Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Requiem
new completion by Michael Ostrzyga
Mozart is known to have died while working on his Requiem. What we hear in concerts is therefore not just his music. Meanwhile an examination of the sources has verified which parts Mozart composed and what was added at a later date. The completion most frequently performed stems from Mozart’s assistant Franz Xaver Süßmayr. His version went down in history but Süßmayr is often not acknowledged as a composer – the work remains “Mozart’s Requiem”.
Why a new completion?
Michael Ostrzyga completed the Requiem with the aim to create a musical text as close as possible to what Mozart could have written in 1791. Based on extensive research and comparative analysis of Mozart’s works as well as the various Requiem completions already available, Ostrzyga had come to the conclusion that Süßmayr and others did not always “strike the right chord” in synch with Mozart’s style. They left some potential unexploited regarding the orientation to Mozart’s musical texts. Apart from general compositional irregularities and
e. g. somewhat far-fetched instrumentations, earlier Requiem completions display phenomena not to be found anywhere else in Mozart’s scores.
The basis of the new edition
Comparative studies of Mozart’s musical texts and relevant works by his contemporaries,
with particular attention to Mozart’s church music and late styleIntegration of elements from church music fragments composed by Mozart
Consideration of the works by Handel and Bach which inspired Mozart during the last
years of his life and whose influence is detectable in the Requiem fragment in order to
create references to Handel and Bach in the missing partsApproximation to „Mozart’s music theory“ by means of a study of music theoretical writings, which Mozart in all likelihood knew, as well as teaching materials which have been transmitted by Mozart’s students and which allow for conclusions about his compositional method
Taking into account the most up-to-date research on 18th century music theory
and Mozart’s compositional method and styleExamination of the completions by Süßmayr and Eybler with regard to the probability
and justification of being consistent with Mozart’s compositional intentionsExchange with international Mozart scholars
Michael Ostrzyga
Conductor and composer Michael Ostrzyga is an active performer, particularly committed to choral music. As Music Director at the University of Cologne, he conducts the University‘s musical ensembles and beyond that appears as guest conductor with other orchestras and choirs performing the great vocal works of the classical repertoire as well as contemporary music including world premieres. Moreover, Ostrzyga is also a music theorist and arranger with an extensive professional training and experience in composition, instrumentation, musical analysis, comparative style studies and in the arrangement and writing of style copies. Historically informed music theory as well as ever-scrutinizing and comprehensive score comparisons form the basis of his completion.
Ostrzyga’s practical experience with (choral) works as well as his expertise in music theory contributed to his completion of the Requiem. www.ostrzyga.com
Components of the edition
