Requiem (Michael Haydn)

Michael Haydn wrote the Missa pro defuncto Archiepiscopo Sigismondo, or more generally Missa pro Defunctis, Klafsky I:8, MH 155, following the death of the Count Archbishop Sigismund von Schrattenbach in Salzburg in December 1771. Haydn completed the Requiem before the year was over, signing it "S[oli] D[eo] H[onor] 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 many 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]

Instrumentation

The mass is scored for the vocal soloists and mixed choir, two bassoons,^[4] four trumpets in C, three trombones, timpani and strings with basso continuo.

Structure

The composition is structured in the following five parts:

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
   • "Hostias et preces" Andante, G minor, common time
   • "Quam olim Abrahae" Vivace e più Allegro, G minor, cut time

4. Sanctus Andante, C minor, 3/4

   • "Benedictus qui venit..." Allegretto, E-flat major, 3/4

5. 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

Tempo

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]

Influence in Mozart's Requiem

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] Pauly notes specific parallels between the two requiems: rhythmic similarities in the setting of the Introit, Quantus tremor and Confutatis maledictis sections, the use of a plainchant melody in the setting of Te decet hymnus, and the subject of the fugue in Quam olim.^[12]

Notes

References

• Heartz (1995) Daniel. New York. Haydn, Mozart, and the Viennese School: 1740 — 1780 W. W. Norton & Co.
• Sherman (1969) Charles. Mainz Foreword to Missa pro Defunctis Universal Edition
• Wolff (1998) Christoph. Berkeley, California Mozart's Requiem: Historical and Analytical Studies, Documents, Score University of California Press