01 Requiem

Requiem aeternam dona ets, Domine,
et lux perpetua luceat ets.
Te decet hymnus, Deus, in Sion,
et tibi reddetur votum in Jerusalem.
Exaudi orationem meam,
ad te omnis caro veniet.
Requiem aeternam dona ets, Domine,
et lux perpetua luceat ets.

Kyrie eleison.
Christe eleison.
Kyrie eleison

Tuba mirum spargens sonum
Per sepulcra regionum
Coget omnes ante thronum.

Mors stupebit et natura
Cum resurget creatura
Judicanti responsura.

Liber scriptus proferetur
In quo totum continetur,
Unde mundus judicetur.

Judex ergo cum sedebit
Quidquid latet apparebit,
Nil inultum remanebit.

Quid sum miser tunc dicturus,
Quem patronum togaturus,
Cum vix justus sit securus?

Rex tremendae majestatis,
Qui salvandos salvas gratis,
Salve me, fons pietatis.

Recordare, Jesu pie,
Quod sum causa tuae viae,
Ne me perdas ilia die.

Quaerens me sedisti lassus,
Redemisti crucem passus,
Tamus labor non sit cassus.

Juste judex ultionis
Donum fac remissionis
Ante diem rationis.

lngemisco tamquam reus,
Culpa rubet vultus meus,
Supplicanti parce, Deus.

Qui Mariam absolvisti
Et latronem exaudisti,
Mihi quoque spem dedisti.

Preces meae non sum dignae,
Sed tu bonus fac benigne,
Ne perenni cremet igne.

Inter oves locurn praesta,
Et ab haedis me sequestra,
Statuens in parle dextra.

Confutatis maledictis
Flammis acribus addictis,
Voca me cum benedictis.

Oro supplex et acclinis,
Cor contritum quasi cinis,
Gere curam mei finis.

Lacrimosa dies ilia
Qua resurget ex favilla
Judicandus homo reus.
Huic ergo parce, Deus,
Pie Jesu Domine,
Dona els requiem.

Day of wrath, that day
Will dissolve the earth in ashes
As David and the Sibyl bear witness.
What dread there will be
When the Judge shall come
To judge all things strictly.

A trumpet, spreading a wondrous sound
Through the graves of all lands,
Will drive mankind before the throne.

Death and Nature shall be astonished
When all creation rises again
To answer to the Judge.

A book, written in, will be brought forth
In which is contained everything that is,
Out of which the world shall be judged.

When therefore the Judge takes His seat
Whatever is hidden will reveal itself.
Nothing will remain unavenged.

What then shall I say, wretch that I am,
What advocate entreat to speak for me,
When even the righteous may hardly be secure?

King of awful majesty,
Who freely savest the redeemed,
Save me, O fount of goodness.

Remember, blessed Jesu,
That I am the cause of Thy pilgrimage,
Do not forsake me on that day.

Seeking me Thou didst sit down weary,
Thou didst redeem me, suffering death on the cross.
Let not such toil be in vain.

Just and avenging Judge,
Grant remission
Before the day of reckoning.

I groan like a guilty man.
Guilt reddens my face.
Spare a suppliant, O God.

Thou who didst absolve Mary Magdalene
And didst hearken to the thief,
To me also hast Thou given hope.

My prayers are not worthy,
But Thou in Thy merciful goodness grant
That I burn not in everlasting fire.

Place me among Thy sheep
And separate me from the goats,
Setting me on Thy right hand.

When the accursed have been confounded
And given over to the bitter flames,
Call me with the blessed.

I pray in supplication on my knees.
My heart contrite as the dust,
Safeguard my fate.

Mournful that day
When from the dust shall rise
Guilty man to be judged.
Therefore spare him, O God.
Merciful Jesu,
Lord Grant them rest.

Hostias et preces, tibi, Domine,
laudis offerimus:
tu suscipe pro animabus illis,
quarum hodie memoriam facimus:
fac eas, Domine, de morte Iransire ad vitam,
quam olim Abrahae promisisti
et semini ejus.

Lord Jesus Christ, King of glory,
deliver the souls of all the faithful
departed from the pains of hell and from the bottomless pit.
Deliver them from the lion's mouth.
Neither let them fall into darkness
nor the black abyss swallow them up.
And let St. Michael, Thy standard-bearer,
lead them into the holy light
which once Thou didst promise
to Abraham and his seed.

We offer unto Thee this sacrifice
of prayer and praise.
Receive it for those souls
whom today we commemorate.
Allow them, O Lord, to cross
from death into the life
which once Thou didst promise to Abraham
and his seed.

Sanctus. Sanctus, Sanctus,
Dominus Deus Sabaoth!
Pleni suni coeli et terra gloria tua.
Osanna in excelsis.

Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini.
Osanna in excelsis.

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, grant them rest.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, grant them everlasting rest.

Programme Notes

The Requiem was commissioned by Count Walsagg von Stuppach, an associate of Mozart’s friend Michael Puchberg, in honour of his recently-deceased wife. As a keen amateur musician, he had a habit of trying to pass off other people’s work as his own, and was to attempt the same thing here. While ‘Tito’ and ‘the Flute’ premiered on September 6th and 30th respectively, to great popular acclaim, the Requiem Mass was never finished by Mozart. In November he suffered chronic renal failure, followed by probable acute rheumatic fever brought on by a streptococcal infection. Though he had time to discuss details of the Mass’s completion with his pupil, Franz Sussmayr, Mozart died on December 5th 1791, aged 35.

A common misconception is that Salieri was somehow involved in a plot to see Mozart off and then do what Count Walsagg had attempted but, while the Kapellmeister may have blocked Mozart’s attempts at gaining court positions, the notion that anything more sinister had occurred is fiction, brilliantly entertained by Peter Schaffer in his play, (and later film), Amadeus.

If the Requiem lacks perfection in its completion, it is perhaps Mozart’s greatest achievement in terms of its sheer drama. The impact of his astounding word painting is emblazoned across the music and, in
contrast to the lightness of mood found in The Magic Flute and the Clarinet Concerto of only months earlier, the anguish of a dying creative genius screams from the page.