Requiem aeternam: lyrics and translation
Before the first words: The singing does not start at once: first the winds alone. The melody climbs a few notes and comes straight back down, like a step forward and back.
- Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine,Eternal rest give to them, O Lord,The voices come in one after another: basses, then tenors, then altos and sopranos.
- et lux perpetua luceat eis.and let perpetual light shine on them.
- Te decet hymnus, Deus, in Sion,A hymn befits you, O God, in Zion,Soprano solo. The melody here is a church chant centuries older than Mozart: it was sung in churches long before him.
- et tibi reddetur votum in Jerusalem.and to you a vow shall be paid in Jerusalem.
- Exaudi orationem meam,Hear my prayer,
- ad te omnis caro veniet.to you all flesh shall come."To you all flesh shall come": on these words the music slides downwards in the smallest steps there are, as if going down stair by stair.
- Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine,Eternal rest give to them, O Lord,
- et lux perpetua luceat eis.and let perpetual light shine on them.The last chord does not sound like an ending: it seems to ask for more. There is no pause - the Kyrie begins at once.
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Manuscript: the first page of the Requiem
Leaf 1 of the score handed to the patron after Mozart's death. The Introitus is the only movement Mozart finished completely, so the whole page is in his hand, from the heading to the last note of the orchestra.
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About
The orchestra begins alone, with no singing: two bassoons and two basset horns, wind instruments with a low, soft tone. Then the basses come in, followed by the tenors, then the altos and last of all the sopranos. This is the only movement Mozart finished completely, orchestra and all.
For the first seven bars the orchestra plays alone: bassoons and basset horns pass the melody between them while the strings keep an even tread, at the pace of a slow walk. Then the choir comes in. At "Te decet hymnus" everything grows quiet: the solo soprano sings an ancient church chant with almost no accompaniment. At the end the music does not stop - the last chord is left unfinished and runs straight into the Kyrie.
Worth knowing
The opening melody did not come out of nowhere: it almost repeats Handel's funeral music written in 1737 for the death of Queen Caroline of England. Mozart knew Handel well and reworked his scores on commission, so an educated listener of the time was meant to catch the reference.
There are no flutes or oboes in the orchestra, the brightest of the winds. Basset horns take their place, soft and veiled: that is where the dark sound comes from.
The soprano melody at "Te decet hymnus" is not Mozart's invention but a church chant already about a thousand years old in his day. It is called the wandering tone, because it does not hold to one home note but moves from one to another. Mozart set this ancient chant inside his own music - which is why the solo sounds unlike anything around it.
This movement was probably performed on 10 December 1791 at a memorial service for Mozart in St Michael's Church in Vienna, five days after his death.
This is the only movement Mozart finished completely, orchestra and all. After it the manuscript has only the voices, the bass and cues for the instruments.
D minor was Mozart's key for the otherworldly: it is the key of the Commendatore in Don Giovanni and of the Piano Concerto No. 20.
On 5 December 1826, the 35th anniversary of Mozart's death, his younger son Franz Xaver Wolfgang conducted the Requiem in Lviv, in St George's Cathedral, with a choir he had founded himself. Franz Xaver, also a composer and pianist, lived in Galicia for about thirty years.
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Quiet here so far. Yours would be the first.