J.D Zelenka - Requiem in C minor, ZWV 45

#jan #dismas #zelenka #score #sheetmusic #zwv #45 Score / sheet music of the Requiem in C moll, /Z. 45/ of "Jan Dismas Zelenka", a work of dubious stylistic difference compared to most else Zelenka composed, and which was not recorded in his personal inventory of compositions, which he named the "Inventarium rerum Musicarum Variorum Authorum Ecclesia Servientium". Although most of Zelenka's output has been deposited in Dresden as royal and church property, it is the case that several Zelenka compositions have survived that are not on file in Dresden, and which could have been composed expressly for Prague, or which were copied still in his lifetime, presumably with his consent, from his own materials and then performed in Prague. They include the Requiem in c minor, /Z. 45/ -- and importantly, the Dies irae solemne in c minor /see later as to why/, the earliest surviving sources of which are the convoluted individual parts copied for the choir of the Strahov Monastery in 1763. Copies of the two compositions were made in the same year and kept together, which means that they were related. The requiem, of which the text of the Dies irae vision of the last judgement is always an integral part, lacks it in this case, and the independent composition Dies irae is therefore complementary to it. Nevertheless, they are not two parts of a single composition: they were written for different groups of instruments. /The Requiem has no violas, Dies irae does have them/, and in different styles. Dies irae solemne is more dramatic and compositionally more developed. It could have been created later, as a complement to the Requiem, and an independent setting of the lacking part of the funeral music. Later, the two compositions were presented as one whole, and given a single number /Z. 45/, in the thematic catalogue of Zelenka's music. Although the earliest sources treat them as two autonomous compositions, today they are not usually represented as such. Overall, It is a profoundly pensive work, with frequent contrasts between the masterly structured individual parts, and its very quirkiness /delicate soprano and strings over pizzicato bass for the Tuba Mirum/ argue for his authorship - and curiously, the Quantus tremor seems to be a parody of the duet "Komm, mein Jesu, und erquicke", from Johann Sebastian Bach's cantata "Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis", BWV 21, and whether this is a coincidence or not, is not known. There are many theories doubting Zelenka's authorship, based primarily on the fact the autograph doesn't exist, or didn't survive, and I won't get into them all here, but two discussions of interest I will link below: http://www.jdzelenka.net/forums/showt... http://www.jdzelenka.net/forums/showt...) I: Requiem I (Chorus, Soprano, Tenor) - 00:00 II: Te decet hymnus (SATB soloists) - 2:02 III: Requiem II (Chorus, Soprano, Tenor) - 3:58 IV: Kyrie eleison I (Chorus, Fugue) - 5:58 V: Christe eleison (Soprano, Alto) - 7:56 VI: Kyrie eleison II (Chorus, Fugue) - 9:48 VII: Sequentia. Dies Irae (Chorus) - 11:49 VIII: Quantus tremor (Soprano, Alto) - 13:19 IX: Tuba mirum (Soprano) - 14:48 X: Mors stupebit (Bass) - 17:48 XI: Liber scriptus (Alto) - 20:26 XII: Lacrymosa (Chorus) - 23:44 XIII: Huic ergo parce, Deus (Chorus, Fugue) - 24:24 XIV: Sanctus (Chorus, Soprano, Tenor) - 26:13 XV: Benedictus (Soprano, Alto, Basso) - 28:30 XVI: Osanna (Chorus) - 30:02 XVII: Agnus Dei (Chorus, Soprano, Alto, Tenor) - 31:01 XVIII: Lux æterna (Bass) - 34:21 XIX: Cum sanctis tuis (Chorus) - 35:11 Performer(s): Pavel Baxa Music Aeterna Prague Madrigal Singers