DEATH MUSIC

So we've all heard the sweet soundtrack for Requiem for a Dream, but what is a requiem anyway??  A requiem originated as a catholic mass specifically dedicated to the passing of a particular person's soul to the next life (or whatever it is that Catholics believe).  The term is more widely used to describe any piece dedicated to a person's passing. 

Requiems are often the most bad-ass piece that a composer ever makes.  It's not hard to understand why a composer might put an extra amount of creative energy into such a serious piece, and usually Requiems are written late in a composer's life so the composer has had time to develop and mature stylistically.

Let's look at two examples of note:

1. Verdi's Requiem.  You may have seen this small section of the requiem posted the other day:



Written to commemorate painter Alessandro Manzoni.  The full work is definitely worth a listen but it's not exactly over in the blink of an eye.

2.Mozart's Requiem!  Mozart's Requiem is one of my favorite pieces of music, certainly my favorite piece by Mozart.  It's emotive force and heavy orchestration outmatch not only his other compositions, but any other work of the era (1791).  Mozart wrote the piece on his deathbed for an anonymous commision so part of the lore is that from the composer's perspective he was writing his own death piece (and in fact he expired before it was finished).  A few of the parts...

Intro:


Kyrie:


Lacrimosa


I could go on, but the truth is each section is equally gripping - if you ever have the opportunity to see this piece live, spare no expense to do so. 

Stay tuned for movie music!

DON'T ASK QUESTIONS, JUST TURN UP THE VOLUME AND LISTEN

DON'T ASK QUESTIONS, JUST TURN UP THE VOLUME AND LISTEN:

That was the Dies Irae from Verdi's Requiem premiered in 1874.  And now that I have your attention let's talk about hallucinations...

Auditory hallucinations are an interesting and well-documented phenomenon.  The question is: what's the line between vivid musical creativity and hallucinations?  Is it that one is within the mind's control?  Those of you who have written your own music may have experienced the sensation of original sound spontaneously entering your imagination.  There are those, however, who would do anything to silence the muses in their minds.  Tchaikovsky for example was found weeping as a young child, grieving about the loud music he was hearing which would not cease.  Another example comes from the end of Schumann's life when he gradually went deaf and all real auditory input was replaced by sounds of his brain's own design:

"Schumann spent the end of his life experiencing auditory hallucinations. Schumann’s diaries state that he suffered perpetually from imagining that he had the note A5 sounding in his ears. The musical hallucinations became increasingly complex. One night he claimed to have been visited by the ghost of Schubert and wrote down the music that he was hearing. Thereafter, he began making claims that he could hear an angelic choir singing to him. As his condition worsened, the angelic voices transmogrified into demonic voices." Laqueur, Thomas (2007-09-03). "Spirited Away". pp. 36–42.

 Even Beethoven was seen in his last years dancing and jumping around in fields to the music  coming from between his ears.

     Before we get away from the topic of Schumann though, I'll just throw in a note about his wife Clara for good measure.  Clara was also an extremely talented musician and composer and by some accounts her accomplishments in composition eclipsed those of her husband.  Unfortunately for her, getting your music published as a woman in the 19th century was quite difficult so a lot (though not all) of her compositions ended up being published under her husband's name and even to this day there is some ambiguity about which pieces are hers.
     Robert Schumann was jealous his whole life of his wife's relationship with the composer Johannes Brahms.  The two were extremely good friends (plus Mrs. Brahms was known to rip Johannes' compositions to pieces if she found flaws in them so I could see why he might need a breath of fresh air...).  I'm also kinda into Brahms because he made this:



and also this:



Stay tuned for death music...