Mozart’s Requiem

Mozart’s Requiem

  

Roger Kalia, Conductor

Reagan Paras, Music Director of Nashua Choral Society

Anne Watson Born, Music Director of Nashoba Valley Chorale

TJ Cole / Death of the Poet

Mozart / Requiem, K. 626

Completed by Franz Xavier Süssmayr

I. Introitus a. Requiem aeternam

II. Kyrie

III. Sequentia a. Dies irae b. Tuba mirum c. Rex tremendae d. Recordare e. Confutatis f. Lacrimosa

IV. Offertorium a. Domine Jesu b. Hostias

V. Sanctus a. Hosanna

VI. Benedictus a. Hosanna

VII. Agnus Dei

VIII. Communio a. Lux aeterna b. Cum sanctis tuis

Death of the Poet (2014)

TJ Cole (b. 1993)

Carley DeFranco, soprano

Kristin Lawler, alto

Jonas Budris, tenor

Thomas Warden, baritone

Nashua Choral Society

Nashoba Valley Chorale

Hanging on the walls of the Art Institute of Chicago in a bright yellow frame is a large painting that captures a most curious scene: A young, well-dressed man perilously dangles from a high-rise window, holding an empty syringe in his free hand while his right arm appears to clench the only thing keeping him suspended in the air, a green velveteen curtain The unusual posturing and ambiguous facial expression of the man make it unclear if this is a fever dream of a man in flight or a view of the man’s final moments on earth—or perhaps it can be both? German expressionist artist Conrad Felixmüller painted this work in 1925 to honor a deceased friend, the poet and author Walter Rheiner who tragically overdosed on June 12, 1925, after years of substance abuse. With its striking colors and unsettling depiction, the painting, which is appropriately titled Death of a Poet, Walter Rheiner, has left its mark on many who have set their eyes upon it

American composer TJ Cole (they/she) is one of the many viewers who has been moved by this painting As the composer explains, the vibrant colors prompted an emotional response that served as the inspiration for Death of the Poet, which Cole composed two years after first seeing the painting Lasting just under eleven minutes, this composition for large string ensemble is a type of musical elegy that pays tribute to Felixmüller’s painting and the troubled writer who inspired it Cole stretches the ensemble to its emotional and sonic limits, utilizing both the highest and lowest registers of the string family and frequently relying on divisi writing (dividing a single string section into multiple parts) to

“Death of the Poet Walter Rheiner (Der Tod des Dichters Walter Rheiner)” oil on Canvas create poignant

Harmonic And Timbral Nuances

With its lush texture, slow-moving harmonies, smooth melodies, and expansive phrases, Cole’s Death of the Poet invites comparison with Barber’s iconic Adagio for Strings The piece was written when Cole was a student at Curtis and was premiered March 31, 2014, by the Curtis Symphony Orchestra

An accomplished composer and synthesizer performer, Cole primarily writes for various ensembles and mediums Their works have been performed by major symphony orchestras across the country, and they have also collaborated with many of the country’s foremost ensembles, including the Dover Quartet, Time for Three, and the Nebula ensemble, among others Cole is a twotime recipient of the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award (2014 and 2020) Many of Cole’s musical projects are designed to engage with local communities . They are currently completing a yearlong residency with the Louisville Orchestra, a position made possible by the Louisville Orchestra Creators Corps that will result in new orchestral works and includes a collaboration with Louisville Free Public Libraries

For more information about TJ Cole, visit www tjcolemusic com

Requiem in D Minor, K. 626 (1791)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)

Few pieces are so enshrouded in myth, legend, and hyperbole as Mozart’s beloved Requiem The topic of countless studies and stories, the Requiem has been hailed as one of the greatest and most sublime compositions of all time and sensationalized as a swan song for a genius lost too soon who knowingly wrote the piece for himself and tragically never finished.

The 1984 biographical drama Amadeus may have brought the legend of the Requiem to a level of popular common knowledge, but the dramatic narrative of the work’s composition began only mere weeks after the composer’s untimely death. Mozart died December 5, 1791, and before the year was over, newspapers and journals across Germany had begun publishing anecdotes detailing Mozart’s final days and claiming that Mozart sat at his desk composing with tears in his eyes because he believed he was writing his own Requiem

Over the next few years, a consistent narrative would emerge: a messenger delivered an unsigned letter to Mozart that requested a Requiem, and the composer would be handsomely rewarded should he never inquire about the identity of the patron commissioning the piece. The unidentified messenger would repeatedly return to check on Mozart’s progress As Mozart grew more and more ill, he became convinced that the messenger was otherworldly and was summoning Mozart to finish his own death piece The origins of these reports remain somewhat contested, but most scholars suggest that Constanze, Mozart’s widow, fashioned this story and its melodramatic details to build intrigue that would serve her financially. Over the next few decades, facts and rumors continued to build. One popular rumor identified the Italian composer Antonio Salieri as the patron behind the commission because he was jealous of Mozart and sought to kill the young composer so he could pass the Requiem off as his own. This story was developed in Alexander Pushkin’s short play Mozart and Salieri (1832), which served as the inspiration for the screenplay for Amadeus

Musicologists have spent significant time sorting through the many accounts of Mozart’s final weeks, and while questions remain, they have been able to separate most fact from fiction. Scholarly sleuthing has revealed that the Requiem was commissioned by Count Franz von Walsegg, a German aristocrat who had recently lost his wife and was likely planning to take credit for the Requiem as he had done with previous commissions from other composers Scholars have likewise concluded that Mozart completed only the first two movements of the Requiem, the Introit and Kyrie The work was finished by a friend and student of Mozart’s, the Austrian composer Franz Xaver Süssmayr, after also passing through the hands of Joseph von Eybler Eybler was a friend of the Mozart family, and following her husband’s death, Constanze asked Eybler to finish the Requiem using the surviving sketches For reasons that remain unclear, Eybler was unable to finish the task and recommended that Constanze approach Süssmayer, who claimed to know how Mozart wanted to finish his piece. Süssmayer would also later state that he wrote the Sanctus, Benedictus, and Agnus Dei, a claim that scholars have substantiated through comparisons of musical techniques and materials used in those movements

Today, although other composers have offered alternative completions, the version most heard and performed is the Süssmayer version, which includes eight sections that are common among nearly all Requiem Masses: Introit, Kyrie, Sequence, Offertory, Sanctus, Benedictus, Agnus Dei, and Communion The Introit notably references George Frideric Handel’s Funeral Anthem for Queen Caroline, perhaps suggesting that Mozart believed the commission was for a noble figure. The Handelian references continue in the Kyrie, too, this time with Mozart borrowing one melody from the Messiah and another from Handel’s Dettingen Te Deum The movement is a compositional tour de force whose setting of a double fugue is perhaps another tribute to the Baroque master This music returns at the very end of the Requiem in the final Cum sanctis tuis, a highly unusual tactic for Mozart,which has led many scholars to question the extent to which Sussmäyer actually knew how his teacher planned to finish this work.

The doubts over authorship have not hindered the reception of this piece among audiences Rather, the Requiem is a staple of the choralorchestral repertoire, and its popularity is such that well-known sections, such as the opening of the Lacrimosa, even appear frequently in advertising The connection of the piece to Mozart’s final days may add an aura of intrigue and drama to the piece, but it is the emotional power and profundity of the music itself that has rendered the Requiem a seemingly timeless piece that audiences and performers both love and enjoy