Requiem (Kraus)

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The Requiem in D Minor VB 1 by Joseph Martin Kraus is a composition for soprano - alto - and baritone - soloists , four-part choir , two horns and string orchestra.

The Requiem is one of the earliest surviving works by Kraus, which was probably created in 1775 during his stay in Buchen . Due to a defamation process, his father had been removed from all his offices and Kraus was forced to interrupt his law studies in Erfurt .

The sentences of the work read:

  • Requiem aeternam (D minor, choir)
  • Te decet hymn (F major, soprano)
  • Kyrie (D minor, choir)
  • Dies irae (D minor, chorus)
  • Lacrimosa (G minor, alto)
  • Huic ergo (D minor, choir)
  • Domine Jesu (F major, choir)
  • Quam olim Abrahae (D minor, choir)
  • Sanctus (D minor, Hosanna in D major, choir)
  • Benedictus (G major, aria for alto and soprano)
  • Agnus Dei and Communio (D minor, baritone and choir)

In the Kyrie and Dies irae , parts of the liturgical text are omitted. Contrary to the compositional tradition in the 18th century, only the Kyrie is set as a fugue . All other choral movements are performed homophonically. It is also unusual that coloratura is largely dispensed with in the solo arias . These peculiarities are not so much due to the performance possibilities in Buchen, but correspond to the composer's aesthetic position on sacred music, which he explains two years later in his work entitled "Something from and about music for the year 1777" as follows:

If music is to arouse enthusiasm and full devotion, which should contribute its own, it is not possible to achieve this with masses by today's masters. I have heard one of them performed in a not mediocre place, and I am still amazed - and cannot get enough of it. Before the first Kyrie there was a roaring overture with trumpets and kettledrums - then the kor fell into it with exultation, and so that nothing would be spared in glorifying the matter, the organist had let go of all his stops and needed every move he all his ten fingers. Schmidt, Holzbauer , Brixi , Schmidt in Mainz delivered masses: Put other words below them, so you can make operettas out of them. Take the more solidly (as it is called!) Worked things of the Waßmuts, Pögels, Richter , the big Fux , Gassmanns - why do you have to repeat a mere Amen several hundred times? Shouldn't the music in the churches be most for the heart? Are joints suitable for this?

With this composition, the 19-year-old consciously renounces virtuoso artistry in favor of a deeply felt expression. The performance lasts about 30 minutes.

The original of the requiem has not survived. In the University Library of Uppsala a copy from 1802 is kept.

Recordings

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