Mozart's "Requiem" - the last creation, the "swan song" of the great composer - belongs to the greatest monuments of world culture. “Requiem” is a funeral, funeral mass, performed in a traditional cult Latin text (adopted in the Catholic service). It consists of several traditional sections, among which, in addition to the usual parts of any Mass (<< Kyrie eleison >> - Lord have mercy >>, << Sanctus >> - << Holy >>, << Agnus Dei >> - “Lamb of God”), the parts that belong only to the funeral mass are required: “Requiem aeternam” (“Eternal rest”), “Dies irae” and “Tuba mirum” (“Day of anger >> and the “Miraculous Trumpet”, which depicts the last judgment of the Lord), “Lacrimosa” (“Tearful”).
Despite the cult text, Mozart's Requiem is far from a liturgical cult. By means of musical expression, Mozart embodies the deepest world of human experience - mental confusion, pacified peace, the depth of grief and suffering. The entire work is imbued with high humanism, passionate love for a person, ardent sympathy for his suffering.
As already mentioned, the "Requiem" was finished by a student and close friend of Mozart Süsmeier, based on the composer's sketches and sketches, as well as on the basis of what Mozart himself played for him. In any case, we can definitely say that Süsmeier did not write a single bar of his own music, but carefully preserved and masterfully processed what was composed by Mozart. This can be seen at least from the following: Mozart, leaving a significant part of the Requiem in the sketches, did not write the end of the work, and Süsmeier, instead of composing his own music (although he was a talented composer), completely repeated the music of the first movement together with double fugue, thus creating a musical frame.
Of the twelve numbers of the Requiem, nine were written for the choir and three (Tuba mirnum, Recordare and Benedictus) for a quartet of soloists.
Deep sorrow is characteristic of the first movement ("Requiem aeternam" - "Eternal rest"), which begins with a polyphonic presentation of the theme, first in the orchestra and then in the choir. The tragic and sorrowful mood is aggravated by the key in D minor:
Some enlightenment is introduced in the words “Et lux perpetua luceat eis” (“Let the eternal light shine on them”), which corresponds to the content of the text, as well as at the moment of the introduction of the soprano solo. This enlightenment is created by changing the key (instead of D minor - B flat major).
The second half of the first movement is a double fugue in the words “Kyrie eleison”. In this fugue, as in other polyphonic episodes of the Requiem, Mozart develops on a new stylistic basis the traditions of Bach and Handel polyphony. Both themes of the fugue, contrasting with each other, and therefore standing out in relief, sound simultaneously (the second enters on the second bar of the first theme)
