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Mozart's Requiem: A Revaluation of the Evidence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

Paul Moseley
Paul Moseley*
Affiliation:
University College, Oxford
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Extract

The front cover of Cod. 17561a in the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna, bears the following inscription: ‘Dieses vollständige Requiem, bestehend aus Bl. 1–64, wurde im Jahre 1838 angekauft’ (‘This complete Requiem, consisting of ff. 1–64, was acquired in 1838’). Similarly, on Cod. 17561b we read: ‘Dieses unvollständige Requiem ist aus zwei Bruchstücken zusammengesetzt: (1) Bl. 65–86 (alt 11–32) wurden vom Abbé Stadler gekauft. (2) Bl. 87–99 (alt 33–45) wurden vom Hof-Kapellmeister Eybler geschenkt’ (‘This incomplete Requiem is assembled from two fragments: (1) ff. 65–86 (olim 11–32) were bought from Abbé Stadler. (2) ff. 87–99 (olim 33–45) were presented by Hof-Kapellmeister Eybler‘).

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of the Royal Musical Association , Volume 114 , Issue 2 , 1989 , pp. 203 - 237
Copyright
Copyright © 1989 Royal Musical Association

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References

1 Nowak, Leopold, ‘Die Erwerbung des Mozart-Requiems durch die K K. Hofbibliothek im Jahre 1838’, Festschrift Josef Stummvoll, ed. Josef Mayerhöfer and Walter Ritzer (Vienna, 1970), 295–310; cited in Heinz Gärtner, Mozarts Requiem und die Geschäfte der Constanze Mozart (Munich, 1986), 244–5Google Scholar

2 Requiem Mozarts Fragment mit den Ergänzungen von Eybler und Süssmayr, ed Leopold Nowak, Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, I/1, Abteilung 2/2 (Kassel, 1965, henceforth NMA 2), 37–199.Google Scholar

3 See below.Google Scholar

4 NMA 2, 1–33, Requiem Mozarts Fragment, ed Leopold Nowak, Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, I/1, Abteilung 2/1 (Kassel, 1965, henceforth NMA 1), 47–58.Google Scholar

5 Not 1831 as commonly thought: see Vincent and Mary Novello, A Mozart Pilgrimage, ed. Nerina Medici and Rosemary Hughes (London, 1955), 129–32.Google Scholar

6 Ignaz Franz von Mosel, Uber die Originalpartitur des Requiems von Mozart (Vienna, 1839), partly translated in William Watson, ‘An Astounding Forgery’, Music and Letters, 8 (1927), 61–72Google Scholar

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8 Deutsch, Otto Erich, ‘Zur Geschichte von Mozarts Requiem’, Osterreichische Musikzeitschrift, 19 (1964), 49–60 (reproduction with commentary of Anton Herzog, ‘Wahre und ausführliche Geschichte des Requiem von W A. Mozart’, Wiener-Neustadt, Städt. Sammlungen, Lit B 1692).Google Scholar

9 See Abert, Hermann, W A Mozart (5th, rev. edn of Otto Jahn's Mozart, Leipzig, 1919–21), 709–10, 850–87, 1019–34.Google Scholar

10 See Gärtner, Mozarts Requiem, 305, n. 105.Google Scholar

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15 To Breitkopf und Härtel, 30 January 1800, Briefe, iv, 309.Google Scholar

16 1 October 1826; Plath, Wolfgang, ‘Requiembriefe Aus der Korrespondenz Joh. Anton Andrés 1825–1831’, Mozart-Jahrbuch 1976–7, 197–8Google Scholar

17 There were, however, several abortive attempts to start a Mass between 1787 and 1791' see Tyson, Alan, ‘The Mozart Fragments in the Mozarteum, Salzburg’, Journal of the American Musicological Society, 34 (1981), 471–510Google Scholar

18 Niemetschek, Life of Mozart, 43.Google Scholar

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21 Niemetschek, Life of Mozart, 43Google Scholar

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25 Alfred Schnerich, foreword to facsimile edition of the Mozart autograph, Mozarts Requiem (Vienna, 1913), 11–21; Nowak, NMA 1, x–xi, and ‘Das Requiem von W. A. Mozart. Einige Fragen und Probleme’, Österreichische Musikzeitschrift, 20 (1965), 395–9.Google Scholar

26 I am grateful to Dr Alan Tyson for information on these.Google Scholar

27 Facsimile and transcription in NMA 1, 60–1. See also Wolfgang Plath, ‘Über Skizzen zu Mozarts Requiem’, Bericht über den internationalen musikwissenschaftlichen Kongress Kassel 1962 (Kassel, 1963), 184–7Google Scholar

28 NMA 1, ixGoogle Scholar

29 W A Mozart Requiem K V 626 Instrumentation Franz Beyer (Zurich, 1971). see also Beyer, , ‘Mozarts (Composition zum Requiem’, Acta Mozartiana, 28 (1971), 27–31Google Scholar

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33 See Appendix 2.Google Scholar

34 ‘Neues aus der Mozart-Forschung’, Acta Mozartiana, 28 (1971), 32 See also Johannes Dalchow, Gunther Duda and Dieter Kemer, Mozarts Tod 1791–1971 (Pähl, 1971), 284–7.Google Scholar

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36 Deutsch, A Documentary Biography, 426 (reproduction of Wiener-Neustadt, Städt. Sammlungen, Lit B 1695) Easter Day 1792 fell on 8 April, making the middle of Lent mid-March.Google Scholar

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38 See, for example, Haydn to Eybler, 22 March 1789, Deutsch, A Documentary Biography, 338.Google Scholar

39 See Haas, Robert, ‘Joseph Leopold Edler von Eybler’, Mozart-Jahrbuch 1952, 61–4.Google Scholar

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41 Quoted by Bär, Mozart, 36Google Scholar

42 Deutsch, A Documentary Biography, 366–7Google Scholar

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45 See Hintermaier, Ernst, ‘Eine frühe Requiem-Anekdote in einer Salzburger Zeitung’, Österreichische Musikzeitschnft, 26 (1971), 436–7; also Karl Pfannhauser, ‘Epilegomena Mozartiana’, Mozart-Jahrbuch 1971–2, 291–2.Google Scholar

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49 See Streicher to André, 12 March 1826; Plath. ‘Requiembriefe’, 182.Google Scholar

50 There are six differences between the two just so far as vocal and bass parts are concerned.Google Scholar

51 Letters, 952–3Google Scholar

52 Ibid., 953–71 ‘Snai’ seems to be used by Mozart not just to refer to Süssmayr, but in other contexts, as an exclamationGoogle Scholar

53 To Stadler, 31 May 1827, Briefe, iv, 492Google Scholar

54 Sleeve-note to the recording by The Academy of Ancient Music, director Christopher Hogwood, on Decca 411 712–1/2/4Google Scholar

55 To Nissen, 7 April 1825, Letters, 975–7Google Scholar

56 To Breitkopf und Härtel, 27 March 1799, Briefe, iv, 234Google Scholar

57 See above, note 53.Google Scholar

58 See, for the extravagant view, Schickling, ‘Einige ungeklärte Fragen’, 265–8, and Francis Carr, Mozart and Constanze (London, 1983), 103–11 A more sober viewpoint is Joseph H Eibl, ‘Süssmayr und Constanze – Bemerkungen zu einem biographischen Detail in dem vorausgehenden Beitrag von Dieter Schickling’, Mozart-Jahrbuch 1976–7, 277–80. See also Gärtner, Mozarts Requiem, 43–4Google Scholar

59 Stadler, Maximilian, Vertheidigung der Echtheit des Mozartschen Requiems (Vienna, 1826), 16Google Scholar

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61 See NMA 2, xvii.Google Scholar

62 At some stage Süssmayr no doubt made one or more copies of the completed manuscript In 1800 he returned a copy of the Sanctus as well as the autograph of ff. 11–32 (see Constanze to Breitkopf und Härtel, 2 June 1802; Briefe, iv, 421)Google Scholar

63 Blume, Friedrich, ‘Requiem und kein Ende’, Syntagma musicologicum, ed Martin Ruhnke (Kassel, 1963), 714–34, trans. Nathan Broder, ‘Requiem but no Peace’, Musical Quarterly, 47 (1961), 147–69.Google Scholar

64 Deutsch, A Documentary Biography, 467.Google Scholar

65 To Breitkopf und Härtel, 17 November 1799, Briefe, iv, 296Google Scholar

66 Deutsch, A Documentary Biography, 536–7.Google Scholar

67 From letters to Gottfried Weber by Carl Maria von Weber, 29 November 1825, and Joannes Miksch, 16 March 1826: Cäcilia, 4 (1826), 302, 309Google Scholar

68 See Cäcilia, 4 (1826), 308. Also Friedrich Schlichtegroll, Mozarts Leben (Graz, 1794), facsimile ed. Joseph H. Eibl (Kassel, 1974). Schlichtegroll's necrology shows clearly that he knew Mozart had not completed the Requiem. He was also aware of the first performance Constanze was apparently ‘not satisfied’ with his work!Google Scholar

69 See Deutsch, , A Documentary Biography, 468, 552–3.Google Scholar

70 See above, note 56Google Scholar

71 Pole, William F, The Story of Mozart's Requiem (London, 1879), 75Google Scholar

72 See Fischer, Wilhelm, ‘Das “Lacrimosa dies illa” in Mozarts Requiem’, Mozart-Jahrbuch 1951, 9–21, Robert Handke, ‘Zur Lösung der Benedictusfrage in Mozarts Requiem’, Zeitschrift fur Musikwissenschaft, 1 (1918–19), 108–30, Ernst Hess, ‘Zur Ergänzung des Requiems von Mozart durch F. X. Süssmayr’, Mozart-Jahrbuch 1959, 99–108; Marguerre, Karl, ‘Mozart und Sušsmayer’, Mozart-Jahrbuch 1962–3, 172–7Google Scholar

73 See above, note 54Google Scholar

74 Published in Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, I/10, Abteilung 30/1 These were the notebooks assigned by Mozart to his pupil, the Englishman Thomas Attwood, who studied with him between autumn 1785 and August 1786. See Heartz, Daniel, ‘Thomas Attwood's Lessons in Composition with Mozart’, Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association, 100 (1973–4), 175–83Google Scholar

75 Maunder, Richard, Mozart's Requiem On Preparing a New Edition (Oxford, 1988) I am grateful to Dr Maunder for letting me see a draft of parts of his book prior to publicationGoogle Scholar

76 Letters, 950, 965–6Google Scholar

77 A performance given on 6 March 1985 by The Oxford Chamber Choir used an edition prepared by Simon Andrews which doubles the length of the ‘Osanna’ fugue and adds a two-bar modulatory passage at the end of the Benedictus, to allow the second statement of the ‘Osanna’ to return in the same key as the first.Google Scholar

78 Vienna, Nationalbibliothek, Cod 17559Google Scholar

79 See particularly Nowak, NMA 2, xii–xivGoogle Scholar

80 Blume, ‘Requiem but no Peace’, 159–62.Google Scholar

81 See Stadler, Maximilian, Zweyter und letzter Nachtrag zur Vertheidtgung der Echtheit des Mozartschen Requiems (Vienna, 1827), 20Google Scholar

82 NMA 1, xiv–xv.Google Scholar

83 Published by Breitkopf und Härtel, no 6330 (Wiesbaden, 1962).Google Scholar

84 Introit and Kyrie in Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Österreich, 83 (Vienna, 1938), autograph in Vienna, Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde Attention was first drawn to the resemblance by Edward Dent, ‘The Forerunners of Mozart's Requiem’, Monthly Musical Record, 37 (1907), 148–50Google Scholar

85 Vertheidtgung, 17.Google Scholar

86 Constanze to Breitkopf und Härtel, 15 June 1799; Briefe, iv, 245–6.Google Scholar

87 See also Niemetschek to Breitkopf und Härtel, 10 August 1811, Briefe, iv, 455.Google Scholar

88 Kellner, A., Musikgeschichte des Stiftes Kremsmünster (Kassel, 1956), 504, quoted in Gärtner, Mozarts Requiem, 156.Google Scholar

89 Schnerich, Mozarts Requiem, 19.Google Scholar

90 11 October to 12 November 1800, and 26 November 1800; Briefe, iv, 380, 387Google Scholar

91 2 June 1802; ibid., 421–2.Google Scholar

92 C-G Stellan Mörner, ‘F. S. Silverstolpes im Jahr 1800 (oder 1801) in Wien niedergeschriebene Bemerkungen zu Mozarts Requiem’, Festschrift Alfred Orel (Vienna, 1960). 113–20.Google Scholar

93 See H. C Robbins Landon, Haydn: The Years of ‘The Creation’, 1796–1800 (London, 1977), 250Google Scholar

94 See for example Karl Geiringer, ‘The Church Music’, The Mozart Companion, ed. H. C. Robbins Landon and Donald Mitchell (London, 1956), 373.Google Scholar

95 Blume, ‘Requiem but no Peace’, 147–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

96 See Sabel, Hans, ‘Maximilian Stadler und W. A. Mozart’, Neues Mozart-Jahrbuch, 3 (1943), 102–4.Google Scholar

97 To Nissen, 3 April 1826, Briefe, vi, 630.Google Scholar

98 See Nowak, NMA 2, ix–x, also Schickling, ‘Einige ungeklärte Fragen’, 271–3.Google Scholar

99 See above, note 16.Google Scholar

100 I am grateful to the staff at the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek for their helpGoogle Scholar

101 No other examples of this paper-type are known either to Dr Tyson or to myselfGoogle Scholar

102 See Johnson, Douglas, Alan Tyson and Robert Winter, The Beethoven Sketchbooks History, Reconstruction, Inventory (Oxford, 1985), 559Google Scholar

103 Cited in Gärtner, Mozarts Requiem, 80Google Scholar

104 16 April 1796, Deutsch, A Documentary Biography, 480–1Google Scholar

105 Cäcilia, 4 (1826), 297. These copies were for the Duke of Saxony and the King of PrussiaGoogle Scholar

106 Ibid., 288Google Scholar

107 Niemetschek, Life of Mozart, 44Google Scholar

108 Gärtner, Mozarts Requiem, 96–7Google Scholar

109 Stadler, Vertheidigung, 9–10 See also Deutsch, A Documentary Biography, 486, 489Google Scholar

110 Briefe, iv, 233–4, and vi, 467Google Scholar

111 The copy that Constanze sent to Breitkopf und Härtel is now lost. Constanze gave it to Stadler, who reported in 1825 that it was in the hands of Baron Carl von Doppelhof (see von Mosel to Stadler, 4 August 1825; Briefe, vi, 608–9).Google Scholar

112 Announcements in Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung, 2 (1799), Intelligenzblatt xix, cols. 97ff.; also Frankfurter Staatsrisetto, 8 October 1799.Google Scholar

113 Deutsch. A Documentary Biography, 488Google Scholar

114 Mörner, ‘F S Silverstolpes. Bemerkungen’, 115Google Scholar

115 Constanze to Breitkopf und Härtel, 30 January 1800, Briefe, iv, 309–10Google Scholar

116 Stadler, Vertheidigung, 15Google Scholar

117 The title-page reads: ‘W. A. Mozarts Missa pro Defunctis / Requiem / W. A Mozarts Seelenmesse mit unterlegtem deutschem Texte’.Google Scholar

118 Mörner, ‘F S. Silverstolpes. Bemerkungen’, 117.Google Scholar

119 This copy was sent to André on 26 January 1801 and used to prepare his vocal score (1801) and his first full edition (1827).Google Scholar

120 Stockholm, Kungliga Musikaliska Akademiens Bibliotek I have not been able to see this copyGoogle Scholar

121 See Streicher to André, 12 March 1826; Plath, ‘Requiembriefe’, 182 This copy, if it ever existed, has never been found.Google Scholar

122 To Breitkopf und Härtel, Briefe, iv, 421–2Google Scholar

123 Ibid., 296Google Scholar

124 See above, note 16Google Scholar

125 26 November 1800, Briefe, iv, 387.Google Scholar

126 Constanze to André, 3 April 1802; ibid., 416.Google Scholar

127 See Stadler to von Mosel, 29 March 1826, and to Nissen, 3 April 1826; Briefe, vi, 627–30.Google Scholar

128 One particularly interesting polemic is Georg L. P. Sievers, Mozart und Süssmayer (Mainz, 1829).Google Scholar

129 See Cäcilia, 3 (1825), 205–28Google Scholar

130 Berliner musikalische Zeitung (1825), 371ff See also Cäcilia, 4 (1826), 320ff.Google Scholar

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132 Letters, 1st edn (London, 1938), iii, 1461Google Scholar

133 Ibid., 1482Google Scholar

134 To Breitkopf und Härtel, 10 August 1811, Briefe, iv, 455Google Scholar

135 To Nissen, 3 April 1826, Briefe, vi, 630.Google Scholar

136 Briefe, iv, 474.Google Scholar

137 Cäcilia, 4 (1826), 167–9. See also letter to Marx, 22 January 1826; Plath, ‘Requiembriefe’, 177.Google Scholar

138 See above, note 53Google Scholar

139 See above, note 127, and also Streicher to André, 1 April 1826; Plath, ‘Requiembriefe’, 187.Google Scholar

140 C. A André to his father, 27 September; Stadler to André, 1 October, ibid., 195–7.Google Scholar

141 Ibid., 186.Google Scholar

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143 25 July 1826; Plath, ‘Requiembriefe’, 189–94.Google Scholar

144 23 December 1825 and 3 January 1826. First mentioned in Cäcilta, 4 (1826), 306; printed ibid., 6 (1827), 217, 221ff.Google Scholar

145 ‘Requiem but no Peace’, 167–8Google Scholar

146 Cäcilia, 4 (1826), 269–72.Google Scholar

147 See Stadler, , Zwei Nachträge zur Vertheidigung der Echtheit des Mozartschen Requiems (Vienna, 1827), and Weber in Cäcilia, 6 (1827), 133–51.Google Scholar

148 See Stadler to André, 19 October 1828; Plath, ‘Requiembriefe’, 200Google Scholar

149 Johann Anton André, Partitur des Dies irae, Tuba mirum, Rex tremendae, Recordare, Confutatis, Lacrymosa, Domine Jesu und Hostias von W. A Mozarts Requiem so wie solche Mozart eigenhändig geschrieben und Abbé Stadler kopiert hat (Offenbach, 1829), Pl. no. 5246.Google Scholar

150 12 November 1828, Plath, ‘Requiembriefe’, 201–2Google Scholar

151 Ibid., 203Google Scholar

152 I would like to thank Dr Edward Olleson and Dr Alan Tyson for their help during the preparation of this paperGoogle Scholar