Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Music Compositional techniques in Mozarts Requiem Compositional techniques in Mozarts Requiem In Roman Catholic tradition, the requiem mass is a ritual celebration of the Last Supper within the context of a funeral. The requiem mass is distinguished from masses for other occasions by the presence of a specific text, laid out in the missal of Pope St. Pius V from 1570, and the absence of the more joyful parts of mass, such as the Gloria, and the Credo (Cave). The missal of Pope St. Pius V contains the prayers for all masses that would be conducted during the year in the Catholic Church. This was in accordance with the Council of Trent’s (1545-63) wishes that local variations on the mass would be halted and that a standardization of the mass be enforced (Wolff, 66). The missal requires that the musical portion of the requiem mass follow certain texts. Out of the ten sections listed in the missal, seven are most commonly put to music: the Introit, Kyrie, Sequence (Dies Irae), Offertory, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, and Communion. Composers over the centuries have decided to combine certain section, such as the Introit and the Kyrie or the Agnus Dei and the Communion. The first reference to a complete requiem composition prior to the 16th century is located in the will of Guillaume Du Fay (1397-1474). His composition has never been recovered. Johannes Ockeghem () completed his requiem composition before 1500. Other requiems from the 16th Century include Brumel, Prioris, Palestrina, Anrio, and Victoria. Between 1470 and 1600 forty-one requiem mass compositions have been preserved. The Baroque period brought about new and exciting changes for the musical world. Requiems from this period include Bournonville (1619) and Brunelli (1619). Claudio Monteverdi, Giovanni Grillo, and Francesco Usper collaborated to produce the requiem that performed at the funeral mass of Cosimo II de’ Medici in 1621. This requiem was the first to include instrumental sections. The Baroque composers produced 325 known requiem compositions. The Classical period composers produced 250 requiems. These include Pasiello (1789), Mozart (1791), Carlo Campioni (for Empress Maria Theresia), and Giuseppe Bonno, whose requiem is said to use the “longest setting of the sequence in the 18th Century. (Cave)” The Romantic Period produced the largest amount of requiems. Included in the 620 requiems published between 1825 and 1910 are Berlioz (1837), Verdi (1874), Liszt, Sant-Saens, Bruckner, Dvorak, Faure (1887), Henschel (1902). Within the realms of 20th Century music there were 335+ requiems produced. The three most famous are the Durufle (1947), Benjamin Britten War Requiem (), and the Andrew Lloyd Webber (1985). Other requiems include Nicholas Lens Flamma Flamma (The Fire Requiem) (), John Rutter, and John Foulds’s A World Requiem (1919-1921). Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart () was commissioned to compose his requiem in 1791. The requiem was not complete when he died on December 5, 1791. The “Grey Messenger” was sent by Count von Walsegg, who commissioned the work. The messenger as seen by Mozart was warning him of his near death by appearing cloaked and speaking to him in secret. Shortly after Mozart’s death, his widow, Constanze had the work completed by Franz Xaver Sussmayr. Sussmayr had worked several months closely with Mozart aiding him with his last two operas, Die Zauberflote and La clemenza di Tito. After the work was complete, Constanze had it delivered to the commissioner, Walsegg, who had it performed at Neuklosterkirche, a parish in Wiener Neustadt, on December 14, 1793 in the honor of his late wife. This was not the first performance of the requiem. The uncompleted requiem was performed at St. Michael’s in Vienna five days after the composer’s death. Bibliography: Cave, Charles. Requiem Web. Online. http://usrwww.mpx.com.au/~charles/Requiem. 2/6/02. Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus. Requiem, K 626. Edwin F. Kalmus. New York. 1985. Wolff, Christoph. Mozart Requiem: Historical and Analytical Studies, Documents, Score. University of California Press. Berkeley. 1994 Word Count: 624
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