Hostias—Larghetto, E flat major, 89 mm: Hostias 54 mm; Quam Olim Abrahae 34 mm
A hostia is a sacrificial animal. Before the Romans destroyed Herod’s Temple in Jerusalem in 70 A.D., animal sacrifices such as sheep were offered in the temple’s sanctuary as a basic religious act, comparable to contemporary practices in cultures throughout the Mediterranean.
Other sacrifices included grain, wine and incense. This invokes the very ancient principle of giving a god something in exchange for his granting your request.
The Hostias movement makes requests for specific souls commemorated in the Mass, quarum hodie memoriam facimus! (“those souls whose remembrance we make today.”)
Hostias et preces tibi, Domine!
Sacrifices and prayers to you, Lord!
Laudis offerimus tu suscipe pro animabus illis
Take up the praises we offer you for those souls
quarum hodie memoriam facimus!
whose remembrance we make today!
Fac eas, Domine, de morte transire ad vitam.
Lord, make them cross over from death to life.
quam olim Abrahae promisisti et semini ejus.
which you once promised to Abraham and his seed.
The only movement in the Requiem in the key of E flat major. The choral writing is homophonic and chordal, the text parsed in regular 4-measure phrases. The orchestra steps elegantly, gracefully, dolce, between lower strings and upper, the dynamic piano for the first 23 measures. The music is in the stil galant, courtly, discreet.
Letter W, M23, even though the text is a repetition of the same text sung at MM1-21, with a subito forte, the mood changes. The tessitura for all four choral parts is higher, and thus the statement is intensified.
The larghetto tempo, and triple meter, piano, are restrained, almost Viennese waltz-like. This is music at its aristocratic best: subtle, dignified, sure of itself without having to assert itself.
One of the stunning aspects is the amount of modulation that unfolds with such elegant effortlessness:
Starts in E flat major
Letter V M16 C minor
MM20-21 B flat major
Letter W M23 B flat minor
Letter X M29 D flat major
M30 A flat major
M31 F minor
M34 C major
MM38-39 d minor
M42 E flat major
MM53-54 D major = G minor dominant
The smooth passage from E flat at Letter Z, M46 to D major, the dominant of g minor at M53, is a chromatic tour de force: in these 6 measures, the music traverses the following chromatic alterations: B natural, F sharp, A natural, C sharp, E natural, to land, apparently effortlessly, gracefully, subdued, with a falling violin line, M53, ,on D. This D will transmute into the dominant of g minor, and, as such, is the gateway into the Quam Olim Abrahae fugue and all that it promises. With a jolt, Quam Olim Abrahae abruptly roars back for the second time, exactly as it appeared at the end of the Domine Jesu: robust, dramatic, vigorous.
Along with this veritable panoply of keys are the many subito dynamic changes between forte and piano that pepper the entire movement.
M1 piano
Letter W M23 forte
M24(3) piano
M27 forte
Letter X M29 piano
M31 forte
M32(3) piano
Letter Y M34(3) forte
M36 piano
M39 forte
letter Z M46 piano where the choir urges Fac eas, Domine, de morte transire ad vitam. ("Lord, make them cross over from death to life.")
What do these many abrupt dynamic shifts convey? Is it the urgency in sacrifice, especially in animal sacrifice?
From Ancient Greek δυναμικός (dunamikós, “powerful”), from δύναμις (dúnamis, “power”), from δύναμαι (dúnamai, “I am able”), we understand where dynamite comes from. In this music, it is in the dynamics that convey much of emotional dynamite of the music.
When we put together the fast-changing and wide-ranging modulatory maneuvers and dynamic shifts with the elegant facade of the music, we get an understanding of the extraordinary expressive power of the music.
Choirestory
The choir should emphasize, ever so gently, text syllables according to the word pronunciation and musical meter and phrasing.Because this is Mozart, the two always go so readily hand-in-hand with each other. TI-bi, DO-mi-ne, LAU-dis, o-FFER-i-bus, I-llis etc.
A series of quarters—two or three—are never equal. That would be dull. One note is always discreetly more or less than another: slightly louder, slightly longer; then slightly softer, slightly shorter, with the inflection of speech meant to persuade.
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