important share in this movement than in the earlier ones. His whole statement loses, no doubt, its full credibility if a well-grounded doubt can be thrown on any one point; but I should not like to assert with confidence that in the Sanctus and Benedictus Süssmayr must have availed himself of sketches by Mozart.

The repetition of the first movement at the conclusion of the Mass was not unusual at the time. Hasse in his Requiem intones the Lux æterna to the same chorale as the Te decet, and then repeats the Requiem; Zelenka does the same; Jomelli repeats the Requiem, but adds a fresh conclusion to it. Contemplating that portion of the Requiem which Mozart completed, or which he left in such a state that to the initiated it is easy to distinguish his handiwork,

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we have no hesitation in placing this work on the pinnacle of that artistic perfection to which the great works of Mozart's later years had attained.[67] We see revealed the depth of feeling, the nobility of beauty, the mastery of form, the complete spiritual and mental absorption in the task before him which have combined to produce this marvellous creation. A comparison of the Requiem with other similar compositions, both by Mozart himself and his contemporaries, serves to emphasise the vast superiority of the former;[68] for Mozart even here does not absolutely reject the forms hallowed by long tradition; he shows his individual genius all the more strongly by keeping within them. Still less does he run counter to the views which the Requiem, by virtue of its position in the Catholic ritual, is meant to express, by any endeavour of his own to go further or to introduce something peculiar to himself; that full, unfettered devotion which is the indispensable condition of genuine artistic production is never disturbed, but human emotion, religious belief, and artistic conception go hand in hand in fullest harmony. On this unity rests the significance of the Requiem, for on this ground alone could Mozart's individuality arrive at full expression, and--working freely and boldly, yet never without consciousness of the limits within which it moved--produce the masterpiece which reveals at every point the innermost spirit of its author. In this sense we may indorse his own expression, that he wrote the Requiem for himself; it is the truest and most genuine

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expression of his nature as an artist; it is his imperishable monument.[69]

The Requiem met with immediate recognition and approval. "If Mozart had written nothing except his violin quintets and his Requiem," Haydn used to say, "they would have rendered his name immortal."[70] It was more especially received with enthusiasm in North Germany, where church music, unmindful of J. S. Bach, had degenerated into all the triviality and insipidity which a slavish adherence to form could produce. It was with delight and astonishment that men recognised the union of classical severity of form with depth of poetic feeling--an oasis in the desert to those who had long wandered in a waste of sand. The old organist, Kittel, at Erfurt, a pupil of Sebastian Bach, received one day the organ part of a Requiem which he did not know; the further he proceeded in it, the more entranced he became, and on inquiring the composer's name, and hearing that it was Mozart, he could scarcely believe his ears, having been accustomed to regard Mozart only as the composer of popular operas which he knew nothing about. He procured the operas however, and was unprejudiced enough to recognise and admire in them the composer of the Requiem. So I was told by my music-master, Apel, Kittel's pupil.

Hiller, grown grey in reverence for Hasse and Graun, lifted his hands in amazement on first hearing the Requiem, and soon brought it to performance at Leipzig.[71] At Berlin the Singakademie produced the Requiem at their first public performance, October 8; 1800,[72] in memory of their founder, Fasch, who had lately died; it has ever since been chosen, both there[73] and elsewhere, when it is sought to honour the memory of great men, especially of musicians,[74] and Zelter

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expressed his opinion that the Requiem would never be brought into disfavour either by adverse criticism or mediocre performance.[75] Cherubini[76] produced the Requiem in Paris in the year 1804,[77] and it has comforted and sustained innumerable mourners,[78] not only throughout Europe, but in the New World.[79]

FOOTNOTES OF CHAPTER XLV.

[Footnote 1: The more detailed accounts of the composition and completion of the Requiem have been given chiefly on the authority of Süssmayr (A. M. Z., IV., p. 2) and Stadler (Vertheidigung der Echtheit des Mozartschen Requiems, mit zwei Nachtr.; Wien, 1827), and they have been verified and elucidated by the discovery of the score delivered over to Count Walsegg. Cf. Deutsche Mus. Ztg., 1861, p. 380. The narrative in the text, therefore, is given without regard to the dust-clouds of controversy in which a dispute carried on with so much animosity on all sides was sure to envelop the facts of the case.]

[Footnote 2: Mozart made the following declaration, May 30, 1790: "I, the undersigned, hereby declare that I consider the bearer of this, Herr Joseph Eybler, to be a worthy pupil of his famous master, Albrechtsberger, a thoroughly learned composer both in chamber and church music, experienced in the art of composition, and also an accomplished organ and pianoforte-player; in short, it is only to be regretted that young musicians of his talents and attainments are so seldom to be met with" (N. Berl. Mus. Ztg., 1858, p. 244).]

[Footnote 3: Köchel, Recensionen, 1864, p. 753.]

[Footnote 4: Stadler, Nachtr., p. 40.]

[Footnote 5: These two movements are written on five sheets of twelve-line Italian music-paper in quarto, which Mozart generally used, and are, according to his custom _folioed_, not _paged_, from one to ten, the last three pages being left blank. The signature is "Di me W. A. Mozart, 1792." This mistake, or anticipation of the date, was destined to give rise to much confusion.]

[Footnote 6: An accurate copy of these sheets by Mozart was published by André in 1829, with the title: "Partitur des Dies iræ welche Abbé Stadler bald nach Mozart's Tode fur sich copirt hatte,--Hostias von W. A. Mozart's Requiem, so wie solche Mozart eigenhändig geschrieben und Abbé Stadler in genauer Uebereinstimmung mit dem Mozartschen Original copirt hat, nebst Vorschrift und Anhang." The "Anhang" is a similar sketch of the Requiem and Kyrie, evolved by André himself--a curious idea and a very useless labour.]

[Footnote 7: Stadler, Vertheidigung, p. 13.]

[Footnote 8: The sister and heiress of Count Walsegg, the Countess Sternberg, sold his collection of music to his steward, Leitner, from whom the score of the Requiem was obtained by his clerk, Karl Haag; it was bequeathed by the latter to Katharina Adelpoller. Commissary Novak, of Schottwien, who had formerly been steward to Count Walsegg, drew the attention of Count Moritz von Dietrichstein, Imperial Librarian, to the existence of the treasure, and it was purchased for fifty ducats and placed in the Library.]

[Footnote 9: A. M. Z., XLI., p. 81. N. Ztschr. f. Mus., X., p. 10. Cäcilia, XX., p. 279.]

[Footnote 10: J. F. von Mosel, Ueber die Original-Partitur de Requiem von W. A. Mozart (Wien, 1839). Cf. A. M. Z., XLI., p. 317.]

[Footnote 11: Niemetschek, who had his information from the widow, says that directly after Mozart's death the messenger demanded and received the work, "incomplete as it was" (p. 52). The Count himself signified that the Requiem was only Mozart's as far as the Sanctus.]

[Footnote 12: Càcilia, IV., p. 288.]

[Footnote 13: A. M. Z., I., p. 178.]

[Footnote 14: Stadler, Nachtr., p. 6.]

[Footnote 15: A. M. Z., XXIX., p. 520.]

[Footnote 16: Càcilia, IV., p. 308. The singer, Mariottini, of Dresden, made a copy of the Requiem, Kyrie, and Dies iræ, and appended the following observation: "L' Offertorio, il Sanctus e l' Agnus Dei non gl' ho transcritti, perche non mi anno parso essere del valore del precedente, ne credo ingannarmi nel crederli opera di un' altra penna" (Càcilia, VI., pp. 303, 310).]

[Footnote 17: Frederick William II. paid her 100 ducats for one (Càcilia, VI., p. 211).]

[Footnote 18: Hàfer relates that a "Thomaner" Jost, who wrote music very well, copied the score twice for the widow during her stay in Leipzig (Càcilia, IV., p. 297).]

[Footnote 19: Rochlitz, Für Freunde der Tonk., I., p. 25.]

[Footnote 20: In a letter to Härtel (October 10, 1799) she sends him a draft of such an appeal: "The noble Unknown, who, a few months before Mozart's death, commissioned him to compose a Requiem, not having declared himself during the seven years which have elapsed since that time, the widow of the composer gratefully accepts this silence as a permission to her to publish the work to her own advantage. At the same time she considers it as safer for herself, and more in accordance with the sentiments inspired in her by the noble patron of her late husband, to call upon him to express his wishes on the subject to her within three months through the Wiener, Hamburger, or Frankfurter Zeitung, at the expiration of which time she will consider herself justified in publishing the Requiem among the collected works of her late husband."]

[Footnote 21: The "Requiem Brevis" in D minor (237, Anh., K.), published by Simrock, of Bonn, under Mozart's name, may be at once pronounced spurious, having neither external nor internal credibility.]

[Footnote 23: A. M. Z., I. Int. Bl., p. 97. Stadler, Vertheidigung, p. 14.]

[Footnote 24: Nissen, Nachtrag, p. 169.]

[Footnote 25: There were only a few emendations in the score published by Breitkopf and Hàrtel in 1800, and these had been communicated to Hàrtel by the widow (August 6, 10, 1800; cf. A. M. Z., IV., p. 30). The revised copy served as a foundation for André's pianoforte arrangement, and his edition of the score (1827). In this the letters M. and S. distinguish what is Mozart's and what Sussmayr's. The preface was reprinted in the Càcilia (VI., p. 200).]

[Footnote 26: Stadler, Vertheidigung, p. 46.]

[Footnote 27: Even Seyfried only conjectures this (Càcilia, IV., p. 296).]

[Footnote 28: A searching notice, written by Schwencke and revised by Rochlitz, appeared after the publication of the score (A. M. Z., IV., p. 1). It was soon after translated into French in the Journal de Paris, and then noticed in the German papers as an example of French criticism (A. M. Z., XXX., p. 209).]

[Footnote 29: The minor compositions of the "Ave verum corpus" (Vol III., p. 281) and the Freemasonic Cantata (Vol. II., p. 408) complete this parallel.]

[Footnote 30: Cf. Lorenz, Deutsche Mus. Ztg., 1861, p. 257. A. Hahn, Mozart's Requiem (Bielef., 1867). Kriebitzsch, Fur Freunde d. Tonk., p. 61.]

[Footnote 31: Mich. Haydn has introduced the same into his unfinished Requiem, at the words "Te decet hymnus"; according to Rochlitz (A. M. Z., IV., p. 7) and Zelter (Briefw. m. Goethe, IV., p. 353 ) the chorale "Meine Seel erhebet den Herrn," is sung to this melody. The treatment of this passage is decided by the ritual. In Jomelli's Requiem both verses of the Psalm are intoned, in Hasse and Zelenka the first ("Te Jerusalem" in Asola; Proske's Musica Divina) only the words "Te decet hymnus in Sion in Pitoni both verses are freely composed.]

[Footnote 32: Rochlitz, Fur Freunde der Tonknnst, I., p. 159. A detailed analysis is given by Lobe (Compositionslehre, III., p. 195).]

[Footnote 33: According to Kàgeli the violent changes of key and arbitrary alternations of major and minor have turned the fugue into a barbarous confusion of sounds (Vorlesungen üb. Musik., p. 99).]

[Footnote 34: Cäcilia, III., p. 216.]

[Footnote 35: Schwencke, A. M. Z., IV., p. 8.]

[Footnote 36: The theme stands with its counter-theme in doubled counterpoint of the twelfth. It is perhaps worthy of note that the Christe begins in the minor passages a third above the Kyrie, and in its major passages a third below the Kyrie--an arrangement not wanting in original effect.]

[Footnote 37: Marx remarks, in answer to Weber's criticism (Lehre v. d. Mus. Compos. III., p. 500), that "here--following the whole spirit of the work--the point to be considered was not so much a literally faithful expression of the words as a thoroughly religious and solemn rounding and balancing of a whole section of the service, the prayer for the departed in all its amplitude of detail" (Cf. Berl. Mus. Ztg., 1825, p. 881).]

[Footnote 38: Stadler, Vertheidigung, p. 17.]

[Footnote 39: Chrysander, Händel, II., p. 436.]

[Footnote 40: Tucker, Schatz d. evang. Kirchenges., II., p. 151, No. 282.]

[Footnote 41: This has been already pointed out by Cramer (Anecd. sur Mozart, p. 26), whose attention was drawn to it by J. A. P. Schulz.]

[Footnote 42: G. C. P. Sievers says (Mozart u. Süssmayr, p. 15) that a kapellmeister at Ferrara told him that in one of Mozart's Masses a whole piece was copied from an early Italian master, which was confirmed by Santini; Sievers had forgotten the key of the Mass and the name of the ill-used composer. That Mozart should have inserted a strange piece in a Mass written for Salzburg Cathedral under the eye of his father is incredible. A. Schiffner asserted (A. M. Z., XLV., p. 581) that Handel and Mattheson, Telemann and Mozart, had all stolen from Reinhard Keiser. Al. Fuchs (Cäcilia, XXIII., p. 95) called on him for proof; Schiffner, who probably knew as little of Reiser's scores as did Mozart, made no response to the challenge.]

[Footnote 43: Ferd. Wolf, Ueb. die Lais, Sequenzen und Leiche, pp. 29, 76, 91.]

[Footnote 44: Schubiger, Die Sàngerschule St. Gallens, p. 39.]

[Footnote 45: Mohnike, Kirchen-u. litterar-histor. Studien u. Mittheilungen, I., p. 3.]

[Footnote 46: The translations have been collected by F. G. Lisco (Dies iræ, Hymnus auf das Weltgericht, Beitrag zur Hymnologie. Berlin, 1840).]

[Footnote 47: Hiller, in consequence of the unsatisfactory trombone-players, transposed the solo after bar 5 to the bassoons, which was copied in the printed score (Cäcilia, VIII., p. 54. Cf. A. M. Z., IV., p. 10).]

[Footnote 48: In this a very enthusiastic admirer of the Requiem (A. M. Z., XVI., p. 617) and (as to the close) Ulibicheff agree (I., p. 252).]

[Footnote 49: Indescribably beautiful is the occurrence here of the chord of the minor sixth on G, instead of the minor common chord which one expects.]

[Footnote 50: The close in D minor of the movement in G minor appeared so striking to Schwencke (A. M. Z., IV., p. 11), that he conjectured that Mozart must have intended a further revision of these choruses. But the different movements of the Sequence, although detached, are yet in immediate relation with each other; and Mozart made the transition into D minor because the following movement is in F major.]

[Footnote 51: Hogarth, Mem. of the Opera, II., p. 199.]

[Footnote 52: G. Weber could not bring himself to attribute to Mozart a treatment which "emphasises, _con amore_, the egotistical baseness of the words, and by the ferocious unison of the stringed instruments maliciously incites the Judge of the World to hurl the cursed crowd of sinners into the deepest abyss, and then to call the singers to all the joys of the blessed" (Càcilia, III., p. 220). He has clearly misunderstood both the words and the intention of the composer so to bring before the imagination the torments of the damned as to lead to an intenser longing for the mercies of Redemption.]

[Footnote 53: Cäcilia, III., p. 222.]

[Footnote 54: Cäcilia, IV., p. 296.]

[Footnote 55: A. M. z., IV., p. 4.]

[Footnote 56: Cäcilia, IV., p. 289. A. M. Z., XXV., p. 687.]

[Footnote 57: Cäcilia, III., p. 226; IV., p. 279.]

[Footnote 58: Berl. Mus. Ztg., 1825, p. 378.]

[Footnote 59: Cäcilia, IV., p. 307.]

[Footnote 60: The Wiener Zeitung announces that the music of the opera "L' Incanto Superato," first performed July 8,1793, is arranged by Herr Franz Siessmayr, "pupil of Herr Salieri."]

[Footnote 61: Jahrb. d. Tonk., 1796, p. 61: "It is no small recommendation to him that he was a pupil of Mozart, and very highly thought of by him. He has also completed some works left unfinished by this great genius"--which can only refer to the Requiem.]

[Footnote 62: Cäcilia, III., p. 295.]

[Footnote 63: G. L. P. Sievers, Mozart u. Sussmaier, p. 8.]

[Footnote 64: Zelter, Briefw. m. Goethe, IV., p. 353.]

[Footnote 65: A correspondent of G. Weber had heard that André possessed MSS. which would prove that every note of the Benedictus was an adaptation of an earlier and favourite air of Mozart (Cäcilia, IV., p. 292). It need scarcely be said that there is not a word of truth in this.]

[Footnote 66: Berl. Mas. Ztg., 1825, p. 379.]

[Footnote 67: Zelter (Briefw. m. Goethe, IV., p. 353) pronounces the Requiem to be "disjointed, unequal; some of the pieces might be inserted, and it would be a mistake to consider it as a whole; the same thing is the case with many excellent composers; and though the Requiem consists entirely of detached pieces, it is the best production that I know of the last century." The story of the Requiem may have had some influence on this judgment.]

[Footnote 68: A. M. Z., XVI., p. 812: "Mozart has disclosed his whole inner being in this one sacred work, and who can fail to be affected by the fervour of devotion and holy transport which streams from it? His Requiem is unquestionably the highest and best that modern art has to offer for sacred worship." Unfavourable criticism was not wanting. "I should be without feeling," says Ernst, in Tieck's Phantasus (Schriften, IV., p. 426), "if I failed to love and honour the marvellous depth and richness of Mozart's mind--if I failed to be carried away by his works. Only, let me have none of his Requiem."]

[Footnote 69: Cf. O. Lindner, Zur Tonkunst, p. 176.]

[Footnote 70: Stadler, Vertheidigung, p. 27.]

[Footnote 71: Rochlitz, Für Freunde d. Tonk., I., p. 25. Häser, Cäcilia, IV., p. 297.]

[Footnote 72: Zur Geschichte der Singakademie, p. 15.]

[Footnote 73: It was performed in memory of the Queen in 1805; of the Akademie-director Frisch in 1815; of Prince Radziwill in 1833; of Count Brühl in 1837; of Frederick William III. in 1840; and of Frederick William IV. in 1861.]

[Footnote 74: At Leipzig, in memory of Schicht, in 1823; at Berlin, in memory of Andr. Romberg, in 1821; of Bemh. Klein, in 1832; of Ludwig Berger, 1839; in Vienna, in memory of C. M. von Weber and Beethoven; and in Munich, 1867, in memory of P. von Cornelius.]

[Footnote 75: Zelter, Briefw. m. Goethe, VI., p. 243.]

[Footnote 76: Rochlitz has attempted to prove (A. M. Z., XXV., p. 685) how Vogler, in composing his Requiem, had Mozart's always in view, in order to avoid imitating it; a similar negative influence is apparent in Cherubini's magnificent Requiem in C minor, with which the second in D minor is quite in keeping (Cf. Gum-precht, Recensionen, 1864, No. 21).]

[Footnote 77: Berl. Mus. Ztg., 1805, p. 26.]

[Footnote 78: A lover of music in Venice left a considerable legacy for the performance annually of three Requiems, of which one was to be Mozart's (A. M. Z., XLII., p. 54). A society was founded at' Senftenberg in Bohemia, 1857, in order to perform Mozart's Requiem annually on June 18 (N. Wien. Mus. Ztg., 1857, p. 167; Niederrh. Mus. Ztg., 1857, p. 343).]

[Footnote 79: Neukomm mentions an excellent performance in Rio Janeiro in 1819 (A. M. Z., XXII., p. 501).]

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MOZART 46

BY DAVID WIDGER