Offertory: Domine Jesu—Andante, G minor, 78 mm.
Domine Jesu Christe, rex gloriae,
Lord Jesus Christ, king of glory,
libera animas omnium fidelium defunctorum
free the souls of all the faithful dead
de poenis inferni
from the punishments of hell
et de profundo lacu!
and from the deep lake!
Libera eas de ore leonis!
Free them from the lion’s mouth!
Ne absorbeat eas Tartarus
Let Tartarus not swallow them
ne cadant in obscurum
nor let them fall into darkness
sed signifer sanctus Michael
but let the standard-bearer holy Michael
repraesentet eas in lucem sanctam,
represent them in the holy light,
quam olim Abrahae promisisti et semini ejus.
which you once promised to Abraham and his seed.
Personal requests for salvation of self —I, me—are found in several movements of the Requiem, often sung piano or sotto voce—emphasizing the single person. Such personal requests are made in movements that come prior to the Domine Jesu movement:
orationem meam ("Hear my prayer") in Requiem aeternam
salva me ("Save me") in Rex Tremendae
ne me perdas illa die ("Do not cast me out on that day.") in Recordare
culpa rubet vultus meus ("my face blushes with guilt") in Recordare
mihi quoque spem dedisti ("have also given hope to me") in Recordare
preces meae non sunt dignae ("My prayers are not worthy") in Recordare
Mihi quoque spem dedisti. ("have also given hope to me.") in Recordare
Et ab haedis me sequestra ("and separate me from the goats") in Recordare
Gere curam mei finis ("protect me in my final hour") in Recordare
quarens me,
voca me cum benedictis ("Call me with the blessed.") in Confutatis
Gere curam mei finis ("Protect me in my final hour") in Confutatis
But, in the Domine Jesu Christe movement, the requests are made on behalf of all the faithful.
The Domine Jesu is the first of two movements of the Offertory. The prayer invokes Christ, to whom several requests are made on behalf of the multitude.
Libera animas omnium fidelium defunctorum ("free the souls of all the faithful dead")
libera eas de ore leonis! (Free them from the lion’s mouth!)
Ne absorbeat eas Tartarus (Let Tartarus not swallow them)
ne cadant in obscurum (nor let them fall into darkness).
Mozart vividly delineates each of these textual images with its own musical word-painted image:
MM1-3: Domine Jesu Christe, rex gloriae (Lord Jesus Christ, king of glory)
The dotted rhythms to suggest majesty that had pervaded the Rex Tremendae movement appear here again, for the same ceremonial, resplendent purpose.
MM4-7: Libera animas omnium fidelium defunctorum (free the souls of all the faithful dead)
The music is rhapsodic.
MM7-11: De poenis inferni (from the punishments of hell). upward octave leaps in soprano emphasize the pain in anguished octave leaps, and low and slow-moving quarters suggest the depths of hell.
MM11-14: et de profundo lacu! (and from the deep lake!) . The soprano leap is downward, the music swirls around in muddied steps and half steps, becoming dark and low and still, and frightening.
Letter L, MM15-17: libera eas de ore leonis! (Free them from the lion’s mouth!)
“Free [the souls] from the lion’s mouth” evokes the early Christian martyrs who met their end in Roman gladiatorial arenas; the lion’s mouth is another metaphor for hell. Homorhythmic and homophonic, simultaneous ascending minor sevenths, S & T, and descending 2nds (A&B). The forte upward 7th leap (in S&T) depicts the frighteningly wide-open mouth of a lion, emphasized at M20 with the repeat one step higher and more terrifying.
Letter M, MM21-29: Ne absorbeat eas Tartarus (Let Tartarus not swallow them). The melodic motifs are jagged and forte. Tartarus is the Roman concept of purgatory, a place of eternal of punishment deep beneath Hades, where the souls of the ordinary dead lead a wispy, gloomy existence. The contrapuntal, voice-upon-voice re-iterating ne absorbeat eas Tartarus, evokes a discordant multiplicity of souls cascading downward to purgatory.
M 29: ne cadant in obscurum (nor let them fall into darkness). The overlapping ne cadant (“nor let them fall”) motif is word-painting with two ironic twists: As the voices reiterate ne cadant, the melodic line of each entry is indeed falling, and the four lines themselves also enter in a descending sequence.
After all the requests, made chorally, there is a soloist quartet interpolation at MM 32-43 that Holy Michael intercedes on behalf of the faithful and the good, MM31-43: sed signifer sanctus Michael repraesentet eas in lucem sanctam ("but let the standard-bearer Holy Michael represent them in the holy light") in fugal texture.
The choir returns at Letter O, M44, with its own robust fugue. the faithful remind God and insist by its repetition of text and musical subject, each entering voice emphasizing the prior voice, "Quam olim Abrahae promisisti et semini ejus"(You promised this to Abraham and his seed).
MM65-67: subito piano, and with a downward soprano 6th (M65), the music for a moment is no longer robust, but lyrical. This lovely, heartfelt moment continues at Letter S, M67, with a dolce upward 4th (also in soprano), and MM68-71, with less forward propulsion and more sustained notes in the choir, the mood becomes reflective.
M71: the energetic figuration resumes, the bass leading boldly, answered with like robustness in the upper three voices.
MM75-78: sustained quarters, and the pitch hardly or not moving—a return of the patriarchal, dynastical grandeur. Once again, a Tierce de Picardie (Picardean Third), the major third now in the tenors, who also have a wonderfully Hebraic, cantorial turn in the penultimate measure.
Comments