Out of tragedy comes glorious music
Nota Bene Baroque Players to perform German requiem written in time of epidemic and war
— There is nothing more powerful than art inspired by personal experience, however tragic.
For 17th century composer Heinrich Schütz, his work “Musikalische Exequien” was the first requiem written in the German language during a time when Europe was engaged in endless wars, including the Thirty Years War from 1618 and 1648 plus an epidemic that killed thousands.
“It ravaged Europe, particularly Germany,” said Howard Dyck who will conduct Nota Bene Baroque Players and Singers on Sunday, March 25, performing Schütz’s seminal work at First United Church in Waterloo. “There was death all around him.
“There wasn’t a single family not directly involved.”
Schütz was commissioned to write the requiem for the funeral of Count Henry II, Count of Reuss-Gera. The count had planned his own funeral to the last detail and he chose the text for the music that Schütz would write.
Despite the composer’s motivation and emotions resulting from so much death, his work is melodious, beautiful and deeply moving.
The music, said Dyck, is a celebration of life, as Schütz, who lost his wife and daughters, certainly understood.
“It (war) increased his love for life but also gave him a keen awareness
that life is fleeting,” said Dyck.
Also on the program will be Mozart’s celebrated “Requiem in D Minor” written in the late 1700s more than 140 years after Schuetz’s work but featuring the same emotion. This Requiem also has a compelling story.
Mozart had not finished the commissioned work before he died in 1791 at age 35. Ironically, the death requiem would be his last composition.
His widow, eager to earn enough money to pay for her husband’s funeral, secretly hired a composer, Franz Xaver Süssmayr, to finish the piece. The work was rushed and not up to Mozart’s standards, but at least it was complete.
“It was hush-hush. She didn’t want the commissioner (of the work) to know Mozart was dead,” said Dyck. “It was finished in great haste but it wasn’t up to Mozart’s standards.
“In the original manuscript, it’s easy to tell.”
Despite the inadequacies, the piece became part of the repertoire, said Dyck. “The Süssmayr continued to be performed.”
Many composers have completed their own version of the Requiem and, on Sunday, Nota Bene will perform Robert D. Lewis’s composition.
In 1980, the American musicologist, pianist, conductor and Mozart expert rewrote Süssmayr’s version to create a work in a more authentic Mozart style. Levin has actually completed several unfinished works by Mozart and Bach. For the Requiem, he had a bit of luck.
“He came across a little fragment (Mozart notes),” he said. “I think the Fugue is really good and, for anyone who has heard the Requiem, his Amen is a big surprise.”
Though requiems do tend to be solemn, this music is also melodious and beautiful with rich baritones.
“It’s Mozart,” said Dyck. “It’s the last great piece of music of his.
“It’s justifiably taken its place as an iconic work.”