Mozart Requiem: Confutatis (Maunder Edition)

Mozart’s Requiem is just an amazing work. There are so many movements I love in this work, but one song that really stands out to me in this whole work is “Confutatis.” I think one huge reason why it just stands out is because of it’s placement in the requiem, and also the dramatic melodic variations. It follows a quartet (recordare), and comes before Lacrymosa, which is intense, but more of an intense whisper. Confutatis is a full out battle scene. The tension and echo effect between the bass and tenor parts really give the image of a war between the two with much intensity. The orchestral part is playing scalar motion for the most part. Certain instruments in the orchestra are playing block chords on the weak beats. Also a lot of the vocal lines start on the weak beats giving the intro a sense of not really confusion, but definitely adding to the force of the line. Because of the line not starting on the strong beat, the singer must be aware and know how to stress the right beat

This movement then moves into what I like to think of as a fuzzy dream sequence. It only last a few short measure before the battle scene come back into play, but this is where the women of the choir enter for the first time. It is the exact opposite melody compared to the men’s. The bass and tenor parts contain many jumps and isn’t legato. The alto and soprano parts basically stay on one note, and are extremely connected as a phrase. This song sends your emotions into a tornado, throwing you back and forth.

In this song these two main sections are repeated with extension of new development, so it goes….war/dream/war/dream. From here is goes into a section that includes all voice parts. It is definitely a terminative function. Everything seems to have slowed down, but the tension and a feeling of aftermath of the battle still linger. The orchestra has a very staccato rhythm with dissonance to really cause more tension. The vocal parts have sustained notes to form very emotional chord progressions. For me, I can see the bodies laying in the open war field, and the smoke still coming out of the gun barrel. It’s a very trance like, then Mozart or Maunder decided that it should end with major chords in the last measure….interesting…