Süsssmayr's Folly and the "Real" War Requiem
by Harry Rolnick
A review of our June 14, 2009 concert
Spare a tear, if you will, for Franz Xaver Süsssmayr. Over the past
two-and-a-half centuries, this poor young composer was not only blamed,
but censured for sloppily finishing Mozart's unfinished Requiem. Not
only did he botch some sections, but he was accused of forging Mozart's
autograph and overlooking his late teacher's instructions.
All of which may have been true. But remember that Süsssmayr was
probably Constanze Mozart's third choice to compose the endings. Even
worse, he had to rush through the job, being nagged by Constanze--known
to her Jewish friends as "the Tyrolean kvetch"--and was under the
tyrannical influence of the very influential Salieri, Mozart's rival.
So if the wretched Mr. Süsssmayr has gone down in history as the
"spoiler," he probably had the best intentions in mind. Circumstances
simply weren't in his favor.
Why did nobody touch the work since that time? Actually Brahms made
another version (which didn't fly) and others may have tried to fix the
piece. But the until recently, this was the Mozart Requiem which
everybody knew and loved. The legends and the heavenly opening (quoted
by Rimsky-Korsakov in his own version with piano for Mozart and
Salieri) were enough.
That changed several years ago, when the noted Professor Robert Levin
redid the weaker portions of the Requiem, adding a large fugue (from
Mozart's notes), extending portions of the "Hosannah" from the Sanctus
portion, and thinning out some of Süsssmayr's thickened orchestration.
This was the version performed yesterday afternoon by the
grandiloquently dubbed Texas Master Chorale and an orchestra no less
regally dubbed "Distinguished Concerts Orchestra International." The
latter is based in New York, and is probably a pickup group, but they
played splendidly. The former is from somewhere in Texas and were quite
a massive handful (no names were listed, but they seemed to have 70-odd
singers). They were all under the baton of Jonathan Griffith, the
co-founder and Artistic Director of the orchestra.
While reluctantly giving up a sunny Sunday for the concert, I looked
forward to the Levin edition, though only two major changes were
noticed, for reasons below.
The longish fugue attached to the "Amen" of the Lacrimosa was a little
disconcerting at first. Mainly because the opening of the Lacrimosa is
such a gentle eulogy, and because the following crescendo and
diminuendo is so touching. Thus, a fugue--apparently placed here since
the other sections ended fugally--was something of a technical
superfluity. It started with two melodies and developed more like a
fughetta, but Professor Levin obviously provided all the Mozartean
techniques to make it work.
The other section was an extension of the "Hosannah" from Sanctus, which
took away the jolt I always feel when the Benedictus starts. It is
probably better music, as is the smoothing out of some measures from
the opening section, but one does become accustomed to the older
version.
Perhaps Professor Levin's main contribution was to thin out the massive
orchestral forces, giving a chamber-like music to the piece, but this
was difficult to tell. Not for the orchestra, which had the right
forces, some excellent soloists (the basset horn solo was appealing
even with one or two minor fluffs) and a terrific brisk tempo.
But nothing was thinned out from the Texas Master Chorale, whose voices
overwhelmed the orchestra in every movement. They were fine, blazing
away, pitch perfect, but the balance couldn't be right.
The four soloists varied in quality. I hate to say that Cynthia Douglas
is wasting her time running the music department of Texas's Cypress
Ranch High School, but her voice is very professional. It was a bit on
the light side for her Haydn, but in the Mozart, she gave a lyrical
faultless performance.
Ditto for the finest of all, tenor Steven Sanders. He had almost a
heldentenor gamut, but for the most part was forward, eloquent and
always on target.
Mezzo Erin Elizabeth Smith was fine in her ensemble work though a bit
weak as soloist. "Bass" Noel Bouley is obviously a baritone, for he
could rarely project the lower ranges.
The
Requiem was the second mass of the day, the first being a "real" war
requiem (not Britten's peacenik essay played this week). Haydn set it
to trumpets, drums, a military feel, and called it "Mass in Wartime".
Its purpose was to ask God to help the Austrians go against that
upstart 27-year-old Corsican General named Bonaparte, and Haydn did his
best to roll the drums, ring the trumpets and write as many fugues as
possible.
That mass was conducted by Brad Bouley, the force behind the Texas
Master Choir, and he gave it all the impetus which the work commands.
Still, next to the Mozart, the Haydn Mass was rather pedestrian.
Mozart's Requiem, whether finished by Mozart's student or an eminent
professor, will always remain the lodestone of the most spiritual music
ever created.
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