Requiem (Dvořák)

Antonín Dvořák's Requiem composed in 1890 is a full-length work for four soloists in the vocal ranges soprano, alto, tenor and bass, choir and orchestra in large romantic cast including organ and percussion instruments such as gong and bells. From its volume, the Requiem is not intended for use in worship, but for the concert hall. It is based on the canonical text of the Catholic Mass for the Dead, the Dvořák has divided this work into 13 parts.

The work was commissioned composition of the Music Festival in Birmingham. Although the order came already from 1888, but Dvořák was due to other projects until two years later, time to composition. The first sketches of the Requiem he wrote on 1 January 1890. After an interruption by several foreign trips he completed in late October 1890, the composition. The premiere took place in Birmingham on 9 October 1891.

The work moves between silent devotion and religious ecstasy. At the height of his powers to the composer of the musical drama are the means available as well as meditative and lyrical tones and a wide range of timbres. Here, dark colors such as bass clarinet, English horn and four identical inger male choir play a special role. The Duration of the work is about 94 minutes.

Musical central idea

Through a musical theme that up to the last bars occurs repeatedly in appearance from the first, the plant receives a large thematic unity. It is the embellishment of a tone ( at the beginning of Dominanttons f) a minor third upwards and downwards in syncopated rhythm. This looks like a painful sigh, which runs through the whole work, but for example also as a powerful counterpoint to the violent dissonances This contributes Irae. When Tuba Mirum this motif alone is intoned by the trumpet, followed by a dissonant augmented triad and a gong - what a downright frightening mood triggers. And at the end of the Agnus Dei, according to an ecstatic, then dying " lux aeterna luceat ice " the work ends as it began: with the lawsuit motif in a dark B-flat minor.

Sets

• Requiem aeternam, B flat minor
• Graduale
• Dies irae, B flat minor
• Tuba mirum, E minor
• Quid sum miser
• Recordare, Jesu pie, D major
• Confutatis Maledictis, G minor
• Lacrimosa
• Offertory, F major
• Hostias, F minor
• Sanctus, B- flat major
• Pie Jesu, G minor
• Agnus Dei, B flat minor