Modern completions of Mozart's Requiem

This article lists some of the modern completions of the Requiem by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

For a performance of the Requiem in Rio de Janeiro in December 1819, Austrian composer Sigismund von Neukomm constructed a further movement based on material in the Süssmayr version. Incorporating music from various movements including the Requiem aeternum, Dies irae, Lacrymosa and Agnus Dei, the bulk of the piece is set to the Libera me, a responsory text which is traditionally sung after the Requiem mass, and concludes with a reprise of the Kyrie and a final Requiescat in pace. A contemporary of Neukomm and a pupil of Mozart's, Ignaz von Seyfried would compose his own Mozart-inspired Libera me for a performance at Ludwig van Beethoven's funeral in 1827.

In the 1960s, a sketch for an Amen Fugue was discovered, which some musicologists (Levin, Maunder) believe belongs to the Requiem at the conclusion of the sequence after the Lacrymosa. H. C. Robbins Landon argues that this Amen fugue was not intended for the Requiem, rather that it "may have been for a separate unfinished mass in D minor" to which the Kyrie K. 341 also belonged.

There is, however, compelling evidence placing the Amen Fugue in the Requiem^[1] based on current Mozart scholarship. First, the principal subject is the main theme of the Requiem (stated at the beginning and throughout the work) in strict inversion. Second, it is found on the same page as a sketch for the Rex tremendae (together with a sketch for the overture of his last opera The Magic Flute), and thus surely dates from late 1791. The only place where the word 'Amen' occurs in anything that Mozart wrote in late 1791 is in the sequence of the Requiem. Third, as Levin points out in the foreword to his completion of the Requiem, the addition of the Amen Fugue at the end of the sequence results in an overall design that ends each large section with a fugue.

Since the 1970s several composers and musicologists, dissatisfied with the traditional "Süssmayr" completion, have attempted alternative completions of the Requiem. Each version follows a distinct methodology for completion:

• Karl Marguerre published an essay on Süßmayr's passages in the Requiem in 1962, replacing a few bars in the middle of the Lacrimosa, Sanctus, and Benedictus by quotations from other requiem movements. He also extended the instrumentation given by Süßmayr to include high woodwinds (oboe, clarinet, flute).
• Marius Flothuis unpublished but recorded by Jos van Veldhoven, the completion tries to repair the most obvious flaws, such as the overly long trombone solo in the Tuba mirum, some excessive use of trumpets, timpani, and trombones, and the odd reprise of the Hosanna fugue in the ‘wrong key'.^[2]
• Franz Beyer – makes revisions to Süssmayr's orchestration in an attempt to create a more Mozartian style and makes a few minor changes to Süssmayr's sections (i.e. lengthening the Osanna fugue slightly for a more conclusive sounding ending).
• Hans-Josef Irmen - replaces the "Amen", "Sanctus" and "Agnus Dei" with parodies of Mozart's earlier works.
• H. C. Robbins Landon – orchestrates parts of the completion using the partial work by Eybler, thinking that Eybler's work is a more reliable guide of Mozart's intentions.
• Richard Maunder – completely rewrites orchestration working from Mozart's autograph and eliminates Süssmayr's portions entirely with the exception of the Agnus Dei. Recomposes the Lacrymosa from bar 9 onwards, and includes a completion of the Amen fugue.
• Duncan Druce – makes slight changes in orchestration, but retains Eybler's ninth and tenth measures of the Lacrymosa, lengthening the movement substantially to end in a lengthy Amen fugue. The Benedictus is completely rewritten using the opening theme as its starting point.
• Robert D. Levin – retains the structure of Süssmayr's orchestration and contributions while adjusting orchestration, voice leading and other instrumental passages in an effort to make the work more Mozartean. Other notable aspects include a completion of the Amen fugue and an extension of Sussmayr's Osanna fugue.
• Knud Vad – follows Süssmayr's completion until the Sanctus and Benedictus which are noticeably rewritten in places (i.e. Osanna turned into a double fugue played adagio)
• Simon Andrews – follows a similar method as Levin but is considerably less radical in adding new material.
• Pánczél Tamás – makes revisions to Süssmayr's score in a manner similar to Beyer but extends the Lacrymosa significantly past Süssmayr's passages to end in a completion of the Amen fugue, and rewrites the Benedictus's ending leading into the Osanna reprise.
• Marius Flothuis – largely a Beyer-like revision of Süssmayr's version via removal of vocal doubling, rewriting of the trombone parts and the harmonic transition to the Osanna reprise in the Benedictus.
• Clemens Kemme – orchestration rewritten in a style closer to Eybler's, emphasizing the basset horns in particular, with a reworked Sanctus, Benedictus and extended Osanna fugue.
• Letho Kostoglou (Australian musicologist) – a parody completion primarily utilizing music composed by Mozart. It was performed at Adelaide Town Hall on 4 September 2010. This edition was endorsed by Richard Bonynge and Patrick Thomas.
• Michael Finnissy – takes the Süssmayr orchestration as its basis but eliminates his compositions. Of the five movements newly completed by Finnissy, the Lacrymosa has been written in Mozartian style while the four final movements represent an exploration of musical styles since Mozart's death in 1791.
• Brett Abigaña - makes a revision of Süssmayr's version and provides a new Amen Fugue.^[3]
• Benjamin-Gunnar Cohrs – provides an entirely new instrumentation, based on Eybler's ideas, new elaborations of the Amen and Osanna fugues, and a new continuity of the Lacrymosa (after b. 18), Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei, following those bars of which Cohrs speculates Mozart might have sketched himself. ^[4]
• Timothy Jones – follows a Levin-like approach in reworking the Lacrymosa and the composition of an extensive Amen fugue modeled on the Cum Sancto Spiritu fugue from the Great Mass in C minor, K. 427; the same process is applied to the Sanctus and Osanna fugue.
• Gregory Spears – like Finnissy, includes a new "Sanctus", "Benedictus" and "Agnus Dei" designed to replace the Süssmayr completion of those movements. Spears's completion recognizes the juxtaposition of old and new sources common in liturgical music of the period, and incorporates two cadential fragments from Süssmayr's completion into the end of his "Benedictus" and "Agnus Dei".
• Michael Ostrzyga – takes an approach similar to Levin in correcting Sussmayr's work but retaining some of it, completing the Amen Fugue and composing further Mozartean material where needed.
• Masaaki Suzuki and Masato Suzuki – follow a methodology similar to Robbins Landon, but with further stylistic elaboration on Süssmayr's sections; also includes a short Amen fugue.
• Gordon Kerry was commissioned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation to write a completion. Makes new additions to the manuscript, but keeps the proportions of Süssmayr's version ^{[5] [6]}
• Pierre-Henri Dutron - a revision of Süssmayr's version. The Sanctus and Benedictus are significantly rewritten from opening themes onward. Creative liberties are taken with regard to the dispersion of the vocal material between the chorus and soloists. This version was used by conductor René Jacobs for his performances given at the end of 2016.
• R.C. Keitamo - provides a new instrumentation, reworks the Lacrimosa and Amen fugue, and re-composes the Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei.

As detailed above, many composers attempting a completion use the sketch for the Amen fugue discovered in the 1960s to compose a longer and more substantial setting to conclude the sequence. In the Süssmayr version, "Amen" is set as a plagal cadence with a Picardy third (iv–I in D minor) at the end of the Lacrymosa. Jones combines the two, ending the fugue with a variation on the concluding bars of Süssmayr's Lacrymosa as well as the plagal cadence.

References