Saturday, December 02, 2006

Notes: Mozart's Requiem

When I first joined my choir in college, Mozart's Requiem was the first major work that we did. I soaked in all the history our director tried to impart to us about the significance of the work and all the many elements that occurred in the music. Initially I was just worried about learning the incredibly difficult music.

So today as I walked and needed release from a disappointing chain of events, the new iPod was dispatched to the Requiem playlist. It's hard to explain why, but the Requiem just hits a place in my soul. Maybe it's the intricacy that is necessary to sing it correctly as it swoops from gentle dolce suono all the way to sweeping power. Maybe it's the dichotomy of complexity and simplicity that is characteristic of all the separate parts working in concert together. It just moves me.

Mozart accomplishes so much in one work. There's a haunting sweetness in the Lacrymosa only moments after he has bowled you over with the rushed energy of Dies Irae. I am too ignorant over the many elements of the work that I am sure countless papers have touched upon. Lisstening to it made me sad that so many are just ignorant to its true beauty just cause they don't understand the words or it doesn't make them dance. Such is life.

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