1. Requiem aeternam - Requiem in D minor (Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus)
2. Dies irae - Requiem in D minor (Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus)
3. Tuba mirum - Requiem in D minor (Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus)
4. Recordare - Requiem in D minor (Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus)
5. Confutatis - Requiem in D minor (Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus)
6. Rex tremendae - Requiem in D minor (Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus)
7. Lacrymosa - Requiem in D minor (Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus)
8. Domine Jesu - Requiem in D minor (Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus)
9. Hostias - Requiem in D minor (Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus)
10. Sanctus - Requiem in D minor (Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus)
11. Benedictus - Requiem in D minor (Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus)
12. Agnus Dei - Requiem in D minor (Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus)
13. Sanctus - Requiem for the Living (Forrest, Dan)

Mozart’s Requiem. Its very name evokes a sense of mystery, fires the imagination, and inspires wonder. Musically, the Requiem has firmly established itself in the repertoire as a masterwork with immense ability to comfort, inspire, and enrich all those who hear or perform it. The story of the Requiem’s commission, composition, and completion is shrouded by over two centuries of legend, deception, and controversy. These two aspects of Mozart’s Requiem, its music and its story, are virtually inseparable. Any serious study of one requires significant knowledge of the other. Indeed, it could be argued that the music and the story are mutually dependent on each other for their popularity. Without the controversial story, the Requiem would almost certainly be a beloved part of Mozart’s repertoire, but lack the enormous popularity that continues to fill concert halls today. On the other hand, if the music were not so profound and sublime, it is likely that very few people would care about the story.

There are three major pieces of information about the Requiem upon which scholars and musicians agree. The first concerns the details and purpose of the original commission. On February 14, 1791, Countess Anna von Walsegg died in the village of Stuppach, forty-five miles southwest of Vienna. She was twenty years old. Her husband, Count Franz van Walsegg, was deeply distressed and wished to commemorate his wife with both a physical monument as well as a Requiem Mass which was to be performed on the first anniversary of her death, and every year afterwards. Walsegg, an amateur musician with limited compositional skills, would often commission accomplished composers anonymously, copy the newly commissioned work in his own hand, and then pass them off as his own. To remain anonymous, Walsegg would employ a third party to arrange the transaction.

Thus, sometime during the summer of 1791, a clerk from the office of Johann Nepomuk Sortschan (Walsegg’s attorney in Vienna) approached Mozart and arranged for the commission. Mozart agreed to write a Requiem Mass, to maintain confidentiality regarding the commission, and never attempt to determine the source of the commission. Mozart was paid handsomely for his services and received a substantial deposit. The clerk never identified himself and has thus entered Requiem legend as “the gray messenger.”

The two other undeniable pieces of information are much more straightforward. Mozart died on December 5, 1791 leaving the Requiem unfinished. After his death, the Requiem was completed by a small group of Mozart’s students and acquaintances, the most important of whom is Franz Xavier Süssmayr.

Beyond those facts, little can be said with any certainty. The literature surrounding the Requiem is replete with contradictions, personal theories, and inconsistent historical accounts. Fictitious stories, including the 1984 movie Amadeus, have surrounded Mozart’s Requiem since the early 19th century, further muddying the waters of historical and musical scholarship. Questions regarding the details of the Requiem’s completion, the motives of Constanze (Mozart’s widow), and the final hours of Mozart’s life remain a mystery that is forever unsolvable.

One mystery which is central to any study (or performance) of the Requiem is an attempt to determine where the music of Mozart ends and Süssmayr begins. At the time of his death, Mozart had fully completed only one (Introitus) of the fourteen movements. Eight more (Kyrie, Dies irae, Tuba mirum, Rex tremendae, Recordare, Confutatis, Domine Jesu, and Hostias) had complete vocal parts along with some figured bass. Only fragments of the instrumentation existed for these movements. The Lacrimosa consisted of only eight measures and nothing was yet written for the Sanctus, Benedictus, Agnus Dei, and Communio.

Süssmayr was tasked by Constanze with completing the Requiem. This involved writing instrumental parts for the partially finished movements and composing original music for the four unwritten sections. From the beginning, Süssmayr and Constanze conspired to create a forgery designed to convince Walsegg that Mozart had completed the Requiem prior to his death. This would allow Mozart’s widow to collect the remaining money on the commission, and to prevent Walsegg from attempting to retrieve his initial deposit. To complete the deception, Süssmayr composed the missing Requiem fragments in a handwriting similar to Mozart’s and even forged Mozart’s signature.

Süssmayr inhabits an unfortunate place in musical culture. He is often maligned as being an incompetent composer whose work on the Requiem obscures Mozart’s masterpiece. His instrumental writing is often clumsy, heavy, and full of compositional errors. Larger harmonic structures within the piece are inconsistent with eighteenth century musical style and form. However, it is with virtual certainty that without Süssmayr’s work, the Requiem would be, at best, incomplete, and probably lost. Indeed, some of Süssmayr’s original sections are so compelling and integrated into the whole of the work that many scholars and musicians assert, perhaps correctly, that Süssmayr had additional material or instruction from Mozart either in the form of spoken directions or compositional fragments written on scraps of paper. Regardless, the musical world is indebted to the work of Mozart’s twenty-five-year-old pupil. As Mozart biographer Robert W. Gutman writes, “If, at moments, solecisms [lapses from accepted style] mar its instrumentation or musical grammar, the burden sustained by a mediocre talent attempting to intuit the processes of genius provides pardon: that scholars still debate assigning certain passages to either Mozart or Süssmayr enshrines the laurels of a devoted student and friend.”

Early in the history of the Requiem, the limitations and errors in Süssmayr’s completion were acknowledged, even by Süssmayr himself. It would be almost two hundred years before anyone would attempt the work of (re)completing Mozart’s Requiem. Several new editions and completions have been attempted during the past fifty years. Some have taken a conservative view, changing as little as possible from the traditional Mozart-Süssmayr version. Others strip away everything that is not believed to be by Mozart and start over. Despite the existence of these revised editions and recreations, Süssmayr’s traditional version remains the most performed completion of the Requiem and is in no danger of losing its primacy.

Mozart’s Requiem is often performed today because it still has something to say to all of us. Now, we must listen.

Dr. Michael Fuchs

Director of Choral Activities,

Clayton State University

Morrow, Georgia

Soloists

Valerie Clark Gill, soprano

Valerie Clark Gill of Griffin, Georgia, is a versatile singer known for her vocal richness and intensity of sound. She performs with tremendous expressiveness and passion, artfully and confidently carrying phrases with nuance and emotion.
Valerie is a founding member of Griffin Choral Arts and is a regular soloist, including performances of Haydn’s Mass in Time of War, Brahms’ Requiem, John Rutter’s Requiem, Vivaldi’s Gloria, and Poulenc’s Gloria. She is also a regular soloist for the Chancel Choir at Griffin First United Methodist Church where she has sung solos for many major works, including Saint Saëns Christmas Oratorio, Faure Requiem, and The Seven Last Words of Christ by Theodore DuBois.
Valerie studied with voice faculty from Gordon College, Clayton State University, Florida State University. More recently, Valerie voice with Sandra Lutters of Atlanta. She completed her B.M. degree at Clayton State University. She performed a Master’s recital at The University of Georgia under voice professor Dr. Stephanie Tingler.
Her opera roles have included Esther in Orphan Queen by William Whitefield, Monica in Menotti’s The Medium, Serafina in Donizetti’s Il Campanello, Laetitia in Menotti’s The Old Maid and the Thief, and Mimi in La Bohème by Puccini.
She and her family belong to Griffin First United Methodist Church, and she gives credit to the music ministry for laying the foundation for her love of singing.
She is married to Dan Gill and is the mother of Brittain and Coleman.

Heather Witt, alto

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution called mezzo-soprano Heather Witt “the kind of singer you hope to hear – talented, alert… a singer with a future.” Ms. Witt is known for her portrayal of a wide array of opera’s most notable mezzo-soprano characters, including: Gertrude in Roméo et Juliette, Giulietta in Les contes d’Hoffmann (FIO, Brazil), Dryad in Ariadne Auf Naxos, Principessa in Suor Angelica, Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, Second Lady and Third Lady in Die Zauberflöte, Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors, Elmire in Tartuffe, Mauya in Riders to the Sea, Mrs. Nolan in The Medium, Mrs. Herring in Albert Herring, Meg in Falstaff, Sally in Hand of Bridge, and Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte, among many others.

Most recently Heather Witt performed in the debut of a fully staged production of Hans Eisler’s Hollywood Songbook (Songfest). The L.A. Times called her performance “uniformly impressive.” She also performed as a guest artist for the University of Georgia’s production of Gianni Schicchi, performing the role of Zita. Some of her other notable roles are Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Phobia in La Pizza con Funghi, Maddalena in a highlights production of Rigoletto with Northwinds Symphonic Band (Gainesville, GA), and the alto soloist for Handel’s Messiah with the Greater Anderson Musical Arts Consortium (Anderson, SC).

Heather Witt is also an esteemed oratorio and concert soloist, and is a staff soloist at First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta. Ms. Witt completed her undergraduate studies in Music at Millikin University (Decatur, IL), and received a Masters in Voice from Georgia State University (Atlanta, GA).

Jonathan Pilkington, tenor

Jonathan Pilkington’s recent solo engagements include Verdi’s Requiem, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Haydn’s Creation, Handel’s Israel in Egypt, Mozart’s Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, and Orff’s Carmina Burana. He sang the tenor solo in New York premiere of Mendelson’s Humboldt Cantata and was the tenor soloist for Elliott Carter’s The Defense of Corinth with the National Chorale at Avery Fisher Hall. He was a guest soloist at the 2014 Bassi Brugnatelli International Conducting and Singing Symposium in Robbiate, Italy.
Additional performances include concerts with Lyric Intermezzo in Augusta, GA, a recital appearance at Reinhardt University, and solo recitals at Piedmont College and Winthrop University. In early 2017, he completed a tour of concerts with Karen Sigers, piano, featuring the songs of Samuel Barber, including a performance at Spivey Hall in Atlanta. In October 2018, he toured California to promote an album of songs with classical guitar, including transcriptions of Schubert’s Winterreise.
Pilkington has performed many major choral works with the New York Philharmonic, American Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and others, and has been guest lecturer in vocal pedagogy for University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point, the Sautee Chorale, and St. Bartholomew’s Church in Atlanta.
With degrees from Shorter College (B.M.), Westminster Choir College (M.M.), and the University of Georgia (D.MA.), Pilkington, formerly Assistant Professor of Music at Piedmont College, now teaches at The Lovett School, United Music Studios, and Perimeter College-Georgia State University, in addition to his own private voice studio.
As a dedicated voice teacher, he has participated in the highly selective NATS Intern Program and competed further training at the LoVetri Institute for Somatic Voicework™ at Baldwin Wallace University, as well as One Body/One Voice at Penn State University. He also serves as a staff singer at Trinity Presbyterian in Atlanta.

Steven Humes, bass

American bass, Steven Humes has performed many leading roles on the opera stage including König Marke, König Heinrich, Vodník, Hunding, Fafner, Fasolt, Daland, Hermann Landgraf, Sarastro, Ramfis, Oroveso, Wurm, Gremin, and Commendatore, among many others.

He has appeared with many of the world’s most important theaters including The Bayerische Staatsoper, Teatro Real in Madrid, Théatre des Champs Elysées, Opera di Roma, Opéra Monte Carlo, Teatro Regio in Torino, Hamburg Staatsoper, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, The Bolshoi, the Salzburg Festival, Luxembourg’s Les Théâtres de la Ville, Tokyo’s Bunka Kaikan and Beijing’s NCPA. Mr. Humes has also been heard throughout the United States in theaters including Los Angeles Opera, Atlanta Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Boston Lyric Opera, Detroit Opera, Chicago Opera Theater and Chicago’s Ravinia Festival.

Recently Mr. Humes saw performances of Lohengrin in St. Gallen, Switzerland in a production by Vincent Boussard, a return to Teatro Regio in Torino as König Marke in a celebrated production of Tristan und Isolde, singing once again under the baton of Gianandrea Noseda. He has previously sung Rocco, Daland and Frere Lawrence in Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette with the company.

One of his many DVD recordings is the highly acclaimed double-grammy winning Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny recorded with the Los Angeles opera in 2007.

Sought after as a concert soloist, Mr. Humes has appeared with numerous symphonies including the New York Philharmonic, the Atlanta Symphony and with philharmonic orchestras of Paris, Bonn, Dresden, Bremen, Palma de Mallorca, Munich and Brussels, to name a few. This season he joins The Taipei Symphony Orchestra, Cadaqués Orchestra in Spain along with several venues in the States. He has performed in many celebrated concert venues including the Vatican, Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, and his repertoire includes Mahler’s 8th Symphony, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, the Mozart Requiem, Dvorák’s Stabat Mater, the Verdi Requiem and Bach’s St. Matthew’s Passion.

Carroll Symphony Orchestra

Terry Lowry, Artistic Director

 

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