# Mozart's Requiem preferences: not complete, Sussmayr completion or a modern one?



## adtsang

With the countless recordings and published editions of Mozart's Requiem, I'm curious to hear what the community's personal preferences are regarding the work.

Do you enjoy Sussmayr's original completion the most? Why or why not?

Out of all the modern completions, which do you think is most faithful to Mozart's intentions (even if you think that ultimately Sussmayr was the most)?

I myself take to Robert D. Levin's completion particularly because of his skill in fugal writing with the Amen and Osanna fugues.

I still find recordings of performances of the original autograph in Mozart's hand minus Eybler and Sussmayr's contributions (like this one: 



) very interesting, at least from a historical (and purist) perspective.


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## Heliogabo

The Maunder edition maybe is the most "mozartian" of all, since he completed some parts using fragments from other Mozart compositions. The result is quite enjoyable, an it has a dramatic intensity that perhaps lacks in other versions, imo. There is a splendid recording made bt Christopher Hogwood in 1984. More information related:

http://www.nytimes.com/1985/03/03/arts/radical-revision-enlivens-a-new-mozart-requiem.html


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## DavidA

A list of Süssmayr’s completed works includes masses, cantatas, offertories, a magnificat, hymns, a clarinet concerto and several operas. Elegant works, all. They are balanced, melodic and completely overshadowed by his singular contribution to the standard repertoire: his completion of Mozart’s Requiem.
For the post-war generation, the dominant story that accompanies the Requiem is the one told by Peter Shaffer in the play and film “Amadeus.” Revenge! Jealousy! Murder!
And hogwash.
Meanwhile, a less dramatic but more interesting story attends Süssmayr.
The short version: Mozart had been commissioned to write the Requiem but passed away before completing it. Some of the commission money was due upon completion; in coarse terms, this left money on the table, money that Mozart’s widow Constanze needed. Her first candidate, Joseph von Eybler, contributed some work but eventually gave up and handed the manuscript back to Constanze, who then turned it over to Süssmayr, a friend of Mozart’s who was familiar with the composer’s intentions for the work.
What Mozart left was a fully orchestrated first movement, the vocal parts, figured bass for everything but the Lachrymosa, and suggestions for orchestration in other movements. Certainly more than a fragment, there was much left to be done. Debate over Süssmayr’s contributions continues. Consensus is that four composers put their hand to the plow at some point — Süssmayr, Eybler, Frystadtler and Stabler — but that Süssmayr finished the Lacrymosa and added several sections himself (Sanctus, Benedictus, Agnus Dei). We know he made substantial additions because his work had basic errors that later had to be touched up.
As to whether his contributions are “Mozartean” enough, you’ll get a wide variety of partisans on either side. Several composers have attempted to create “cleaner” versions (hat tip to Sigismund Neukomm, Franz Beyer, Richard Maunder, and Robert Levin). Meanwhile, Beethoven reportedly once said of the work, “If Mozart did not write the music, then the man who wrote it was a Mozart.”
Regardless of the controversies, Süssmayr did yeoman’s duty, enough to keep the work alive and beloved through the centuries. And enough to benefit Constanze well into her old age.
(Peter Lefevre)


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## John Kiunke

Robert Levin's version is the most thought-out one.


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## Pugg

John Kiunke said:


> Robert Levin's version is the most thought-out one.


According to whom?


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## Xaltotun

The Süssmayr completion appeals to me for philosophical reasons... don't ask! Xaltotun is strange, let's leave it at that.


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## PlaySalieri

I go for the Sussmayr version that appears on most recordings. I heard the Hogwood rec and didnt like it.
The sussmayr version is not satisfactory - but I think it probably is closer to what Mozart intended than any other version. I understand that Sussmayr was with Mozart in his last days when the requiem was discussed and Sussmayr may have had more direction about a completion than anyone else. So why did Constanze first give the score to Eybler? She was cross with sussmayr perhaps? At any rate she had to give it to him in the end and who knows what other sketches he was working from that are now lost. I can believe that he composed the sanctus on his own - but the beneductus and agnus dei have too many quality moments and he probably was working from elaborate sketches. Alfred Einstein said in his book that the concluding chorus of the benedictus is the work of a master.
Well that's my view - and my favourite rec is Gardiner's.


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## Ferrariman601

In all, my favorite completion is Levin's version - his later work on the C Minor Mass demonstrated his keenly attuned ear to Mozart's style and etiquette, and his version of the Requiem is no different in this regard. As for more development/alternative takes, mega props to Neukomm for his setting of Líbera me, which sounded so convincing to me on my first hearing that I actually thought it was a lost Mozart fragment, and to Tamás Pánczel, whose 2005 reconstruction features a very innovative retake on Lacrimosa and the Amen fugue.


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## Jorge Hereth

Rio de Janeiro, February 19, 1819:






and


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## Bruckner Anton

I prefer to leave it incomplete, but I can tolerate Sussmayr's completed version which is used by most performances.


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## Il_Penseroso

Süssmayr's completion for me. It's not about the ability of fugal writing or stuff like that. I just find it purely touching, that's all...


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## Vaneyes

Sussmayr, and preference for this rec., though I could live with several others. :tiphat:


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