Critical Analysis Of Requiem In D Minor By Mozart

Requiem in d minor by Mozart (1756-1791) was written in 1791. Mozart fully completed Movements I and II: Introitus and Kyrie. Movements III and IV, Sequenz and Offertorium, were sketched out. When Mozart died on December 5, 1791, Franz Xaver Süssmayr (1766-1803) completed the Requiem shortly after Mozart’s death. The original key is d minor. Movements I and II are in d minor. Movement III moves from d minor, B-flat Major, g minor, d minor, F Major, a minor, and back to d minor. Movement IV is in g minor, E-flat Major, and g minor. Movement V to D major, VI is B-flat Major, VII d minor to B-flat Major, and Movement VIII Communio starting in B-flat Major and ending in the original d minor key. I listened to the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Georg Solti performance of this with guest performer Cecilia Bartoli. Throughout this analysis Movement II, Kyrie, will be discussed. Kyrie is unique to the other Movements because of its form: a double fugue.

This translates to ‘Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy. This movement is written in a double fugue. A fugue is a contrapuntal technique with two or more voices built on a subject, which is introduced at the beginning and recurs frequently through the composition and within other voices. A fugue has three sections, which are exposition, development, and return of subject in tonic. In Renaissance music fugue was used for imitative works, transitioned to the 17th century and became elaborated, but in the Classical era it was seen no longer as the center in compositions. A double fugue has two subjects, which occur at the same time. A common double fugue would be seen in Bach’s Mass in B Minor. Below is an example of the double fugue seen in