January 27 is a big date for all lovers of classical music. On this day in 1756 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born. Ironically, exactly 110 years later, another great classic, Giuseppe Verdi, left the world as a result of a stroke. The legacy of both creators is very difficult to overestimate. And the "Requiems", belonging to the Austrian and Italian geniuses, are rightfully considered the greatest among a considerable number of other works written based on the Catholic funeral mass. Today we remember the history of writing these two masterpieces.

"Requiem" by Mozart

Mozart received the order to write the Requiem in the year of his death, and never had time to finish it himself. Experiencing an extreme lack of money and simultaneously working on a number of other works (including The Magic Flute), the composer agreed to write the work under the rights of anonymity. The customer was the count, who, as it turned out, was an amateur composer and often appropriated other people’s works for himself.

The history of the creation of "Requiem" is so fascinating that it has become the basis for a number of beautiful artistic speculations. In the wonderful film by Milos Forman "Amadeus", which plays on the legend composed by Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin about the murder of Mozart by Antonio Salieri, who allegedly envied him (in 1997, Salieri was even tried in Milan in this case, which found him innocent), the Italian incognito orders "Requiem" Mozart for his own sake that the seriously ill genius gradually realizes.

The film brilliantly depicts the last minutes of the great Austrian, in a semi-conscious state dictating notes to his torturer, stunned by the mystery taking place before his eyes (soon after this, Mozart is buried to the sounds of one of the most powerful parts of the work - the heartbreaking Lacrimosa). In fact, after his death, Mozart’s “Requiem” was completed by his friend and student Franz Xaver Süssmayer. He owns the “canonical” edition of the work, although others were proposed after it. Two autographs of the Requiem have survived, one of which belongs to Mozart, and the second, more complete, to Mozart and Süssmayer. Musicologists are still figuring out the degree of involvement of Wolfgang Amadeus's student in writing the masterpiece - and are even trying to reconstruct the master's original ideas, trying to rid him of Süssmayer's musical decisions. However, it is obvious that humanity owes him much of what we know today as Mozart’s “Requiem”.

"Requiem" by Verdi

The history of the writing of Giuseppe Verdi's "Requiem" is no less interesting, although not so well known. In 1868, another great Italian died, Gioachino Rossini. Verdi, who deeply respected and loved his contemporary, decided to pay tribute to his memory in the form of a requiem. To do this, he turned to twelve of his colleagues. All of them were highly respected and loved by their compatriots, but today their names are almost forgotten. "Mass for Rossini" was written, but an unhappy fate awaited it - and the planned performance on the anniversary of Rossini's death never took place (although it is performed today - in particular, a recording of the wonderful concert under the direction of Helmut Rilling has been distributed). The distribution of parts of the “Mass”, written according to the canonical libretto, took place by lot, and Verdi got the final one, which was considered “insignificant”. The failure of the Mass prompted Verdi to write his own Requiem, which was completed in 1874 and was timed to coincide with the death of the composer's revered writer Alessandro Manzoni.

According to Verdi himself, when writing his masterpiece, he was guided by another great musical mass - Cherubini's "Requiem", to which many authors of famous requiems - Brahms, Berlioz, Schumann - declared their love. Like Cherubini, Verdi's Requiem has an important operatic component. Verdi reworked the passages written for “Mass for Rossini”, bringing them to true perfection. As a result, it was the theme of Dies Irae, written for the “Mass” and noticeably changed, that became central and most impressive in the “Requiem”, through which it runs as a leitmotif. The impression it makes also serves contemporary artists - right up to Quentin Tarantino.

The name "Requiem" comes from the initial word of the Latin text of the Catholic funeral mass "Requiem aetern am dona eis, Domine" - "Grant to them eternal rest, O Lord." Most often, the Requiem is written in traditional Latin text, sometimes with some abbreviations. The Requiem is based on the Latin poem "Sequence", which was written by the Franciscan monk Thomas de Celano in the 13th century. Combined with the other parts (Introitus, Kyrie, Offertorium, Sanctus) this text constitutes the Catholic funeral mass.

The structure of the Requiem follows that of the Catholic Mass as a whole, with the exception of the missing Credo and Gloria.

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.

Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine,
et lux perpetua luceat eis

Introduction

and let the unceasing light shine upon them
To you, O God, a hymn is sung in Zion,
and they make vows to you in Jerusalem.
Hear my prayer:
Let all flesh come to You.

Grant them eternal peace, Lord,

Kyrie eleison.
Christe eleison.
Kyrie eleison.

Lord have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Lord have mercy.

Dies irae, dies illa,
solvet saeclum in favilla,
teste David cum Sibylla.

Quantus tremor est futurus,
quando judex est venturus,
cuncta stricte discussurus.

Tuba mirum spargens sonum,
per sepulcra 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?

Day of Wrath

The day of wrath, that day
will turn the world into dust,
as David and the Sibyl testify.

Oh, how everything will tremble,
when the Judge comes,
who will judge everything strictly.

The startling call of the trumpet will ring out
everywhere in the world in graves,
calling everyone to the throne.

Death and nature are frozen in amazement,
when creation rises,
answering the Judge.

A book will be read
in which everything is written down,
by it the world will be judged.

So, when the Judge sits,
whoever hides will appear:
no one will go unpunished.

What will I say then, unfortunate one,
who will I ask to be my defender?
when there is no justice?

Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus,
Domine Deus Sabaoth!
Pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria tua.
Hosanna in excelsis.

Holy, Holy, Holy
Lord God of Hosts!
Heaven and earth are full of Your glory.
Glory in the highest!

dona eis requiem.

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

Lamb of God

give them peace.

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,
grant them eternal peace.

Lux aeterna luceat eis, Domine,
cum sanctis tuis in aeternam,
Quia pius est.

Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine,
et lux perpetua luceat eis.

Eternal light

Grant them eternal light, Lord,
with your Saints forever,
for You are merciful.

Grant them eternal peace, Lord,
and let unceasing light shine upon them.

Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna in
die
illa tremenda, quando caeli movendi sunt
et terra;
dum veneris iudicare saeclum per ignem.

Tremens factus sum ego, et timeo, dum
discussio
Venerit atque ventura ira.

Dies irae, dies illa, calamitatis et miseriae,
dies magna et amara valde.

Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine;
et lux perpetua luceat eis.

spare me

Deliver me, Lord, from eternal
of death
on that terrible day when the sky and
the earth will shake
and You will appear in fire to judge the world.

I'm in awe and
fear,
until the day of reckoning and rage came.

That day is a day of anger, disaster, suffering
the greatest and the most terrible

Grant them eternal peace, Lord,
and let unceasing light shine upon them.

The basis of translation into modern Russian: Valentina Katerinich

It is believed that the first Requiem on the canonical Latin text, which was finally formed by 1570, belongs to Guillaume Dufay (c. 1400 - 1474) (has not survived to this day). The first surviving Requiem was written by the French-Flemish composer Johannes (Jean) Ockeghem (c. 1425 – 1497). This is an acapella composition written in a strict polyphonic style.

The most famous and most frequently performed Requiems were written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791) (completed by his student Franz Xavier Süssmayer) and Giuseppe Verdi (1813 – 1901).

Many famous and lesser-known composers paid tribute to the composition of Requiems: Josquin Despres (c. 1440-1521), Pierre de La Rue (1460 - 1518), Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525 - 1594), Orlando di Lasso (1532 - 1594), Francesco Cavalli (1602 – 1676), Johann Caspar Kerl (1627 – 1693), Johann Joseph Fuchs (1660 – 1741), Antonio Lotti (1667 – 1740), Jan Zelenka (1679 – 1745), Francesco Durante (1684 – 1755), Johann Adolf Hasse (1699 – 1783), Nicollo Yomelli (1714 – 1774), Giuseppe Sarti (1729-1802), Vincenzo Manfredini (1731 – 1799), Francis Gossec (1734 – 1829), Michael Haydn (1737 – 1806) ) - brother of Joseph Haydn, Giovanni Paisiello (1740 - 1816), Domenico Cimarosa (1749-1801), Antonio Salieri (1750 - 1825).

The Requiem was written by Luigi Cherubini (1760 - 1842), Vaclav Jan Tomaszek (1774 -1850), Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868), Hector Berlioz (1803 - 1869), Franz Liszt (1811 - 1886), Charles Gounod (1818 - 1893) , Anton Bruckner (1824 – 1896), Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 – 1921), Antonin Dvorak (1841 – 1904), Gabriel Fauré (1845 – 1924).

After the Reformation, with the advent of Luther's translation of the Bible into German, German-language Requiems appeared, in particular by Michael Praetorius (1571-1621), Heinrich Schütz (1585 - 1672), and German requiems by Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828) and Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897) ).

The requiems of J. Ockeghem, O. di Lasso and others do not correspond to the Roman tradition. In the XVII – XVIII centuries. The Requiem evolves towards concerto, multi-choir, symphonization, and becomes homophonic-harmonic in style (N. Yomelli, I.A. Hasse, W.A. Mozart). At the end of the XVIII - XIX centuries. Requiem is a monumental symphonic oratorio work (F. Gossec, L. Cherubini, A. Dvorak). The Requiems of G. Berlioz and G. Verdi have dramatic and romantic expression. In line with the ideas of the Caecilian movement (refusal of romantic attributes, archaization of musical language) are F. Liszt's Requiem, the performing composition of which is a male choir and organ, as well as C. Saint-Saëns and A. Bruckner.

The chamber lyrical interpretation of the genre in G. Fauré's Requiem is emphasized by the absence of the most dramatic part of "Dies Irae" and a reduced orchestral composition (no violins).

Were there in the 19th century. Requiems written to completely non-canonical texts, for example, the Requiem for Mignon, composed by R. Schumann to the words of Goethe.

Requiems were also composed in the twentieth century, but mainly based on non-canonical texts. Thus, the completely Soviet-minded composer Dmitry Kabalevsky (1904-1987) wrote two Requiems - the 3rd Symphony-Requiem in Memory of Lenin to the words of N. Aseev (1933) and the Requiem to the words of the poem of the same name by Robert Rozhdestvensky (1963). The magnificent War Requiem was created by Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) with words by W. Owen. There are also Requiems among the works of Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971), Carl Orff (1895-1982).

A remarkable work in this genre was written by Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998). At first it was created as music for F. Schiller's play "Don Carlos", but later collected into a single composition dedicated to the memory of the composer's mother. The authors of the Requiems are also living Moscow composers: Vladimir Dashkevich (b. 1934), who wrote music based on the words of Anna Akhmatova’s poem cycle of the same name, and Vyacheslav Artyomov (b. 1940).

The Requiem was also written by Andrew Lloyd-Webber (b. 1948), better known as the author of the sensational and very popular musicals “Cats”, “The Phantom of the Opera” and especially “Jesus Christ Superstar”.

On May 18, 2000, at the Zaoksk Theological Academy of Seventh Day Christians, John Rutter's Requiem was performed for the first time in Russia. This concert became the final exam for conductors at the Faculty of Music. This piece was created in 1985 and first performed in October of that year. Following J. Brahms, G. Fauré and other composers, the author abandoned strict adherence to the canon of the Catholic funeral mass, using in his composition, along with the canonical Latin text, biblical fragments in English. The first and last parts are prayers for all humanity, the second and sixth parts are psalms, the third and fifth are prayers to Jesus Christ and the central part, Sanctus, is a proclamation of the Divine glory.

Requiems are still being created today. Thus, the famous Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki (b. 1933) stated that on the day of the death of the Pope, he decided to complete the Polish Requiem. “For a long time I searched in vain for a new idea,” said K. Penderecki, “but at this tragic moment I decided to dedicate the missing part to John Paul II.” K. Penderecki dedicated the first part of the Requiem to the leader of the Solidarity trade union Lech Walesa, the second and third parts to the victims of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, as well as to Polish officers who were shot by units of the Soviet NKVD near Katyn.

Vladimir Oyvin,
"Portal–Credo.Ru"

Portal-Credo.Ru

“Requiem” (lat. Requiem - funeral mass) is the last, unfinished work of the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, on which he worked before his death - a funeral funeral mass written in the canonical Latin text. The work was completed by Mozart's students, mainly Franz Xaver Süssmayer, however, the Requiem is one of Mozart's most famous works and is considered one of his most important creations.
Consists of 14 parts in the following order:
Introitus: Requiem aeternam(eternal rest) - chorus, completed by Mozart.
Kyrie eleison(Lord, have mercy) - choral fugue, orchestration, possibly by Eibler.
Sequentia- in the first five movements the orchestration was completed by Süssmayer or Eibler.
Dies irae(day of wrath) - chorus
Tuba mirum(pre-eternal trumpet) - quartet for soprano, alto, tenor and bass
Rex tremendae majestatis(king of stunning greatness) - choir
Recordare, Jesu pie(remember, merciful Jesus) - quartet
Confutatis maledictis(putting the wicked to shame) - chorus
Lacrimosa dies illa(tearful day) - choir, first 8 bars - Mozart, then Süssmayr; the choral fugue Amen (amen), sketched by Mozart, is missing from Süssmayer.
Offertorium- orchestration completed by Süssmayr
Domine Jesu Christe(Lord Jesus Christ) - choir and quartet
Versus: Hostias et preces(Sacrifices and supplications) - choir
Sanctus- presumably written by Süssmayr based on sketches by Mozart
Sanctus(holy) - choir and solo
Benedictus(blessed) - quartet, then choir
Agnus Dei(Lamb of God) - choir
Communio:
Lux aeterna(eternal light) - chorus, repetition of the second half Requiem aeternam and fugues Kyrie
Writing history:
In mid-July 1791, Mozart received, through an intermediary, an order to compose the Requiem under conditions of secrecy. Presumably Mozart knew the customer. He received an advance, according to various sources, 50 or 100 ducats, the same amount the composer was supposed to receive upon completion of the work.
As it turned out later, the Requiem was commissioned by Count Franz von Walseg for annual performance in memory of his wife, who died in February 1791. The count was an amateur musician and repeatedly passed off works commissioned from various composers as his own, or rather, bought authorship from them. When Walsegg first performed the Requiem in December 1793, the score stated: “Requiem by Count von Walsegg” (Composito dei conte Walsegg). His manager Leutgeb acted as an intermediary.
Thus, Mozart had to compose the Requiem anonymously. Lack of money forced the composer to agree to this extremely humiliating condition for him, which can serve as an explanation for the large number of borrowings (researchers in various parts of the Requiem find parallels with the works of C. F. E. Bach, Michael Haydn, Domenico Cimarosa and Francois Gossec). However, these “borrowings” are determined more by the general framework and principles of church music of the 18th century, rather than by copying other people’s works. Similar parallels can be drawn, for example, between the theme of the Kyrie fugue and the theme of the G minor fugue from the 1st volume of J. S. Bach’s “The Well-Tempered Clavier”; however, overall the two fugues are completely different from each other. Thus, even despite its incompleteness, the “Requiem” in its significance is, along with the church works of J. S. Bach, one of the most significant examples of church music of the 18th century.
Having begun work on the Requiem, Mozart subsequently interrupted it several times for other works: in August he received an urgent order for the opera La Clemenza di Tito, the performance of which was timed to coincide with the coronation of Leopold II as King of Bohemia. Upon returning from Prague, the composer first had to work on The Magic Flute, and then on the clarinet concerto and the Masonic cantata. According to Mozart's wife Constanze, at this time he often complained about his health, and she was even forced to take away the score of the Requiem from him, since working on it had a detrimental effect on his well-being. On November 18, Mozart felt better, he even conducted his Cantata, but on the 20th he finally went to bed, and, according to the testimony of those around him, continued to work on the Requiem lying down until his death on December 5.
Mozart managed to completely write the Introitus, as well as almost completely record the choral voices and in some places outline the orchestration of the Kyrie, 6 parts of the Sequence, except for the unfinished Lacrimosa and the sketch of Amen and Offertory.
Fearing that the customer of the work would not only not pay the fee, but would also demand the deposit back, after the death of her husband, Constanza turned to Josef Eibler with a request to complete the composition. Eibler wrote the instrumentation in parts up to Lacrimosa and suspended work. After this, Constanza, according to some information, turned to other Viennese composers with a similar request, but they all refused her, and as a result, the manuscript ended up with Mozart’s student Franz Xaver Süssmayer.
The latter, as he himself later claimed, completed the unfinished Lacrimosa and wrote the entire Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei, and at the end decided to repeat the Kyrie fugue on another text. However, according to Constanza, after the death of her husband, she gave Süssmeier some sheets of paper from the music stand, which supposedly contained sketches of the missing parts. This, and the clear connections between the Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei and the authentically Mozartian movements, suggests that Süssmayer used sketches, and perhaps even lifetime instructions, from Mozart when writing them.
For a long time it was believed that everything in the original score was written by Mozart. This information came from Constanza, whose interests it was that the Requiem be considered authentic in its entirety. However, already in 1838 the original autograph of the Requiem was found, and in 1839 Süssmayer's participation in the completion of the Requiem was publicly recognized by Constance.
There are currently 2 known autograph options:
Autograph A was given to Count Walseg in 1792. Contains the Introitus and Kyrie, recorded primarily by Mozart, as well as the remaining parts of the Requiem recorded by Süssmayer.
Autograph B consists of two parts and is a score sketch.
The first of these contains Dies Irae, Rex, Recordare and Confutatis. The sketch itself was written by Mozart, but there are additions in unfinished places, made by someone else's hand, as well as comments made by the hand of Abbe Stadler.
The second movement contains the first 8 bars of Lacrimosa, Domine Jesu and Hostias. Everything was written by Mozart, no additions were made by anyone else. Apparently, autograph B was used by Süssmayer when writing autograph A, starting with Dies Irae.
Additionally, in 1962, an original Mozart sketch was found containing a 16-bar sketch for the Amen fugue that was to follow Lacrimosa and conclude the Sequenz, a 4-bar sketch for the Rex tremendae, and an unidentified passage.
The exact extent of Süssmayer's involvement in the completion of the requiem is a matter of debate to this day.

Scores autographed by Mozart

First page of Mozart's score "Requiem" First page of Mozart's score "Lacrimosa" First page of Mozart's score "Dies irae" Last page of Mozart's score "Dies irae"

0 Some teenage subcultures are fond of all sorts of dark things, they dress in black, go to the cemetery at night, study ancient chronicles and treatises. Sometimes novice “goths” can discover strange words and expressions, the meaning of which is clear only by context. However, in order to fully immerse yourself in this oppressive atmosphere, you need to know the origin and meaning of various thematic words. Today we’ll talk about another term, this Requiem, which means you can read a little below.
However, before I continue, I would like to introduce you to some interesting publications on the topic of youth movements and subcultures. For example, what does Grunge mean, what does Steampunk mean, who are Furries, what is Vanilla, etc.
So let's continue What does Requiem for a Dream mean?? This term is the opening word of one prayer" Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine...", which can be translated as " Grant them eternal rest, Lord..." From this we can conclude that the Latin term " requiem", comes from the word " requies", which can be translated as " peace".

Requiem is a piece of music that is a form of Catholic worship.

Requiem is a religious ceremony performed for the deceased. A requiem, or dirge, may also be part of the music used for this ritual or in any other context honoring those who have died.

Requiem is a song or hymn of mourning composed or performed in memory of a deceased person.

Requiem for a Dream- allegorically, this is the funeral of a dream, that is, parting with one’s dream.

Many great composers created music and called it " Requiem", for example Britten, Brahms, Verdi, Mozart. The famous Russian writer Anna Akhmatova wrote a work that she also called " Requiem".

After reading this article, you learned What does the word Requiem mean?, and what the expression Requiem for a Dream means.

Mozart's "Requiem" and the history of its creation are shrouded in mystery, and disputes over authorship continue to this day. The circumstances of the work on this famous work are so tragic and mysterious that they still haunt researchers and admirers of the work of the brilliant composer. Conflicting facts indirectly confirm that "Requiem" is the result of the work of several authors.

What is Requiem

From Latin the word "requiem" is translated as "peace". This solemn, sad and sublime work belongs to the genre of concert religious music and was first part of a Catholic funeral mass. However, starting from the 15th century, as a rule, the requiem was performed in memory of the deceased, but was not directly related to the divine service. It was only a tribute to the memory of people who left this world, as well as a reminder of the wrath and mercy of God. The work had a strict structure, including a musical part and text, divided into 9-12 separate chants.

In the 18th century, the requiem became one of the most popular genres of sacred music, so that almost all composers of the time created their own versions of the work. Michael Haydn, Johannes Brahms, Giuseppe Verdi and many others wrote variations of the funeral mass. Over time, requiems lost their ceremonial component and turned into a concert work dedicated to tragic events: the death of a person, victims of war or natural disaster. The traditional structure was hardly respected.

Brief biography of the author

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on January 27, 1756 in the Austrian city of Salzburg in the family of court violinist Leopold Mozart. Already at the age of three, he began to take his first steps in music: he listened to his father play the harpsichord, and then selected harmonies by ear. His father began learning plays and minuets with him, and at the age of 5, the future composer showed a desire for independent creativity and wrote his first small works. Mozart never went to school, but Leopold managed to give his son an excellent education at home. He dreamed that the boy would become a great composer and devoted almost all his time to teaching the child. Wolfgang masterfully mastered the harpsichord, so that at the age of 12 he played better than adult musicians of that period.

He also had an amazing ability to work; throughout his life he created many marches, minuets, plays and other small works commissioned by aristocrats. Unfortunately, most of these works are now lost. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart received huge fees for creating musical works and lived in luxurious apartments. However, then the number of orders dropped sharply, and his financial situation seriously deteriorated. The money he earned was barely enough to live on, and in 1791 the composer died at the age of 35 from an unknown illness.

Who commissioned Mozart's "Requiem"

In the summer of 1791, a mysterious stranger came to Mozart, wrapped from head to toe in a black cloak. He did not introduce himself, but paid a significant sum for the creation of a funeral mass - a requiem. The customer did not limit the time, but demanded that the author’s name be kept secret. Worn out by poverty, Wolfgang Amadeus accepted this offer, which was humiliating for the great composer. A few years after Mozart’s death, it became known that the mysterious customer was Count Franz von Walseg, who had the habit of anonymously buying the works of talented authors and passing them off as his own. He commissioned the music to honor the memory of his wife, and when the work was performed for the first time in 1793, the score was written “Requiem composed by Count von Walseg.”

The history of the creation of "Requiem" by Mozart

The author took up writing the essay. Shortly before this, the composer felt unwell; he began to suffer from pain of unknown origin and strange weakness. He realized that he was dying. Work on the order began immediately, but the author could not get rid of the thought that he was writing a funeral mass for himself.

Meanwhile, new orders for musical works were received from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In between working on “Requiem,” he managed to write “The Magic Flute,” a cheerful and cheerful play that was more familiar to his talent. The composer died on December 5, 1791, without having time to finish the work. However, the story of the creation of Mozart's "Requiem" did not end there.

Unfinished Melody

Constanza, Mozart's wife, was worried that after her husband's death the mysterious customer would demand the advance for the Requiem to be returned and would not pay the rest of the fee. She turned to another composer, Josef Eibler, for help to complete the piece. It is believed that it was he who wrote the instrumental part in several sections, up to the Lacrimosa of Mozart's Requiem, and then left the work for unknown reasons. Subsequently, Constanza approached other authors, but was refused. As a result, the manuscript ended up in the possession of Franz Xaver Süssmayer, a student of Wolfgang Amadeus. Researchers who are studying the question of who completed Mozart’s “Requiem” are inclined to believe that it was this author who completed the work.

Josef Eibler

This famous Austrian composer, who took part in writing the great work, was born in 1765. Wolfgang Amadeus highly appreciated his talent and, according to some reports, the musicians had friendly relations. It is noteworthy that in 1833 Eibler suffered from apoplexy. This happened during the performance of Mozart's Requiem.

Franz Xaver Süssmayer

Franz Xaver Süssmayer was born in 1766. At the age of 21 he became a student of Antonio Salieri, Mozart's main rival, but then moved on to Wolfgang Amadeus. For a whole year he lived in his house as a member of the family, helped the composer in his work and assisted in the writing of many works.

Creative researchers have discovered similarities between the music of Mozart's Requiem and similar works by Bach, Haydn, Cimarosa and Gossec. However, the presence of common features is explained by the requirements of the traditional composition structure and the general principles of religious music of the 18th century.

The image of a mysterious customer dressed in black shocked the imagination of the composer, who was susceptible to mysticism. Pushkin played on this story with the demonic messenger of death in “Little Tragedies”, and later the same character appears in Yesenin’s work in the poem “The Black Man”.

It is believed that the basis of the Requiem was written by Mozart long before the order, but the work was not published. After the composer received the order, all he had to do was make some changes and adapt the finished composition to the buyer’s requirements. However, this version does not have strong evidence.

Thanks to Franz von Walseg, the music was published 2 years after Mozart’s death and was first performed on December 14, 1793 at the funeral service for the count’s wife. Von Walseg tried to attribute the authorship to himself, but none of the listeners had any doubt that this was a genuine work by Mozart.

Researchers discovered a letter from Constanza, dated 1827 and addressed to an unknown recipient, in which the woman wrote: “Even if we assume that Süssmayer wrote everything completely according to Mozart’s instructions, the Requiem still remains a work by Mozart.” These words give rise to a lot of speculation and fair doubts, but now that not a single participant in those events is alive, it is almost impossible to find out the truth.

On September 11, 2002, on the first anniversary of the tragedy that occurred in the United States, Mozart's "Requiem" was heard throughout the planet. At 8:46 a.m., exactly at the same time that the attack on the Twin Towers began, an orchestra from the first time zone located in Japan began performing. An hour later, the music was picked up by the next group in the next time zone, and then the next. The funeral requiem on this day sounded continuously throughout the planet. The choice of this particular sad music was not accidental: the life of the young composer ended as tragically and prematurely as hundreds of lives of victims of the terrorist attack. The history of the creation of Mozart's "Requiem" is full of suffering, the work remained unfinished, just like the dreams of the future of those killed in this disaster.

The meaning of "Requiem" for listeners

"Requiem", written by Mozart on the threshold of his death, is one of the greatest creations of a musical genius who has inspired many composers. Deep, sublime and touching music does not leave listeners indifferent, penetrating into the most remote corners of the soul and touching the heartstrings. “Requiem” is a true hymn of grief and sadness, clearly and purely reflecting the feelings of a person yearning for the departed.

Mozart's Requiem today

The date of creation of Mozart's "Requiem" is considered to be 1791. Although more than 200 years have passed since the work was published, this music is still heard at memorial ceremonies and classical concerts. The version written by Süssmayer received the highest recognition, but many composers have repeatedly tried to rewrite the work in order to improve it and adapt it to modern traditions.

The death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart prevented him from completing the famous work. Despite controversy and controversy, no one can dispute the greatest talent of the young author. Even after centuries, his brilliant music continues to sound.