ONE of the first cares of Mozart's widow was the Requiem (626 K.). 1 Mozart having left it unfinished, she could not but fear that the Unknown would not only refuse to complete the stipulated payment, but would demand the return of what had been already paid. In this dilemma, she called various friends into counsel, and hit upon the idea of continuing such portions of the work as Mozart had left, and of presenting it entire to the Unknown. The completion was first intrusted to Joh. Eybler; 2 witness the following certificate from him:—

The undersigned hereby acknowledges that the widow Frau Konstanze Mozart has intrusted to him, for completion, the Requiem begun by her late husband. He undertakes to finish it by the middle of the ensuing Lent; and also gives his assurance that it shall neither be copied nor given into other hands than those of the widow.

Joseph Eybler.

Vienna, December 21, 1791.

He began his task by filling in the instrumentation in Mozart's manuscript as far as the Confutatis, THE REQUIEM. and writing two bars of a continuation of the Lacrimosa, 3 but he then abandoned the work in despair. Other musicians seem to have declined it after him until it finally fell to the lot of SÜssmayr. He had been Mozart's pupil in composition, had lent a hand in "Titus" (p. 288), and had often gone over the parts of the Requiem already composed with Mozart, who had consulted him as to the working-out of the composition and the principal points of the instrumentation. The widow, at a later time, said to Stadler:

As Mozart grew weaker SÜssmayr had often to sing through with him and me what had been written, and thus received regular instruction from Mozart. I seem to hear Mozart saying, as he often did: "Ah, the oxen are on the hill again! You have not, mastered that yet, by a long way." 4

This expression was also well remembered by her sister Sophie, and we can enter into it, remembering the manner in which Mozart himself wrote and developed his compositions (Vol. II., p. 423).

The first two movements, Requiem and Kyrie, were finished and written out in full score by Mozart; there can be no question about them. 5 The Dies irÆ was sketched out in his usual way, the voice parts completely written out, together with the fundamental bass—sometimes figured—and the instrumental parts where they had to go without the voices; where the accompaniment was at all independent the subject was indicated sufficiently clearly to be carried on and filled in subsequently. The score was left in this state as far as the last verse of the Dies irÆ; Mozart stopped at the words:—

SUSSMAYR'S WORK.

He had not set himself, however, to compose the Requiem straight through, but had thrown off different parts of it according to the mood he happened to be in. Thus before the Dies irÆ was finished he had composed the Offertorium, of which the two movements, Domine Jesu Christe and Hostias, were left virtually complete in the same state as those mentioned above.

It will now be understood how Mozart, going through the score, either at the piano or the desk with his pupil SÜssmayr, would discuss the various points of the instrumentation, would encourage him to make suggestions, and explain his own ideas and intentions, so that SÜssmayr would in many respects have formed a lively image in his mind of what the completed score would be, and would often be able faithfully to reproduce Mozart's own intentions. Of the remaining movements, Sanctus, Benedictus, and Agnus Dei, there were no such sketches in existence.

SÜssmayer's first care was to copy out all that Mozart had left imperfect, "that there might not be two handwritings together," as the widow wrote to AndrÉ (CÀcilia, VI., p. 202)—she must have had Eybler's promised completion in her mind—and then to fill in the instrumentation according to Mozart's apparent design. Pages 11-32 of Mozart's original manuscript, containing the Dies irÆ as far as the Confutatis, fell into the hands of the AbbÉ Stadler, and were by him bequeathed to the Imperial Library in Vienna. The remaining sheets (33-45) containing the Lacrimosa, Domine, and Hostias, belonged to Eybler, who presented them to the same library. That Mozart had contemplated carrying them out, and uniting them into one score with the Requiem and Kyrie is proved by the continuous numbering of the pages in his own handwriting; there is no instance to be found of his having recopied a score so sketched out when filling it in. 6

THE REQUIEM.

SÜssmayr's appointed task, therefore, was the composition "from his own head" (ganz neu) of the concluding part of the Lacrimosa, the Sanctus, Benedictus, and Agnus Dei; only "in order to give the work more unity" he repeated the fugue of the Kyrie with the words "cum sanctis." The Requiem thus completed—the two first movements in Mozart's handwriting, the remainder in SÜssmayr's—was delivered over to the owner. 7 If it was intended that the latter should accept the whole composition as by Mozart, appearances were certainly not calculated to undeceive him. The score in question passed in 1838 into the possession of the Imperial Library. 8 The first impression of every one who sees it, and who is familiar with Mozart's handwriting, must be that the whole of it was written by him, and that the autograph of Mozart's Requiem in its entirety is before him. 9 Closer examination and comparison raise suspicion, many discrepancies are discovered, although perhaps only trifling ones, and the fact must be borne in mind that, to a question addressed to her on the subject, Mozart's widow answered (February 10, 1839) that a full score of the Requiem in Mozart's handwriting could not exist, since it was finished not by him but by SÜssmayr.

A comparison of the manuscript with several scores undoubtedly written by SÜssmayr—a terzet and bass air, composed by him in 1793 for insertion in the "Serva Padrona"—solved the riddle. It was the same handwriting, closely resembling that of Mozart, with the same deviations from it which had been pointed out in the Requiem. There could SÜSSMAYR'S WORK. no longer be any doubt that SÜssmayr had written the score from the Dies irÆ—the paging begins afresh, starting with page 1 at the Sanctus. In one place the transcriber betrays himself by a mistake. The closing bars of the Tuba mirum are noted for the stringed instruments by Mozart, as follows:—[See Page Image]

In his copy SÜssmayr has omitted the octave passage for the violins, and the characteristic instrumentation for the violas, and has filled up the omission in a way which is certainly no improvement on the original. 10

SÜssmayr, it is clear, had so modelled his handwriting on that of Mozart that the two could only be distinguished by trifling idiosyncrasies. There are other instances of the same kind—Joh. Seb. Bach's second wife, for instance, writing a hand which only an expert could distinguish from her husband's, and Joachim's manuscript being, at one time at least, almost identical with Mendelssohn's. As far as the score of the Requiem was concerned, the wish to persuade the owner of the Requiem that he was possessed of a composition exclusively by Mozart may have come to the aid of THE REQUIEM. custom and natural aptitude. There is no doubt that Count Walsegg accepted the score as having been completed and written by Mozart at least as far as the Sanctus. 11 Whether this was expressly stated, or merely taken for granted by him, does not appear, and the fact that the composition had been ordered by him with a view to a deception of another kind is a curious coincidence, but does not make the case any the better.

Under these circumstances it was to the interest of the widow to maintain that the Requiem had been completed by Mozart. This explains the assertion of Rochlitz 12 (who according to his own account had questioned Mozart's widow at Leipzig in 1796 concerning the whole story of the Requiem) that Mozart had completed the Requiem before his death. 13 But a secret known to so many could hardly be long kept. The widow had retained a copy of the work, and a performance of it took place soon after in Jahn's Hall at Vienna, the hall being densely crowded. It was pretty well known to the performers what portions were by Mozart and what by SÜssmayr, 14 and the knowledge was not slow to spread. It reached Munich 15 and Prague, where at the first performance of the Requiem no secret was made of the fact that the Sanctus was composed by SÜssmayr. 16 The widow sold manuscript copies of the Requiem to various noblemen, 17 and allowed others to make copies of it; 18 Hiller copied the PUBLICATION. score note for note with his own hand, and wrote on the title-page "Opus,summum viri summi," expressing no doubt whatever as to the whole work being that of Mozart. 19 Not content with the profits thus accruing from the Requiem, the widow turned her attention towards its publication. The idea occurred to her that a public appeal to the Unknown might induce him to forego his claim on the composition. 20 The appeal, however, was not made, for the publishers, Breitkopf and HÀrtel, not conceiving themselves to be bound by the agreement made with Mozart, resolved on bringing out the work from the several transcripts of it which had fallen into their hands. Desirous, however, that the work should be produced with all possible correctness, they applied to the widow for her copy, with which, having no power to stop the publication, she saw no objection to furnishing them. To their question (prompted by the reports current as to the authorship of the work) whether the Requiem was wholly and solely composed by Mozart, she answered explicitly as follows (March 27, 1799):—

As to the Requiem, it is true that I possess the celebrated one, written shortly before his death. I know of no Requiem but this, and declare all others to be spurious. 21 How far it is his own composition—it is so to near the end—I will inform you when you receive it from me. The circumstances were as follows: Seeing his end approaching, he spoke with Herr SÜssmayr, the present Imperial Kapellmeister, and requested him, if he should die without completing it, to repeat the first fugue in THE REQUIEM. the last part, as is customary; and told him also how he should develop the conclusion, of which the principal subjects were here and there already carried out in some of the parts. And this Herr SÜssmayr actually did.

On being pressed for further information she referred the publishers to SÜssmayr himself, who answered in the letter already mentioned (February 8, 1800). He nowhere asserts having received a decided commission from Mozart, nor does he mention the concluding fugue, so that it is plain that the widow turned her not very clear recollection of the transaction as far as possible in favour of the integrity of the Requiem. Count Walsegg, who had already given himself out as the composer of the Requiem, must have felt considerable annoyance at its wide dissemination as Mozart's work; but as yet he had made no sign. When however, in 1799, Breitkopf and HÀrtel announced the publication of the Requiem from the manuscript in the possession of Mozart's widow, he thought it time to put forward his claim. He sent his own copy of the score to his advocate, Dr. Sortschan, at Vienna, and through him demanded explanation and compensation from the widow. Stadler and Nissen negotiated with the advocate in her name. Stadler pointed out which parts had Mozart and which SÜssmayr for their author, and the advocate wrote down all that he said for the information of the Count, to whom he returned his score. 23 As to compensation, the widow wrote to HÀrtel (January 30, 1800) that the Count had demanded the restitution of fifty ducats, but that he would perhaps be satisfied with receiving a number of copies of the work. Nissen at length induced the Count "with much difficulty and after many threats" to accept as payment transcripts of several unpublished compositions by Mozart, 24 and even to allow the widow to revise the printed score by a comparison of it with his own. 25

SÜSSMAYR'S SHARE IN THE WORK.

As the result of this unsatisfactory transaction to all concerned in it, we may conclude that the Requiem and Kyrie are the work of Mozart as we have them, that the movements from the Dies irÆ to the first eight bars of the Lacrimosa, also the Domine Jesu and Hostias, were finished by Mozart in the voice part and the bass, and that the principal points of the instrumentation were also indicated by him, leaving only the details to be elaborated. This, however, is not by any means so easy and purely mechanical an undertaking as has been supposed, and Mozart's verbal suggestions must not be underrated. As regards the last three numbers, SÜssmayr's statement that they had been "composed (verfertigt) entirely afresh" by him offers no decided testimony on the point. Stadler's account 26 ("the widow told me that after Mozart's death a few scraps of paper with music on them had been found on his writing-desk, and had been handed over to Herr SÜssmayr; what they contained, or what use SÜssmayr made of them, I do not know") admits the possibility, but only the possibility, that these scraps were sketches for the last movements. 27 The repeatedly expressed doubt as to whether "these flowers really grew in SÜssmayr's garden" can only be supported upon internal evidence.

The serious spirit in which Mozart undertook the composition of his Requiem, the intensity of his absorption in it, and the artistic labour which he bestowed upon it, are best evidenced by the work itself. 28 It is remarkable that towards the close of his life, when increasing illness disposed his mind to serious reflection, his musical labours should have been calculated to turn his thoughts upon death and the grave. On the one hand his views as a Freemason, which were both earnest and sincere, found their expression in the "Zauberflote"; and, on the other, his religious convictions THE REQUIEM. asserted for the last time in the Requiem the sway over his mind and conscience which they had never lost. 29 The two sets of mental activities thus roused found their common centre in Mozart's mind, and impelled him to the production of his most powerful and most important works. The similarity of thought and tendency displayed in the Requiem and the "ZauberflÖte" is observable even in the combinations of external means in corresponding parts of the two works. The combination of basset-horns, bassoons, and trombones, and here and there of trumpets and drums, with the stringed instruments, which gave so singular an expression of earnest solemnity to the tone-colouring of the "ZauberflÖte," is made use of again in the Requiem.

But the tone-blending of the latter work is nevertheless limited, the clearer wind instruments—flutes, oboes, clarinets and the softer horns—being left out altogether, and the frequent orchestral characterisation depending altogether upon the varied combinations of the instruments named above.

The view upheld in the opera that serious ideas must be expressed in corresponding severity of form is even more decided in the Requiem, in so far as Mozart must have regarded as natural and inevitable the identification of certain fixed forms with the musical expression of religious emotion in an act of worship. The praiseworthy feeling which leads an artist, who believes himself to be offering his work for the service of the Most High, to bestow his best thoughts and his best workmanship upon it, cannot fail also to have influenced him. The pleasure which, after his study of Handel's oratorios and the strong impression made on him by Bach's motetts, Mozart took in the severely contrapuntal style of composition is evinced both in the "ZauberflÖte" and in the two organ pieces composed in December, 1790, and March, 1791. But the main inducement to this form was doubtless the facility with which it expressed a serious, controlled and concentrated frame of mind, allowing at the same KYRIE—INTROITUS. time much freedom of characteristic and individual expression. The chief significance of the Requiem rests herein, that it proves these forms, with their fixed laws and strongly marked features, to have more than a merely abstract or historical value; it proves them to be in fact, when artistically conceived and scientifically handled, capable of giving appropriate expression to the deepest emotion in which the human heart finds vent. 30

In considering the Requiem, a distinction must be made between the different parts of this kind of Mass and the different degrees of importance which they receive in relation to the act of worship with which they are associated.

The Kyrie is preceded by the Introitus, beginning with a prayer for the departed. The bassoons and basset-horns, in successive imitation, give utterance to the soft, sustained melody of the prayer, supported by a simple accompaniment on the stringed instruments; it is interrupted by four clashing trumpet chords announcing the approach of judgment, and not again recurring until the day of doom is there. Thereupon the voices immediately enter, falling in from the bass upwards; but a syncopated figure for the violins gives the petition for repose an expression of painful unrest, called forth by the contemplation of death and the coming judgment; soon, however, the clouds are pierced by the divine light which is finally to disperse them, and the movement comes to a peaceful end after an outburst of confidence and strength rendered by the orchestra. After a short transition passage come the words of the psalm, "Lord, we will magnify Thee upon Zion, and pay our vows unto the Most High." In order to emphasise these as the words of Scripture, Mozart has set them to an old chorale melody and given them to a soprano voice, which utters them in clear, pure tones, like consolation from above. The chorale, as has been already remarked (Vol. I., p. 200), is the two-part tropus of the ninth church mode to the psalm "In exitu Israel de Ægypto," and had previously been made use of by Mozart as a Cantus firmus THE REQUIEM. in his "Betulia Liberata"; but what a difference between the work of the youth and that of the matured master! 31 While the soprano chorus takes up the same melody firmly and forcibly with the words "Thou that hearest prayer, unto Thee shall all flesh come!" the other voices fall in in animated movement, and an energetic figure for the violins increases the force of the expression. Then the petition for eternal rest is renewed with a stronger expression of confidence, but still with the ground-tone of painful agitation, rendered, by the union with the first motif of a second, more animated and more forcible. This second subject has already been hinted at in the transition passage to the psalm texts, from which also the passage accompanying the texts is taken, and here first fully asserts itself, the psychological development thus coinciding with the musical climax. The climax reaches its highest point in the petition for eternal light, which the divided voices utter alternately and repeat in concert with tender, pleading supplication.

The ejaculations "Kyrie eleison!" and "Christe eleison!" are bound together as the two themes of a double fugue (the first strong and firm, the second agitated and impulsive), which are carried out together in inextricable entanglement—their expression heightened by the chromatic construction towards the close, until in constantly increasing climax they come to a pause on a harshly dissonant chord, and then, as it were, collect themselves and unite in quiet composure. This fugue 32 has given rise to the extremes of criticism, laudatory and the reverse; 33 G. Weber could not bear to believe that Mozart KYRIE. could have written such "Gurgeleien" as the chromatic passages of the Christe eleison, 34 and others have looked in vain for the pious humility of expression proper to such a solemn appeal to the mercy of the Redeemer. 35 Whether the treatment of the keys adopted in this movement is in accordance with the requirements of a strict fugue, must be decided by the masters of the school; it is undeniable that on it depends the character and effect of the movement, and that the essential laws of counterpoint are here apprehended and turned to account with deep insight into their true nature. 36

The execution of the chromatic passages is difficult certainly; but, apart from the fact that both older and contemporary masters, who wrote for trained choirs—Bach, for instance, or Handel, or Haydn—made similar demands on the skill of their performers, they are perfectly possible if taken in the right time, and the effect produced by them is probably that which Mozart intended. The conception of the movement is clearly expressed, and requires neither explanation nor apology. 37 The exclamation, "Lord, have mercy upon us!" is capable of very varied expression; in the mouth of one in the agony of death, burdened with sin and about to appear before the Judge of all men, it becomes an agonising appeal for mercy. This state of mind has already been expressed, and rises at the close of the Requiem into such an intensity of longing after eternal light, that the anguished yet not despairing cry of the Kyrie is perfectly naturally led up to. The two feelings are expressed in the two themes of the fugue, although, in accordance with the character of the THE REQUIEM. Mass, even the confidence is penetrated with a feeling of grief. In such a mood the element of agitation naturally rises higher and higher, until at length the anguish of suspense finds vent in the heartrending cry for mercy which leads to composure and resignation. The two movements of the Requiem and the Kyrie are thus formed into a whole of perfect harmonic unity, and lead the way to the Dies irÆ.

In view of this unmistakable unity of conception and construction it appears strange that decided traces of Handel's influence should appear in the principal subjects. Stadler remarks that Mozart has borrowed the motif of the Requiem from the first motif of Handel's "Dirge on the death of Queen Caroline"—"as some loose sheets among his retrains show"—and has worked it out after his own manner. 38 This can only allude to the preliminary sketches of this portion of the Requiem such as Mozart was accustomed to make for contrapuntal work before writing the score (Vol. II., p. 433), and of such there must have been a great number during the composition of his Requiem. Stadler's conjecture that they were vestiges of Mozart's youthful studies is unfounded; he was not acquainted with Handel's works in his youth, nor until they were introduced to him by Van Swieten (Vol. II., p. 386), under whose direction he rearranged Handel's oratorios between 1788-1790 (p. 218). Before this, the anthem in question cannot have been known to him. In this beautiful work, composed in December, 1737, 39 Handel has taken the Chorale, "Herr Jesu Christ, du wahres Gut," or, "Wenn mein StÜndlein vorhanden ist', 40 as Cantus firmus to the first chorus, and has made further use of the same theme in the fugued concluding chorus. It is very unlikely that Mozart deliberately chose out the subject in order to work it out in a different way to Handel; it was more probably so stamped on his memory as to have suggested itself naturally as suited to the words before him, and to have then HANDEL'S INFLUENCE. been quite independently worked out by him. Stadler also points out that Mozart has taken the motif to the Kyrie from one of Handel's oratorios. The chorus "Halleluja! we will rejoice in Thy salvation." from Handel's "Joseph," contains both the themes of Mozart's Kyrie, but in the major key; again, the principal subject of the Kyrie eleison has been carried out as a fugue in the minor in the well-known and beautiful chorus of the Messiah, "By His stripes." A comparison of this fugue with that of the Requiem, shows that the adaptation has not merely consisted in the change from a major to a minor key, and that the actual motif, a very favourable one for treatment in counterpoint—[See Page Image]

and one constantly occurring in the fugal movements of every age, here serves only as a nucleus from which the master proceeds to develop his own independent creation. The essential principle in the construction of a double fugue is the combination of two themes, each bearing a necessary relation to the other. In the chorus in "Joseph" are two motifs exactly answering to each other; and it can scarcely be doubted that Mozart was struck with the combination and adopted it, although, as the examples adduced will show, his working-out of the motifs is essentially his own. Handel only really worked out the second motif—one, by the way, which often recurs in others of his works—and this in very free treatment; the first only occasionally emerges from the passages which play around it, like a huge rock almost overwhelmed by the billows. Mozart has undertaken such a fugal elaboration of both motifs as presupposes a radically different treatment impossible without a new intellectual conception of the task before him. Still more essential does this reconception appear when it is remembered that the supplication of a sinner for mercy was to take the place of a joyful offering of praise and thanksgiving. The transposition to a minor key involves at the outset so complete a reconstruction of the harmonic treatment as to point to a new creation THE REQUIEM. rather than an adaptation. We here stand in the presence of one of the mysteries of music; how it is that one and the same musical idea, embodied in one definite form, should be capable by means of artistic arrangement of expressing different and even totally opposite emotions. It is true, doubtless, that invention is the characteristic gift of genius, but absolute novelty is not to be considered as altogether indispensable to invention. In music, as in every other art, the creation of an individual becomes common property for his successors, whose task it is so to develop and carry it on as in their turn to create and construct an original and undying work. Richly endowed natures, in the consciousness of their power of producing what is perfectly original from?any given point, often undisguisedly follow the impulse given by a predecessor to their imagination. A striking proof of this is given by Haydn, who has written a double fugue as the last movement of his Quartet in F minor, which might appear a deliberate attempt at rivalry, but which has in reality every claim to independence. To what extent Handel himself has employed, retouched, and re-elaborated melodies, not only of previous occurrence in his own works, but borrowed from other musicians, has lately been pointed out by Chrysander; and one of the most striking examples of such musical plagiarism is Gluck's expressive air from "Iphigenie in Tauris," "Je t'implore, et je tremble," which was unmistakably suggested by the beautiful Gigue in Seb. Bach's Clavier Studies (I., part I.). 41 Neither of these two great masters could be suspected of borrowing ideas for lack of invention. 42

A curious part of the Requiem, of special prominence in the musical construction of the Mass, is the old Latin hymn, DIES IRÆ. Dies irÆ, which is generally not quite accurately described as a Sequence. 43 It had grown into a custom in the service of the Mass that at the Alleluja of the Gradual in High Mass, which was repeated by the congregation, and then again by the choir, the last syllable "ja" should be extended into a jubilus, upon which long-drawn-out florid progressions (sequentÆ) were sung, of different forms for different festivals. Gradually these became so elaborate as to offer great difficulties in execution and to require special practice, and the idea arose of providing these merely vocalised melodies (neumÆ, or divisions) with words which were called prosÆ, because they were confined to no particular metre or rhythm, but followed the melody, a syllable to every note. The greatest development of these prosÆ, which were now called sequentiÆ, was made in the ninth century by Notker the Stammerer for his scholars and successors in the musical school of St. Gall. 44 If he did not actually invent them, he gave them their essential form. Proceeding from the old alleluja jubilation, he founded upon it a fixed form, consisting partly in regularly recurring cadences, partly in the twofold repetition of each melodic progression, with the frequent employment of a kind of refrain. This gave to the words a certain amount of regularity, still however far from any strictness of rhythm or metre. These Sequences introduced a fresh element of animated movement into the rigid uniformity of the ritual, and, coming in the place of the responses, gave the congregation an effective share in the service. They had therefore a reciprocal effect on the national poetry, and were developed side by side with it. In process of time rhyme, at first only occasionally appearing, became general. The two lines set to the corresponding melodic choral progressions were connected by rhyme, as well as the lines of the refrain. Then they were united into THE REQUIEM. verses, and gradually the number of syllables in each line was made equal. The Sequences, which allowed of very great variety of form, were extremely popular in Germany, France, and England—less so in Italy; and so many were written, often set to well-known melodies, that they seemed to imperil the strictly conventional character of the Mass. The Church therefore forbade the use of all but three—"VictimÆ Paschali," "Veni, sancte Spiritus," and "Lauda Sion salvatorem"—which alone are included in the revised Breviary after the Council of Trent in 1568.

There can be no Sequence properly so-called in a Requiem, because there is no Alleluja to which it can serve as the supplement; but, following the analogy of the Sequence, a hymn on the last judgment was added to the Tractus, which follows the Gradual, as a preparation for the reading of the Gospel. The date of the introduction of this hymn is uncertain, but it is mentioned as an integral portion of the Requiem by Barthol. Albizzi in 1385, and was acknowledged and retained as such, together with the three Sequences named above. The author of the hymn is not certainly identified, but it was most probably the Franciscan Thomas, of Celano, who was living in 1255. 45

The importance of the Dies irÆ from a musical point of view is determined by the fact that it takes the place of the Gloria and the Credo, which are not sung in the Requiem. Instead of the joyful confidence of these movements, the reflections of sinful man in the presence of judgment here find their expression, and this obviously determines the tone of the whole. The euphonious force and beauty of the hymn, which have not been attained in any of the numerous translations made of it, distinguish it as made for music, 46 the subject being also very favourable to composition. With graphic force the terrors of judgment are painted with all ecclesiastical severity, and with constant reference to the actual words of Scripture, while the mercy and DIES IRÆ. loving-kindness of the Redeemer are dwelt on with equal emphasis. The fear of damnation is tempered by the hope of salvation, and from the waitings of remorse rises the prayer of the trusting believer. Intense and varied emotions are thrown into relief by strong contrast. Brief but pregnant suggestions give occasion for powerful musical characterisation, favoured also by the isolated position of the hymn in the service. Just as the preacher addresses his solemn warning to the congregation with more of individual emphasis than the priest who offers the sacrifice of the Mass, so the composer who depicts the terrors of the last judgment, so as to bring them home to the imagination of his hearers, has freer individual scope than if he were merely following the different acts of worship. In the Dies irÆ, therefore, we have a freer style, a more vivid expression than elsewhere. Nor is it so bound by the usages of tradition as the other parts of the Mass, although a division of the hymn into particular sections is indicated by the arrangement of the subject, and necessitated by the conditions of musical construction.

The hymn begins by representing the destruction of the world, which is to precede the coming of the Lord, and the expression must therefore be forcible and animated even to excess. Here, then, for the first time the chorus enters as a compact mass, only dividing once, when the basses exclaim: "Quantus tremor est futurus!" the only attempt at tone-painting, while the other voices wail: "Dies irÆ! dies illa!" until they all unite to express the fearful majesty in which the Judge shall appear. The effect of this chorus in contrast to what has gone before rests in great measure on the high position of the voices; their shrill, clear tone, heightened by the string accompaniment of semiquavers or syncopated notes, is expressive of strong agitation. Without having recourse to any new devices—trombones are omitted here that the shrill effect may not be impaired—an altered tone-colouring transports the hearer to an altogether new region of ideas. The harmonising adds to the effect by the occurrence of harsh, rugged chords—especially by the transition from E major to C minor at the repetition of the "Quantus THE REQUIEM. tremor" and the return to A major; not to mention other striking features, such as the imitative passage for the tenor at the first "Quantus tremor," which expresses amazement in the most vivid manner.

After bringing before the mind of the hearers the tumult and horror of the destruction of the world, the judgment begins—the trumpets call all created beings before the throne of the Judge. A tenor trumpet makes the announcement in a simple passage, which is taken up by a bass voice, and the two unite with a solemn and dignified effect. 47 Then one after another a tenor, alto, and soprano voice describe the judgment and its unmitigated severity, and at last combine in trembling supplication at the words, "Cum vix iustus sit securus." Mozart has here, apparently, intentionally refrained from emphasising the terrors of judgment, wishing to heighten the contrast of the destruction of the world with the appearance of the Judge, and its effect on the conscience as well as the senses of mankind; he aimed at expressing this effect by means of a soul-elevating calm; but he has fallen short of his endeavours. The movement is in itself expressive, dignified, and full of euphonious beauty, especially towards the close, but it fails to rouse in us a sense of the grandeur and elevation which belong to the subject. 48

The idea that no created being is justified before God recalls the conception of the Judge throned in His awful glory, which is expressed with terrible force in the chorus that follows. The plan of it shows clearly the influence of the words on the musical conception. The thrice-repeated exclamation "Rex!" and then "Rex tremendÆ majestatis," makes, even when spoken, a strong impression, but when sung by the whole strength of the chorus in simple, powerful chords, supported by the wind instruments, the effect is almost overpowering, and is heightened by the strongly DIES IRÆ. punctuated passage for the strings, sinking, as it were; into terrified silence at each recurrence of the exclamation. The idea of the mercy of the Redeemer is at first subordinate to this impression: while sopranos and altos in strict imitation repeat the "Rex tremendae majestatis," and the stringed instruments elaborate their figure in two-part imitation, the tenors and basses announce "Qui salvandos salvas gratis" with a characteristic motif, also in strict imitation; and this is repeated, with alternations of the upper and lower parts, until they all four unite in the whole sentence, forming a movement of concisest strength and severity. The declaration of mercy calls forth the prayer, beginning with the single appeal, "Salva me!" repeated to the gradually dying passage for the stringed instruments, and finally concentrating all its strength and intensity of emotion in the prayer: 49 "Salva me, Fons pietatis!" 50

And now the idea gains ground of the merciful Saviour and His work in reconciling mankind with God; Him we beseech to intercede for souls conscious of their sinfulness. The verses which are devoted to this division of the subject are given to a quartet of solo voices, as appropriate to the gentler and more individual tone of the emotions depicted. The quartet in question is one of the longest and most elaborate movements of the Requiem, and in its plan and arrangement, in the wealth and importance of its different motifs, in the delicacy of its detail, and the spirit which breathes from it throughout, it is perhaps the finest of them all; nor is it too much to say that no more beautiful and noble piece of music of the kind has ever been written. Mozart himself recognised the fact, telling his wife, after writing down the Recorders, that if he were to die before finishing the Requiem it was of the greatest importance that THE REQUIEM. this movement should have been completed. 51 The chief part of the movement, after its introduction by the ritornello, is formed by a motif given by two voices in imitation at the beginning, the middle, and again towards the close, the fervent expression of which is tinged with severity by means of suspensions of the second. It is supported by a figured bass, the first bar of which—[See Page Image]

contains the germ from which most of the motifs of the accompaniment and the interludes are developed, and finally winds up the ritornello in two-part canonic imitation on the violins, with a figure for the violas in counter-movement to an organ point on the bass. This two-part movement having been executed first by the alto and bass, then by the soprano and tenor, the four unite in free movement to bring the whole to an expressive close with the supplicating appeal, "Ne me perdas illa die!" In the first episode the parts are at first divided into short responding phrases, held together by the figured bass, and coming to a close together, whereupon the first movement, abbreviated, is repeated. Then there occurs a new motif of essentially harmonic character, the effect of which depends upon the thrice-heightened climax of the chords, intensified by the contrast of the high and low voices. Then the parts divide again and lead the way for the last entry of the first movement, which is repeated with a short parenthesis inserted; the final close is brought about in a very interesting and satisfying manner by the fine successive or parallel motion of the different parts. But we despair of reproducing in words anything but a mere skeleton of the beauty of this wonderful quartet—a beauty whose peculiar charm consists in the union of loveliest grace with chaste severity and earnest depth of thought. This charm it owes to the simplicity and truth of feeling which led the master to seek and to find the best expression DIES IRÆ. for what was in his mind; and never in any art, be it what it may, has the comforting feeling of pious trust in the mercy of God, arising from the consciousness of human weakness, been more truly and beautifully expressed than in this Recordare.

The verse which follows contrasts the torments of the damned with the hopes of believers, and could not therefore be suitably rendered with the same composure of tone. It had become customary to emphasise the contrast very strongly, depicting the torments of hell as graphically as the joys of Paradise. In this movement, therefore, the men's voices are opposed to the women's, and describe the torments in short, imitative phrases, emphasised when repeated by rapid changes from major to minor and sharp suspensions and rendered still more forcible by a frequent pregnant rhythmical figure borne by the stringed instruments in unison. The women's voices, supported only by a quiet violin passage, express a low and fervent appeal for redemption, intensified upon repetition by some suspensions. 52 All the emotions and reflections represented so far have tended to turn the thoughts inwards, with such feelings of remorse and repentance as alone can lead to the trust in divine mercy, and it is with the feeling of deep self-abasement that the supremest point of the hymn is approached. The voices unite soft and low in a succession of harmonies such as no mortal ear had ever heard:—[See Page Image]

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Involuntarily we bow before the declaration of a mystery which no mouth may utter; irresistibly impelled by the stream of harmony, we feel our spirits loosed from the bondage which has held them, and born again to life and light; we feel a breath of the immortality which had already touched the brow of the master as he wrote. To the contrite and broken spirit the Day of Wrath becomes a day of mourning, and so the "Lacrimosa dies illa" begins with a gentle plaint hushed by the terrifying representation of the rising of the dead from their graves, which is grandly expressed in a powerful crescendo, brought about by the rising climax of the melody and the onward motion of the harmonies. With the anguished cry of "Homo reus!" the pen dropped from the hand of the master; the emotion which shook his whole being was too strong for expression: "Huic ergo parce Deus, pie Jesu Domine!"

How far SÜssmayr's continuation has fulfilled Mozart's intentions cannot of course be absolutely decided; he has rightly taken up and carried out the suggestion of the first few bars, and his conclusion has an imposing solemnity. It is worthy of note that henceforward the trombones are much more frequently employed than heretofore. When we compare the scanty and peculiar use made of them in the Requiem and the Tuba mirum, with their characteristic occurrence in the "Zauberflote," it appears doubtful whether Mozart himself would so often have introduced them as supports to the voices; although this was no doubt the custom in contemporary church music.

The Offertorium belongs again to the service, and requires on that account another and a more conventional character in the music than the Dies irÆ. It falls into two sections, of which the first (Domine Jesu Christe) prefers the petition that the soul of the departed may not go down into hell, but OFFERTORIUM. may be carried into light by the Archangel Michael. The earnest and affecting character of the music is tinged with a certain amount of harshness and unrest, arising from the constant recurrence of the mention of hell and its torments, which distinguishes the movement from the otherwise similar one of the Requiem. The vivid contrasts of the words are accentuated by the music, and the result is a succession of short phrases, combining into larger groups, which correspond with each other. The words "ne absorbeat eas Tartarus" are worked out into a short fugue, which has an unusually harsh effect owing to the characteristic sevenths of the theme and the powerful semiquaver passage carried out by the stringed instruments in unison. The gentle melody, supported by the solo voices in canonic imitation, "sed sanctus signifer Michael," has, on the contrary, a soothing effect, and is the only ray of light which is allowed to shine through the surrounding gloom. The whole movement closes with the words "Quam (lucem sanctam) olim AbrahÆ promisisti" in an elaborate fugue, the effect of which is heightened by the accompaniment which carries out a motif of its own in close imitation. G. Weber found fault with this fugue, with its aimless elaboration of a subordinate idea and superfluous repetition of the same unimportant words; 53 and Seyfried defended it on the ground that a fugue was considered indispensable at this point, 54 and indeed was not unsuited to it. The idea is, in truth, not a subordinate one, it is the ground of the confidence with which the prayer is offered, and so becomes the basis of the whole movement. The fugue is the form best fitted for short, pithy sentences, and the one in question has the same singular mixture of trust in the divine mercy and tortured anxiety at the thought of death which was expressed in the first movement of the Requiem, although it there assumed a milder form. Separate passages are of great, though somewhat rugged beauty, as befitted the movement; more especially the closing passage, "de profundo lacu, in obscurum, et semini eius."

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The second part (Hostias et preces) has a much more composed character, as becomes the offering by the spirit of its sacrifice to the Almighty. The idea, therefore, of still lingering disquiet is left to be expressed by the syncopated passage for the violins, the voices going together almost throughout the movement, and declaiming the words with strikingly appropriate expression. The very simplicity of this movement reveals the hand of the master, and gives it an individuality especially noticeable at the words "tu suscipe pro animabus illis, quarum hodie memoriam facimus." Thus far a reference to Mozart's own manuscript suffices to determine how much was left to SÜssmayr's carrying out. Although sufficient indications were given even of the more elaborate and independent instrumental parts to serve as a guide to a well-educated musician, yet the example adduced above shows how much freedom in matters of detail was left for the further elaboration; and, not to mention various oversights, it is probable that had Mozart completed the composition many delicate touches would have been added to the accompanying parts which cannot now be even conjectured. Very few indications are given for the wind instruments, and even if Mozart gave verbal instructions concerning them, much must still remain in doubt. It must be allowed, however, that SÜssmayr's share in the work has been on the whole successfully performed; it is quite in keeping with the rest, and he has plainly refrained from making any alterations or surreptitious interpolations. With the last three movements we enter the domain of conjecture, if we are to reject the positive testimony of SÜssmayr, supported by Mozart's widow, as to the share of the former in the work. Rochlitz, reviewing SÜssmayr's letter on the subject, remarks that "the works already known to be by Herr SÜssmayr subject his claim to an important share in this great composition to considerable doubt"; 55 and he expressed his suspicions more decidedly at a later time. 56 G. Weber, who failed to recognise Mozart in many SÜSSMAYR'S SHARE IN THE WORK. parts of the first movements, has, on the contrary, assigned to him a distinct share in the last movements. 57 Marx emphatically expressed his conviction that the principal subjects throughout showed traces of Mozart's handiwork. 58 This view is founded on the assumption that the movements are worthy of Mozart, and are such as SÜssmayr himself could not have produced; but the critic must be careful not to bring forward on aesthetic grounds alone accusations which involve so much of grave moral delinquency.

Seyfried's assertion that, 59 according to the generally accepted opinion in Vienna, SÜssmayr found note-books containing sketches of these movements, and showing Mozart's intention of elaborating the Osanna fugue after the Benedictus, as well as the new theme for the concluding fugue, Cum sanctis, has scarcely been investigated with the care which it demands. One circumstance has, as far as I know, been left altogether out of account. If the last three movements had been altogether wanting at Mozart's death, it would have appeared, one would think, both easier and simpler to supply them from one of his manuscript Masses, which were entirely unknown, than to commission SÜssmayr to write them afresh; and such a proceeding would doubtless have been far more capable of justification to the owner of the work. But the confusion and embarrassment in which Mozart's death threw his widow and her affairs may have occasioned many things to be done which would not otherwise have taken place.

Frz. Xav. SÜssmayr, who, as a young man of twenty-seven, enjoyed the friendship of Salieri 60 and Mozart, became so intimate with the latter 61 that he was, as Seyfried THE REQUIEM. expresses it, "the inseparable companion of the immortal Amphion." He adopted Mozart's style of writing with such success that, although his ideas often fell far short of his master's, many of his works in the serious style might, Seyfred maintains, be taken for Mozart's, did we not know that they were SÜssmayr's; 62 Hauptmann has informed me of instrumental works by him which show quite Mozart's manner of work, and might pass for lighter compositions by the latter.

Sievers, who warmly espoused SÜssmayr's cause, speaks of his "Spiegel von Arkadien," which he ranks with the "Zauberflote,"

and of various pieces which may serve as models of the graceful and characteristic as well as of the tragico-serio styles of composition. 63 I have carefully examined his operas, "Der Spiegel von Arkadien" (1794) and "Soliman II." (1800), as well as some of his lighter church compositions, and find nothing in them beyond an easy but superficial inventive power, a smooth practised workmanship, and almost throughout an obvious imitation of Mozart's manner.

The Sanctus and Osanna are scarcely of a kind to admit of a decided opinion as to their authorship. The brevity and conciseness of the Sanctus do not by any means prove it not to have been by Mozart, for all the movements of the Requiem, when not lengthened by a fugal treatment, are similarly compressed. Nor must an unpleasing progression for the violins be taken as decisive against his authorship, for the working-out is in any case not his. On the other hand, it must not be concluded that because the movement has a general character of dignified grandeur, and the commencement of the Pleni sunt is truly majestic, that therefore SÜssmayr could not have written it. It is not on the whole equal to the best of the preceding movements. The short fugue of the Osanna is animated, vigorous, and faultlessly concise; there is nothing against the supposition that Mozart might have written it; but, on the other hand, it would be difficult to prove with certainty that it might not have been SÜSSMAYR'S SHARE IN THE WORK. the work of a musician with the amount of talent and cultivation unquestionably possessed by SÜssmayr.

The case is somewhat different with the Benedictus, where, according to custom, solo voices are introduced in a long and elaborate quartet of pleasing character. Zelter says of it: "The Benedictus is as excellent as it can be, but the school decides against it being by Mozart. SÜssmayr knew Mozart's school of music, but had not been trained in it from early youth, and indications of this may be found here and there in the beautiful Benedictus." 64 He is doubtless right. The first motif for the alto, and the idea of making the several voices reply to each other, might very well be Mozart's; but certainly not the working-out. The motion is obviously interrupted when the soprano, after the alto, again enters in the tonic; and the passage into the dominant is very lame. Still lamer, after the conclusion of the first part, are the laborious continuance in F major, and (instead of the development naturally expected here) the immediate return by the chord of the seventh to the first part, which is then repeated in its entirety. Neither the design nor the execution is worthy of Mozart; nor is it credible that in the interlude he would have copied the "et lux perpetua" from the Requiem in such a strange fashion as it has here been done, without any reason for an allusion to that place.

The abnormally thick and full instrumentation must also be taken into consideration. The instrumentation has, it is true, not been worked out by Mozart in the other movements, but here it can scarcely be separated from the general design, and it is distinguished from that of all the other movements by the use of two trombones, which Mozart never employed elsewhere, and which here supply the place of horns. Finally, the character of the movement is in many passages soft and effeminate, contrasting in this respect with the earnestness of the other movements, even of the Tuba mirum. 65 The

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Osanna is, according to custom, an exact repetition of the previous one, only that the voices are transposed on account of the altered key.

The Agnus Dei transports us to quite a different region. Here we find the depth and intensity of feeling, the noble beauty and the originality of invention, which we admire in the first movements of the Requiem. The fine expressive violin figure of the first period—[See Page Image] is full of vigour, and is admirably enhanced by its harmonic treatment, and the gentle counter-phrase in its peaceful motion brings about a soothing conclusion. The twofold repetition is effectively varied, and the close is emphasised by a novel and beautiful turn. The whole displays the perfect mastery of a musician. "If Mozart did not write this," says Marx, 66 "well, then he who wrote it is another Mozart!"

I have seen nothing in SÜssmayr's works which can justify me in ascribing to him the conception of this movement; much, on the contrary, to convince me that the chief ideas at least are Mozart's, and that SÜssmayr can hardly have had a more important share in this movement than in the earlier ones. His whole statement loses, no doubt, its full credibility if a well-grounded doubt can be thrown on any one point; but I should not like to assert with confidence that in the Sanctus and Benedictus SÜssmayr must have availed himself of sketches by Mozart.

The repetition of the first movement at the conclusion of the Mass was not unusual at the time. Hasse in his Requiem intones the Lux Æterna to the same chorale as the Te decet, and then repeats the Requiem; Zelenka does the same; Jomelli repeats the Requiem, but adds a fresh conclusion to it. Contemplating that portion of the Requiem which Mozart completed, or which he left in such a state that to the initiated it is easy to distinguish his handiwork, GENERAL REVIEW OF THE WORK. we have no hesitation in placing this work on the pinnacle of that artistic perfection to which the great works of Mozart's later years had attained. 67 We see revealed the depth of feeling, the nobility of beauty, the mastery of form, the complete spiritual and mental absorption in the task before him which have combined to produce this marvellous creation. A comparison of the Requiem with other similar compositions, both by Mozart himself and his contemporaries, serves to emphasise the vast superiority of the former; 68 for Mozart even here does not absolutely reject the forms hallowed by long tradition; he shows his individual genius all the more strongly by keeping within them. Still less does he run counter to the views which the Requiem, by virtue of its position in the Catholic ritual, is meant to express, by any endeavour of his own to go further or to introduce something peculiar to himself; that full, unfettered devotion which is the indispensable condition of genuine artistic production is never disturbed, but human emotion, religious belief, and artistic conception go hand in hand in fullest harmony. On this unity rests the significance of the Requiem, for on this ground alone could Mozart's individuality arrive at full expression, and—working freely and boldly, yet never without consciousness of the limits within which it moved—produce the masterpiece which reveals at every point the innermost spirit of its author. In this sense we may indorse his own expression, that he wrote the Requiem for himself; it is the truest and most genuine THE REQUIEM. expression of his nature as an artist; it is his imperishable monument. 69

The Requiem met with immediate recognition and approval. "If Mozart had written nothing except his violin quintets and his Requiem," Haydn used to say, "they would have rendered his name immortal." 70 It was more especially received with enthusiasm in North Germany, where church music, unmindful of J. S. Bach, had degenerated into all the triviality and insipidity which a slavish adherence to form could produce. It was with delight and astonishment that men recognised the union of classical severity of form with depth of poetic feeling—an oasis in the desert to those who had long wandered in a waste of sand. The old organist, Kittel, at Erfurt, a pupil of Sebastian Bach, received one day the organ part of a Requiem which he did not know; the further he proceeded in it, the more entranced he became, and on inquiring the composer's name, and hearing that it was Mozart, he could scarcely believe his ears, having been accustomed to regard Mozart only as the composer of popular operas which he knew nothing about. He procured the operas however, and was unprejudiced enough to recognise and admire in them the composer of the Requiem. So I was told by my music-master, Apel, Kittel's pupil.

Hiller, grown grey in reverence for Hasse and Graun, lifted his hands in amazement on first hearing the Requiem, and soon brought it to performance at Leipzig. 71 At Berlin the Singakademie produced the Requiem at their first public performance, October 8; 1800, 72 in memory of their founder, Fasch, who had lately died; it has ever since been chosen, both there 73 and elsewhere, when it is sought to honour the memory of great men, especially of musicians, 74 and Zelter SYMPATHY FOR THE FAMILY. expressed his opinion that the Requiem would never be brought into disfavour either by adverse criticism or mediocre performance. 75 Cherubini 76 produced the Requiem in Paris in the year 1804, 77 and it has comforted and sustained innumerable mourners, 78 not only throughout Europe, but in the New World. 79