Mozart’s last work
The Caritas Chorale performs ‘Requiem’
By ADAM TANOUS
Express Arts Editor
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s last and unfinished composition, ironically
enough, was entitled Requiem. Commonly referred to as Mass for the Dead, the
vocal composition was anonymously commissioned in 1791. The piece was finished by
Mozart’s assistant, Franz Sussmayr, and remains a haunting vocal composition.
The Caritas Chorale, directed by Dick Brown, will perform Mozart’s Requiem
on Sunday at Our Lady of the Snows Catholic Church. The 50-minute composition begins at
5:30 p.m. and will be performed by over 70 chorus members, a 38-piece orchestra and four
professional soloists.
Brown, the choirmaster at St. Thomas Episcopal Church and Upper School
music instructor at The Community School, recently about the production in an interview.
"There was a lot of mystery surrounding the Requiem,"
Brown said, "even at the beginning, because Mozart had a premonition that he was
writing his own funeral mass."
At the time, there was speculation that Mozart’s professional rival,
Austrian composer Antonio Salieri, had poisoned the master out of jealousy. That
speculation, Brown said, probably was not true.
The production will be sung entirely in Latin, which is only one aspect of
the piece that has provided a challenge for Brown and his choir. Requiem, he said,
was written for a typical classical period orchestra.
"The level of writing is…very difficult," Brown said.
"It requires first-rate professionals to sing and play…in terms of speed, range,
and endurance."
Brown said he is most pleased by the fact that he has been able to meet
the challenge with people here in town. While many of the orchestra members are from
Boise, Brown said the vocalists are "the people who live here and work
here…people who need this musical outlet…The level of singers here is first
rate."
Of course, Mozart is most well known for his operas such as Don
Giovanni and The Marriage of Figaro. But Brown feels that Mozart really showed
his talents with his vocal compositions.
"He had an uncanny understanding of the human voice," he said.
"There is a great deal of quality in [the Requiem]. What is a little frustrating
about the Requiem is that he was experimenting in so many areas harmonically. It was a
promise of what might have happened had he lived." (Mozart died when he was 35).
Brown went on to say the piece is "very emotional."
"Of all the great requiems written by the great composers, this is
the only one that gives equal balance to the horror of the final judgment and the comfort
of death," Brown said. "Mozart plays both sides of the fence there."
The four soloists in the performance will be Katherine Edison, Natasha
Kimmel, Daniel Taylor, and Lynn Berg. Brown made special mention of Jim Watkinson, who
will be the organist for the piece. Brown said Watkinson has been an unsung hero in
helping the performance come together.
Brown said he expects close to 600 people for the performance. In past
performances his choral productions have filled Our Lady of the Snows. As Brown said,
"People come."
Brown plans on doing two more productions: a Handel piece in March and a
pops concert in May. He has other choral plans as well, but is not ready to divulge them.
"Here, there is a lot that goes on with the Summer Symphony on a
professional caliber," he said. "We’re trying to bring that level of
playing and singing here for those of us who live here year round."
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