Program Notes, Text and Translation: Søndergård Conducts Mozart’s Requiem
On November 22 and 23, 2024, the Minnesota Orchestra presents Søndergård Conducts Mozart’s Requiem, with Music Director Thomas Søndergård conducting music by Olivier Messiaen, Gabriela Ortiz and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with vocal soloists Andrea Carroll, Taylor Raven, Evan LeRoy Johnson and Dashon Burton, as well as the Minnesota Chorale, joining the Orchestra to perform Mozart’s Requiem.
The performances take place at Orchestra Hall on Friday, November 22, and Saturday, November 23, 2024. The November 22 performance will be broadcast live on Twin Cities PBS (TPT 2), with William Eddins serving as broadcast host, and will be available for online streaming on the Orchestra’s website and social media channels. It will also be broadcast live on stations of YourClassical Minnesota Public Radio, including KSJN 99.5 FM in the Twin Cities.
Program Notes
Olivier Messiaen
Born: December 10, 1908, Avignon, France
Died: April 27, 1992, Clichy, France
Les Offrandes Oubliées
Premiered: February 19, 1931
Among 20th-century artistic creators associated with birds, Hollywood director Alfred Hitchcock might top many people’s lists, for his 1963 horror film casting them as swarming villains—but lovers of orchestral music may rank Olivier Messiaen highly as well. The French composer and ornithologist found much inspiration in the sounds of nature, especially the songs of birds, which were transcribed into many of his works. His other muses included the plainchant of Catholicism and ancient Greek and Indian rhythms, while Claude Debussy, Igor Stravinsky and serialism also had an impact in shaping his voice.
Les Offrandes Oubliées (The Forgotten Offerings) is an early Messiaen work, predating the composer’s preoccupation with birdsong. It is deeply religious in nature, addressing detailed themes of Christianity in its conception. Messiaen was only 22 when he wrote it, and it is the work with which he made his public debut as a composer on February 19, 1931, at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris. “It was my first work played by an orchestra,” he later recalled, “and my first contact with the public at large.” From then on, his name was consistently in the musical news, especially for large and daring orchestral pieces.
This week’s performances are a rarity—only the fourth time the Minnesota Orchestra has programmed Les Offrandes Oubliées, following renditions in 1955, 1972 and 1996.
THE COMPOSER’S PREFACE
This youthful piece, especially its final section, conveys great pity and great love. Messiaen centered the music’s orchestration on the string section, reflective of his stance on orchestras: “I have always relied on the strings, which are the base of the symphony orchestra.” Much can be said of this concise but deeply expressive piece, which packs so much emotion into 12 minutes, its span unified by motivic connections. But perhaps more crucially, we have the composer’s own brief introduction to the three sections, each of which relates to the score’s descriptive preface:
THE CROSS: Arms outstretched, sad till death, on the tree of the Cross you are spilling your blood. You love us, sweet Jesus, we had forgotten it. Lamentation of the strings, the sorrowful “neumes” of which divide the melody into groups of uneven duration, cut by long mauve and grey mailings.
THE SIN: Incited by madness and by the snake’s bite in a race breathless, frenetic, without pause, we were descending into sin as if descending into a grave. Presented here as a kind of “race to the abyss” in an almost mechanized speed. You will notice the strong flexional ending accents, whistling of the harmonics in glissando, the incisive calls of the trumpets.
THE EUCHARIST: Here is the pure table, the source of charity, the feast of the poor, here is lovely Pity offering the break of Life and of Love. You loved us, sweet Jesus, we had forgotten it. Long and slow phrase of the violins, which rise over a blanket of pianissimo chords, with reds, gold, blues (like a far away stained glass window), in the light of muted solo chords.
Instrumentation: 3 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 3 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, triangle and strings
Program note by Mary Ann Feldman.
Gabriela Ortiz
Born: December 20, 1964, Mexico City
Tzam
Premiered: May 14, 2022
Although Mozart’s Requiem receives top billing on this week’s program, we also hear a second moving work that serves—at least in part—as a memorial: Gabriela Ortiz’s Tzam, composed in 2021 and premiered by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in May 2022. In the two years before writing Tzam, Ortiz had lost her father and two close friends who were fundamental to her musical development: conductor Carmen Helena Téllez, a leading advocate of contemporary Latin music, and Mario Lavista, a professor of musical composition whom Ortiz credits as her mentor. Ortiz states that as she started to compose Tzam, she “found it impossible to defer what I felt was a pressing need to express my gratitude toward all of them through music.”
DIALOGUE AND MEMORY
In the conductor’s score for Tzam, Ortiz offers more detail about the music’s meaning and content, as well as the inspiration for its title.
“Dedicated to the memory of Mario Lavista, Tzam means ‘dialogue’ in Ayapaneco, one of more than 60 indigenous languages found in Mexico today although, with fewer than 10 speakers, it is lamentably on the verge of extinction. I chose Tzam as a title not only for its attractive sound, but also because implicit in its meaning is our ability to converse and dialogue, not only with all that surrounds us and nourishes us as human beings within this secret, timeless space, but also and above all with what it means to be a human being on this Earth.
“Parting from the action of dialogue as a primal concept, I decided to position the brass section differently, dividing it into two instrumental groups situated across from one another in a circular fashion, so that a stereophonic exchange of ideas could arise among them. Parting from this unusual instrumental placement of the brass, I thought it would be congruent to start out with a fanfare. This material acts as a leitmotiv or recurring idée fixe. Immediately afterwards, I carefully chose the main axes of harmony and textured timbre for each of the sections. I then tried to emulate the idea of representing an ocean of sounds—its rising and ebbing tides, acting time and again as a colorful harmonic and instrumental surprise.
“The central portion of Tzam includes the introduction of new musical material as a personal tribute to remind us of the intimate, delicate realm of Lavista’s music. Its development features a surprising and contrasting adagio for strings that, beyond a shadow of a doubt, originated in a genuine attempt to dialogue with Carmen, with Mario and with my father, perhaps for the last time. Finally, a broad epilogue appears in which I revisit the beginning of the work, thus reviving the primal concept that sparked its development.”
On the score’s first page, Ortiz includes a verse by contemporary American poet Benjamin Alire Sáenz: “Her water washes air, her breathing—wakes the sun. She has a name that can be found in every tongue; But the earth is not her name. The earth refuses to be tamed.”
ABOUT THE COMPOSER
Minnesota Orchestra audiences are becoming increasingly familiar with Ortiz’s music; last season saw performances of her Kauyumari, and a set of concerts next February will feature Susie Park, the Orchestra’s first associate concertmaster, as soloist in Ortiz’s Altar de Cuerda. Elsewhere this fall brings two world premieres of her music: in early October, Dzonot received its first performances by cellist Alisa Weilerstein and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, while violinist Maria Dueñas and pianist Alexander Malofeev introduced De Cuerda y Madera later in the month.
Born in 1964 in Mexico City to folk musician parents, Ortiz studied at Paris’ École Normale de Musique, Mexico’s National Conservatory of Music and two British institutions: the Guildhall School and the University of London. Her catalog includes nearly 20 published orchestral works and three operas, among numerous other works, and she has earned honors including the Bellas Artes Gold Medal, Mexico’s National Prize for Arts and Literature, a Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, a Fulbright-García Robles Fellowship and two Latin Grammy Award nominations. She currently teaches at Mexico’s National Autonomous University.
Instrumentation: 2 flutes (1 doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets (1 doubling piccolo trumpet), 3 trombones, timpani, snare drum, bass drum, cymbals, crotales, 2 gongs, tamtam, whip, marimba, vibraphone, chimes and strings
Program note by Carl Schroeder, with musical description by Gabriela Ortiz.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Born: January 27, 1756, Salzburg, Austria
Died: December 5, 1791, Vienna, Austria
Requiem, K. 626, completed by Robert Levin
Premiered: January 2, 1793 (first completed version); August 1991 (Levin version)
The mysterious circumstances surrounding Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Requiem have lent the work an aura of romance and intrigue almost as compelling as the music itself. In the summer of 1791, Count Franz Walsegg von Stuppach sent a messenger to Mozart with an anonymous commission for a Requiem intended to honor Walsegg’s late wife. Walsegg, an amateur musician, had a habit of commissioning works from well-known composers and then claiming them as his own, hence his need for anonymity and subterfuge. Chronically hard-up, Mozart accepted the commission. He completed several sketches before putting the Requiem aside to finish The Magic Flute and La Clemenza di Tito and to oversee a production of Don Giovanni.
In October 1791, in failing health, Mozart returned to the Requiem. When he died two months later, the Requiem remained unfinished. Mozart’s wife, Constanze, facing a mountain of debt, asked one of Mozart’s associates, Franz Xaver Süssmayr, to complete it. Süssmayr agreed, but his claims of authorship of the later movements of the Requiem have provoked sharp debates over which man wrote what, debates that continue today.
In 1991, musicologist Robert Levin presented his “completed” version of the Requiem in which he corrected what he called Süssmayr’s “errors in musical grammar.” This version has become preferred by conductors and ensembles; since its premiere, there have been over 125 recordings of Levin’s edition.
THE REQUIEM IN BRIEF
The fine attention to detail in the meaning of the words of the requiem mass dictates the musical structure throughout. The chorus’ heartfelt pleading in the opening lines, “Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine” (Grant them eternal rest, O God), are presented in a dark minor key. This is transformed into a promise of glowing eternity in the next sentence, “Et lux perpetua luceat eis” (and may perpetual light shine upon them) as the music moves into the light of a major key. The strong Kyrie (Lord, have mercy / Christ, have mercy) that follows is set in a stark fugue, Mozart’s homage to Johann Sebastian Bach.
The Sequence, which is composed of a number of short movements, begins with the Dies Irae (Day of Wrath), whose fiery, agitated setting and orchestral accompaniment bring the terror and fury of the text frighteningly alive. In the Tuba mirum, the bass soloist and a solo trombone proclaim the Day of Judgment, followed by each of the soloists in turn. The chorus returns to beg for salvation from hell in the powerful Rex tremendae, which is followed by the more intimate pleading of the Recordare, in which each of the soloists makes a personal petition to God. The gentleness of this movement is followed by the thunder of the Confutatis, which juxtaposes the images of the damned consigned to the flames of hell with that of the supplicant kneeling in prayer. Then comes the exquisite Lacrymosa, in which the chorus grieves and sobs; The sighing appoggiaturas of the violins echo the lamenting of the text. In the Offertory, the chorus ends its plea for mercy with a reminder of God’s promise to Abraham; these words are set into a tremendous fugue, which recurs at the end of the graceful Hostias.
With the Sanctus comes the first wholly joyful expression of emotion, as the chorus and orchestra together sing God’s praises with shining exclamations in the brasses and a fugue on the words “Hosanna in the highest.” The operatic grace of the melody of the Benedictus, sung by the four soloists, conveys the sense of blessedness of those “who come in the name of the Lord”; this is followed by a recurrence of the choral fugue from the Sanctus. With the Agnus Dei, the chorus and orchestra return to the darkly shifting mood of the opening movement; this culminates in the Communio, which uses the music of the opening Requiem aeternam and concludes with the same fugue used in the Kyrie, but this time on the words “cum sanctis tuis in aeternam” (with Thy saints forever).
Instrumentation: soprano, mezzo, tenor and bass-baritone soloists, four-part mixed chorus and orchestra comprising 2 basset horns, 2 bassoons, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, organ and strings
Program note by Elizabeth Schwartz.
Mozart’s Requiem: Text and Translation
Introitus
Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine:
et lux perpetua luceat ets.
Te decet hymnus, Deus, in Sion,
et tibi reddetur votum in Jerusalem.
Exaudi orationem meam:
ad te omnis caro veniet.
Grant them eternal rest, O Lord:
and let everlasting light shine on them.
To Thee, O God, praise is met in Zion,
and unto Thee shall the vow
be performed in Jerusalem.
Hearken unto my prayer:
unto Thee shall all flesh come.
Kyrie
Kyrie eleison.
Christe eleison.
Kyrie eleison.
Lord, have mercy upon us.
Christ, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.
Sequenz
Dies irae
Dies irae, dies illa
Solvet saeclum in favilla
Teste David cum Sibylla.
Quantus tremor est futurus
Quando judex est venturus
Cuncta stricte discussurus.
The day of wrath, that day shall
dissolve the earth in ashes
as witnesseth David and the Sibyl.
What trembling shall there be
when the Judge shall come
who shall thresh out all thoroughly.
Tuba mirum
Tuba, mirum spargens sonum
Per sepulcra regionum,
Coget omnes ante thronum.
Mors stupebit et natura
Cum resurget creatura
Judicanti responsura.
Liber scriptus proferetur
In quo totum continetur,
Unde mundus judicetur.
Judex ergo cum sedebit
Quidquid latet apparebit;
Nil inultum remanebit.
Quid sum miser tunc dicturus,
Quem patronum rogaturus,
Cum vix justus sit securus?
The trumpet, scattering a wondrous sound
through the tombs of all lands,
shall drive all unto the Throne.
Death and Nature shall be astonished
when all creation rises again
to answer to the Judge.
A written book shall be brought forth
in which shall be contained all
by which the world shall be judged.
And therefore when the Judge shall sit,
whatsoever is hidden shall be manifest;
and nothing shall remain unavenged.
What then shall I say in misery?
Whom shall I ask to be my advocate,
when scarcely the just may be without fear?
Rex tremendae
Rex tremendae majestatis,
Qui salvandos salvas gratis,
Salve me, fons pietatis.
King of awful majesty,
who freely savest the redeemed,
save me, O fount of goodness.
Recordare
Recordare, Jesu pie,
Quod sum causa tuae viae,
Ne me perdas ilia die.
Quaerens me sedisti lassus:
Redemisti crucem passus,
Tantus labor non sit cassus.
Juste Judex ultionis
Donum fac remissionis
Ante diem rationis.
lngemisco tamquam reus:
Culpa rubet vultus meus.
Supplicanti parce, Deus.
Qui Mariam absolvisti
Et latronem exaudisti,
Mihi quoque spem dedisti.
Preces meae non sunt dignae,
Sed tu bonus fac benigne,
Ne perenni cremet igne.
Inter oves locurn praesta,
Et ab haedis me sequestra,
Statuens in parle dextra.
Remember, blessed Jesus,
that I am the cause of your journey,
lest thou lose me in that day.
Seeking me didst Thou sit weary:
Thou didst redeem me, suffering the cross.
Let not such toil be frustrated.
O just Judge of vengeance,
give the gift of remission
before the day of reckoning.
I groan as one guilty;
my face blushes at my sin.
Spare me, Thy supplicant, O God.
Thou who didst absolve Mary,
and didst hear the thief’s prayer,
hast given hope to me also.
My prayers are not worthy,
but do Thou, good Lord, show mercy,
lest I burn in everlasting fire.
Give me place among Thy sheep
and put me apart from the goats,
setting me on Thy right hand.
Confutatis
Confutatis maledictis
Flammis acribus addictis,
Voca me cum benedictis.
Oro supplex et acclinis,
Cor contritum quasi cinis,
Gere curam mei finis.
When the accursed are confounded
and condemned to the sharp flames,
call me with the blessed.
I pray, kneeling in supplication,
my heart contrite as ashes,
take Thou mine end into Thy care.
Lacrimosa
Lacrimosa dies ilia
Qua resurget ex favilla
Judicandus homo reus.
Huic ergo parce, Deus,
Pie Jesu Domine:
Dona els requiem. Amen.
Lamentable is that day
on which the guilty man shall arise
from the ashes to be judged.
Spare then this one, O God,
merciful Lord Jesus,
give them peace. Amen.
Offertorium
Domine Jesu
Domine Jesu Christe, Rex gloriae,
libera animas omniurn fidelium
defunctorum de poenis inferni et de prof undo lacu;
libera cas de ore leonis,
ne absorbeat eas Tartarus;
ne cadant in obscurum.
Sed signifer sanctus Michael
repraesentet eas in lucem sanctam:
quam olim Abrahae promisisti et semini ejus.
O Lord, Jesus Christ, King of glory,
deliver the souls of all the departed faithful
from the torments of hell and from the bottomless pit;
Deliver them from the mouth of the lion,
lest Tartarus swallow them;
lest they fall into darkness.
But let Saint Michael the standard-bearer
bring them forth into the holy light:
which Thou didst once promise to Abraham and his seed.
Hostias
Hostias et preces tibi, Domine,
laudis offerimus.
Tu suscipe pro animabus illis
quarum hodie memoriam facimus;
quam olim Abrahae promisisti et semini ejus.
To thee, O Lord, we render our
offerings and prayers with praises.
Do Thou receive them for those souls
which we commemorate today;
which Thou didst once promise to Abraham and his seed.
Sanctus
Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus, Domine
Deus Sabaoth! Pleni sunt caeli
et terra gloria tua.
Hosanna in excelsis.
Holy, holy, holy, Lord
God of Sabaoth! Heaven and earth
are full of Thy glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Benedictus
Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini.
Hosanna in excelsis.
Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.
Agnus Dei
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi:
dona eis requiem.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi:
dona eis requiem sempiternam.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world:
grant them rest.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world:
grant them eternal rest.
Communio
Lux aeterna
Lux aeterna luceat eis, Domine,
cum sanctis mis in aeternum,
quia pius es.
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine,
et lux perpetua luceat eis,
cum Sanctis tuis in aeternum,
quia pius es.
Let everlasting light shine upon them, O Lord,
with Thy saints forever,
for Thou art merciful.
Grant to the departed eternal rest, O Lord,
and let everlasting light shine upon them,
with Thy saints forever,
for Thou art merciful.
