The Open University Choir

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Requiem completed and edited by Robert Levin

Jamesena Tait sopranoRebecca Mitchell-Farmer mezzo-sopranoAlex Bevan tenorPaul Grant baritone

Bill Strang conductor

Thursday 17 November 2016

1pmHub Theatre, Walton Hall Admission free. All welcome

The Open University Choir is affiliated to the Open University Club and gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the University for this concert.

REQUIEM, KV626 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–91)

completed and edited by Robert D Levin

INTROITUS

1. Requiem aeternam Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine; et lux perpetua luceat eis. Te decet hymnus, Deus, in Sion, et tibi reddetur votum in Jerusalem. Exaudi orationem meam, ad te omnis caro veniet.

Grant them eternal rest, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine on them. Thou, O God, art praised in Sion, and unto Thee shall the vow be performed in Jerusalem. Hear my prayer, unto Thee shall all flesh come.

Mozart’s Requiem in D minor begins with a slow, step-wise theme announced by the bassoon – one step down and three steps up:

When the voices enter it becomes the theme for the text of the Requiem aeternam:

And when that theme is reprised later in the movement another version of the same theme is counterpointed against it – it’s actually the same theme upside down (one step up and three steps down) and twice as fast:

2. Kyrie

Kyrie eleison. Christe eleison. Kyrie eleison.

Lord, have mercy upon us. Christ, have mercy upon us. Lord, have mercy upon us.

The first movement leads into the Kyrie which takes the form of a fugue based on a standard subject. A fugue is essentially a linear imitative texture based on one main theme, with optional subsidiary themes.

SEQUENZ

3. Dies irae

Dies irae, dies illa, Solvet saeclum in favilla, Teste David cum sibylla.

Quantus tremor est futurus, Quando judex est venturus, Cuncta stricte discussurus.

Day of wrath, that day Will dissolve the earth in ashes, As David and the Sibyl bear witness.

What dread there will be When the judge shall come To judge all things strictly.

The Dies irae begins an extended series of movements setting a long poem about the day of judgment. Mozart’s begins with another modification of his Requiem theme, which appears in both bass and soprano lines of this basically chordal texture:

4. Tuba mirum

Tuba mirum spargens sonum Per sepulchra regionum, Coget omnes ante thronum.

Mors stupebit et natura, Cum resurget creatura, Judicanti responsura.

Liber scriptus proferetur, In quo totum continetur, Unde mundus judicetur.

Judex ergo cum sedebit, Quidquid latet apparebit, Nil inultum remanebit.

Quid sum miser tunc dicturus? Quem patronum rogaturus, Cum vix justus sit securus?

A trumpet, spreading a wondrous sound Through the graves of all lands, Will drive mankind before the throne.

Death and Nature shall be astonished When all creation rises again To answer to the Judge.

A book, written in, will be brought forth In which is contained everything that is, Out of which the world shall be judged.

When therefore the judge takes his seat Whatever is hidden will reveal itself. Nothing will remain unavenged.

What then shall I plead in my anguish? What advocate entreat to speak for me, When the just are not acquitted?

In Mozart’s case the trumpet is actually a trombone, which makes its announcement with a characteristic phrase, spelling out loudly and clearly the notes of a B-flat major chord:

In this movement each soloist is introduced in turn. The fluid treatment with which Mozart responds to varying references in the text draws on his long and successful experience of composing for the operatic stage.

5. Rex tremendae

Rex tremendae majestatis, Qui salvandos salvas gratis, Salva me, fons pietatis.

King of awful majesty, Who freely savest the redeemed, Save me, O fount of goodness.

In this movement, with its insistent dotted rhythms, Mozart invokes the musical style of the earlier baroque era. He was familiar with some of Bach’s music and had made an expanded orchestration of Handel’s Messiah.

6. Recordare

Recordare, Jesu pie, Quod sum causa tuae viae, Ne me perdas illa die. Quaerens me sedisti lassus; Redemisti crucem passus; Tantus labor non sit cassus. Juste judex ultionis, Donum fac remissionis Ante diem rationis. Ingemisco tanquam reus: Culpa rubet vultus meus: Supplicanti parce, Deus. Qui Mariam absolvisti, Et latronem exaudisti, Mihi quoque spem dedisti. Preces meae non sunt dignae, Sed tu, bonus, fac benigne, Ne perenni cremer igne. Inter oves locum praesta, Et ab haedis me sequestra, Statuens in parte dextra.

Remember, blessed Jesus, That I am the cause of Thy pilgrimage. Do not forsake me on that day. Seeking me, Thou didst sit down weary. Thou didst redeem me, suffering death on the cross. Let no such toil be in vain. Just and avenging Judge, Grant remission Before the day of reckoning. I lament for I am guilty And I blush for my wrongdoing. Spare a suppliant, O God. Thou who didst absolve Mary And hearken to the thief, To me also hast given hope. My prayers are not worthy, But Thou, O good one, in Thy mercy Do not send me to everlasting fire. Place me among Thy sheep And separate me from the goats, Setting me on Thy right hand.

An extended movement for the quartet of soloists. It begins with an exquisitely entwined duet, first for instruments, then for voices:

7. Confutatis

Confutatis maledictis Flammis acribus addictis, Voca me cum benedictis.

Oro supplex et acclinis, Cor contritum quasi cinis, Gere curam mei finis.

When the cursed are all banished And given over to the bitter flames, Summon me among the blessed.

I pray in supplication on my knees. My heart contrite as the dust, Grant me grace at my departing.

The Confutatis picks up on the theme which opened the Tuba mirum, now in the minor mode:

A robust dialogue between basses and tenors gives way to a prayerful duet for sopranos and altos.

8. Lacrimosa

Lacrimosa dies illa, Qua resurget ex favilla Judicandus homo reus.

Huic ergo parce, Deus, Pie Jesu Domine, Dona eis requiem! Amen!

That day of tears and mourning, When from the ashes shall arise Guilty man to be judged.

Then, Lord, pity this Thy servant, Blessed Lord Jesus, Grant them peace. Amen.

This movement begins with a beautifully limpid introduction for the upper strings, then the chorus enters with a further modification of Tuba mirum theme – the first pitch has been omitted and the rhythm adjusted in such a way as to change the mood entirely:

Mozart’s manuscript famously breaks off eight bars into this movement (at the end of the choir’s first long ascending phrase). This does not necessarily mean, however, that this was the last music he wrote, however romantic it may be to fantasise about that.

The continuation is by his pupil Süssmayr, with minor alterations by Robert Levin. Levin’s most significant intervention is to omit the simple hymn-like chordal Amen with which Süssmayr concluded the movement and open it out into a much longer fugal treatment, more appropriate to the scale Mozart has established throughout the piece – and in line with contemporary practice.

It is based on a sketch by Mozart which appears on a leaf that can be dated to autumn 1791 because, as well as a sketch for the Rex tremendae, it also contains material for The Magic Flute which Mozart was writing at the same time. There is no proof that Mozart intended this Amen fugue theme for his Requiem, but the use of the Requiem’s principal key, D minor, and the strong thematic resemblance to the opening theme of the Requiem are suggestive and most of the recent completers have adopted it. It is in effect the shape of Requiem’s theme upside down:

OFFERTORIUM

9. Domine Jesu

Domine, Jesu Christe, Rex gloriae, libera animas omnium fidelium defunctorum de poenis inferni et de profundo lacu. Libera eas de ore leonis, ne absorbeat eas tartarus, ne cadant in obscurum; sed signifer sanctus Michael repraesentet eas in lucem sanctam. Quam olim Abrahae promisisti et semini eius.

O Lord, Jesus Christ, King of glory, deliver the souls of all the faithful departed from the pains of hell and from the bottomless pit. Deliver them from the mouth of the lion, that they may not be swallowed up by hell and perish in its darkness; but let holy Michael Thy standard bearer lead them into the holy light. As once Thou didst promise to Abraham and his seed.

We are back with real Mozart here. The fugal setting of ‘Quam olim Abrahae’ is a particularly good example of his flexible mastery of the old technique. Its subject is a reworking of the opening theme of the Recordare (cf. above):

10. Hostias

Hostias et preces tibi, Domine, laudis offerimus. Tu suscipe pro animabus illis, quarum hodie memoriam facimus.

Fac eas, Domine, de morte transire ad vitam. Quam olim Abrahae promisisti et semini eius.

We offer unto Thee, O Lord, this sacrifice of prayer and praise. Receive it for those souls whom today we commemorate.

Grant them, O Lord, to pass from death into life everlasting. As Thou didst promise of old to Abraham and his seed.

This movement is in a simple chordal style with some unexpected and indeed novel chromaticism: both aspects are particular to Mozart’s latest music, and indicate a direction he might have taken had he lived longer.

The end of the Hostias is the last page of Mozart’s manuscript. On the right-hand side of the page was the direction, written three times, ‘quam olim da capo’ – once against the violin staves, once against the vocal parts and once against the instrumental bass line. This is an instruction to repeat the ‘quam olim’ fugue from the Domine Jesu – standard musical practice and standard notational practice. In 1958, when the manuscript was put on display at the Brussels World Fair, as one of the great treasures of the Austrian Republic, the bottom corner of the page was torn off and has not been recovered. Did the thief think that, as seems likely, these were the last words Mozart wrote?

SANCTUS

11. Sanctus

Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus, Dominus Deus sabaoth. Pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria tua. Osanna in excelsis.

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Hosts. Heaven and earth are full of Thy glory. Hosanna in the highest.

The Hostias may not be the last of Mozart’s music, however. The beginning of the Sanctus appears to be a skilful reworking of the opening of the Dies irae of a kind characteristic of Mozart but, as Levin has pointed out, wholly lacking in Süssmayr’s own original compositions. Was this incipit perhaps among the sketches which Mozart’s widow, Constanze, handed over to Süssmayr?

The quality of the continuation drops immediately, however, and grammatical errors creep in of a kind which Mozart is unlikely to have conceived, far less left uncorrected. Levin has rewritten this to give it a stronger sense of harmonic direction and added a decorative violin part inspired by the Sanctus of the composer’s Mass in C minor.

Similarly with the Osanna fugue, the subject is a further reworking in a different metre of the Recordare/Quam olim theme with its double-hook shape which ties the movement in structurally to the Requiem’s overall thematic scheme:

However, Süssmayr’s working out of this subject is brief to the point of being perfunctory, and quite out of scale with the rest of the Requiem. Levin has opened the movement out to almost double its length.

12. Benedictus

Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini.

Osanna in excelsis.

Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest.

Süssmayr claimed that ‘the Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei were composed afresh by me’. In the case of the Benedictus this may well have been true: there is nothing of it in Mozart’s hand and its orchestration has long been criticised as clumsy from the very first bar.

The overall structure of the movement is conventional – a solo quartet followed by a reprise of the Hosanna for full chorus. However, Süssmayr’s version contains one particularly striking anomaly: he brings back the Osanna in the same key as the Benedictus, B flat, instead of returning to the key of the Sanctus, D major, which would have been normal practice at the time. Levin corrects this irregularity by introducing a new linking passage to achieve the necessary modulation.

AGNUS DEI

13. Agnus Dei

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona eis requiem.

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona eis requiem sempiternam.

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, grant them rest.

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, grant them everlasting rest.

The Agnus Dei again has a thematic connection to the Requiem theme which could mean, despite Süssmayr’s claim, that it is Mozart conception. Here the theme is used as the bass line of an entirely chordal texture:

And again the continuation contains obvious grammatical errors which suggest Süssmayr’s hand and which Levin has smoothed out.

COMMUNIO

14. Lux aeterna

Lux aeterna luceat eis, Domine, cum sanctis tuis in aeternum, quia pius es. Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis.

Let eternal rest shine upon them, Lord, with your saints for ever, for you are holy. Grant them eternal rest, Lord and let perpetual light shine upon them.

The Agnus Dei moves directly into a reprise of part of the opening movement and then of the Kyrie. This is an obvious enough procedure since the text introduces further references to ‘eternal light’ and ‘eternal rest’, and many composers have followed it. Süssmayr himself claimed: ‘I only allowed myself, in order to give the work more unity, to repeat the Kyrie fugue at the words ‘cum sanctis’’. This is at variance with reports elsewhere that Mozart had instructed him to do so on his deathbed – just one of the many contradictions and confusions embedded in the genesis of this work. I can’t help feeling that if Mozart had lived to finish his Requiem he would have introduced some fresh twist to this reprise which would have surprised, delighted and satisfied us all. But he didn’t, and so bequeathed a problem that, as with the whole of this piece, is probably insoluble. Levin respects Süssmayr’s solution and merely suggests some improvements to the word underlay of this concluding movement.

Soloists Jamesena Tait soprano Rebecca Mitchell-Farmer mezzo-soprano Alex Bevan tenor Paul Grant baritone

Orchestra Violin 1 Catherine Gough (leader) Julie Boulter, Sally Jackson, David Novalbos, Diane Stammers

Violin 2 Ruth Gapp, Katharine Reedy, Jen Rothwell, Annie Stamp

Viola Keith Hodgkinson, Geoffrey Allan Taylor, John Wynne

Cello Jonathan Hunt, Denise Riley, Margaret Woodward

Double bass Jenny Brown, Roy Littlecott

Clarinet Kath Barton, Christine Hunt

Bassoon Jane Fransella, Tessa Holden

Trumpet Terry Mayo, Martin Mills

Trombone Martin Wakley, Benjamin Wakley, Paul Coveney

Timpani Allan Jones

Organ Kevin McConway

Conductor Bill Strang

Orchestral manager Elizabeth Camp

Rehearsal Accompanist Elizabeth Camp

Programme Notes by Bill Strang Produced by Gill Smith Cover design by Mandy Forbes

Cover image: Mozart at the piano. Unfinished enlargement of an original miniature of Mozart’s head by his brother-in-law Joseph Lange ca 1782/3. Mozart’s widow, Constanze, said that this portrait was ‘by far the best likeness of him’.

Forthcoming Open University Choir concerts

Spring 2017 concert Date and programme to be announced

Saturday 17 June 2016, 7.30pm St Mary and St Giles Church, Stony Stratford Thomas Tallis: 40-part motet Spem in alium Andrea Gabrieli: Magnificat in 12 parts Joint concert with Quorum, Polymnia and Linsdale Singers Further details including ticket prices to be announced

Commission to celebrate 50 years of Milton Keynes Milton Keynes celebrates its 50th birthday in 2017 and a festival of celebratory events is being planned to run throughout the year under the banner of MK50. The OU Choir has submitted a proposal to commission a new piece to be performed in our Autumn 2017 concert as part of the main MK50 programme.

We are delighted to have secured the interest of composer Liz Lane for this commission. The choir has previously performed some of her unaccompanied choral music and she made a new version of her brass piece Antiphonary specially for our concert in Stony Stratford last April. The proposed commission will be 20 minutes long and have brass-and-percussion accompaniment.

We are equally pleased that author and former OU Choir member Judi Moore has agreed to write the lyrics for the piece. Judi recently moved away from Milton Keynes after 30 years but her enthusiasm to be involved in this project is undiminished. Both Judi and Liz have also been involved with the Open University as Associate Lecturers.

The anticipated cost of commissioning the piece is about £12,000. The choir has raised nearly half of that sum and is seeking funding and sponsorship for the remainder. As part of this, we plan to approach local companies and other organisations in Milton Keynes. If you can assist us in any way, by helping sponsor the project or by suggesting contacts in the area whom we might approach, please contact Steve Potter stephen.potter@open.ac.uk . We would be most grateful for your help.

The Open University Choir Further information about the choir, its activities and how to become a member can be found on the choir’s website: http://www.open.ac.uk/wikis/ouchoir/OU_Choir