Mozart :: essays research papers

A short time before the death of Mozart, a rummy of remarkable appearance, and dressed in deep mourning, called at his house, and requested him to prepare a threnody, in his best style, for the funeral of a distinguished person. The sensitive imagination of the composer right off seized upon the circumstance as an omen of his own fate and the nervous anxiety with which he labored to fulfill the task, had the effect of realizing his impression. He died within a some days of completing this magnificent piece of music, which was performed at his interment.Mozarts unfinished Requiem has long been shrouded in mystery. Mozart undertook the commission for an Austrian nobleman, little knowing that he was to economise a requiem for himself. Inevitably, the secrecy surrounding the anonymous commission, the circumstances of Mozarts death, the unfinished farming of the work, and its completion under the direction of Mozarts widow, Constanze, have precipitated two centuries of romantic sh ot and scholarly controversy. One book that further explores the history and an analytical study on the Requiem is Christoph Wolffs Mozarts Requiem. Christoph Wolff provides a critical introduction to the Requiem in its many facets. Mozarts Requiem has been a topic discussed for centuries and in Wolffs book that topic is meticulously broken down. Wolff breaks the book down in two parts. Part I of his study focuses on the tangled genesis and completion of the work and its fascinating early reception history until Constanzes death. Wolff summarizes the current state of research on the subject, provides new perspectives on Mozarts conception of the whole work, and surveys his contributions to the movements composed by his assistant, Sssmayr. Part II provides a musical analysis of Mozarts composition, including contextual, structural, and interpretive aspects.