Requiem (Michael Haydn)

Michael Haydn wrote the Missa pro defuncto Archiepiscopo Sigismondo, or more generally Missa pro Defunctis, Klatzmann I:8, MH 155, following the death of the Count Archbishop Sigismund von Schrattenbach in Salzburg on December 1771. Haydn completed the Requiem before the year was over, signing it "S[oli] D[eo] H[onus] et G[loria.] Salisburgi 31 Dicembre 1771." At the beginning of that year, his daughter Aloisia Josefa[1] died. Historians believe "his own personal bereavement" motivated the composition.[2] Contemporary materials which have survived to the present day include the autograph score found in Berlin, a set of copied parts with lots of corrections in Haydn's hand in Salzburg and another set at the Esterházy castle in Eisenstadt, and a score prepared by the Salzburg copyist Nikolaus Lang found in Munich.[3]

The mass is scored for vocal soloists and mixed choir, 2 bassoons,[4] 4 trumpets in C, 3 trombones, timpani and strings with basso continuo.

  1. "Requiem aeternam..." Adagio, C minor, common time
  2. Sequentia "Dies irae, ..." Andante maestoso, C minor, 3/4
  3. Offertorium Domine Jesu Christe, "Rex gloriae, ..." Andante moderato, G minor, common time
    — "Quam olim Abrahae..." Vivace, G minor, cut time
  4. "Hostias et preces..." Andante, G minor, common time
    — "Quam olim Abrahae..." Vivace e più Allegro, G minor, cut time
  5. "Sanctus, Sanctus Dominus..." Andante, C minor, 3/4
  6. "Benedictus qui venit..." Allegretto, E-flat major, 3/4
  7. Agnus Dei et Communio "Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi..." Adagio con moto, C minor, common time
    — "Cum sanctis tuis..." Allegretto, C minor, cut time
    — "Requiem aeternam..." Adagio, C minor, common time
    — "Cum sanctis tuis..." Allegretto, C minor, cut time

Sherman recommends a tempo relation in which "in Agnus Dei et Communio, the of both Agnus Dei and Requiem aeternam equals of the fugue Cum sanctis tuis."[5] Sherman also recommends interpreting the Andante maestoso of the Dies Irae at "a pulse of = MM. 104."[6] Leopold Mozart instructs "that the staccato indicates a lifting of the bow from the string" with no accent implied.[7]

Both Leopold and his son Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart were present at the first three performances of Haydn's Requiem in January 1772,[8][9] and Wolfgang was influenced in the writing of his own Requiem in D minor, K. 626.[10] In fact, Michael Haydn's Requiem is "an important model for Mozart" and strongly suggests that Franz Xaver Süssmayr's completion of Mozart's way does not depart "in any way from Mozart's plans."[11]

References

  1. ^ Max Kenyon, Mozart in Salzburg: A Study and Guide. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons: 154. "Haydn's second child, so quickly baptized on the day she was born, was named Josepha : had Michael his great brother in mind ?"
  2. ^ p. [i] (1969) Sherman
  3. ^ p. [ii] (1969) Sherman
  4. ^ p. [i] (1969) Sherman. Though the score says "Fagotto," in the preface Sherman writes: "Two bassoons are necessary to reinforce the basses at the octave."
  5. ^ p. [ii] (1969) Sherman
  6. ^ p. [ii] (1969) Sherman
  7. ^ p. [ii] (1969) Sherman
  8. ^ p. 537 (1995) Heartz
  9. ^ p. 65, Wolff (1998) Christoph. Berkeley, California Mozart's Requiem: historical and analytical studies, documents, score University of California Press
  10. ^ p. 538 (1995) Heartz
  11. ^ p. 70 (1998) Wolff