Overview of Mozart Requiem

 

Many singers will already be familiar with Mozart Requiem. Here are a few observations as we re-learn the work and deepen our understanding of and love for it.

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Of the fifteen movements, the choir sings twelve. Three movements are entirely for soloists and orchestra, with no choir: 

Tuba Mirum

Recordare

Benedictus

In these movements, the choir's performance role is to remain engaged in the  performance, discreetly focusing their and the the audience's attention on the music of the soloists and orchestra.

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There are two pairs of movements, both for choir, in which music and text are identical.

Quam Olim Abrahae

Osana

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'The music of the first two movements, aside from the orchestral introduction, is identical to the music of the last two movements. The texts are different:

Requiem and Kyrie — Lux Aeterna and Cum Sanctis

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The following movements are fugal in texture. They require of the choir assurance and clarity especially at the entry of the voice-parts, so that the audience hears the drama of the polyphony stereophonically or spatially.

Kyrie

Quam Olim Abrahae

Cum Sanctis