Notes to Carnegie Choir April 2, 2025

Notes from Dr Hoffmann for Carnegie 04/02/25

Mozart wrote in a letter in 1790: "I now stand at the gateway to my fortune.” He was, finally, after many professional obstacles and struggles and pettiness, at the apex of his career; he seemed creatively unstoppable, and thus how deeply poignant that he died one year later, in the middle of writing his Requiem.

Requiem Aeternam

Mm 15-16 “et lux perpetua” legato, not non-legato

Mm 47-48 “luceat | eis” break between at and e- and wait for me after “lucaet” so we place the first chord and syllable of 48.

Kyrie

To keep choir and orchestra together: watch, watch, watch the stickif you sing from hearing, the choir gets later and later, and eventually comes apart from the orchestra.

I subdivide 4 mm before the end” Mm 49, 50, 51. The subdivision in 49 is going to initiate the slowing down. So the choir following the stick here is essential. There’s only one leader…and it ain;’ the choir.

Notice that most of the Kyrie entries are in minor modes. But, when the sopranos are late and sweet!!! (mm 16 and 27, they are in major mode, so these entries should have a more dolce character than their minor counterparts.

Yes, it’s a double fugue, and the structure is robust, but still the character contrasts can an should be evident.

After all, Mozart was an opera composer, and he captured all the vagaries of human nature in his operatic music.

Dies Irae

Don’t be put off your stride by seeing trumpet and timp cues that overlap the ends of choral phrases.

Forget about tapered endings and just go for the drama.

“Dies” always cresc to “irae” or “illa” mm 1-2, 3-4, 22-23, 24-25, 42-43, 43-44,45-46, 47-48.

Simile “cuncta stricte” 57-58, 58-59, 61-62, 62-63.

“Rus” m 65 sing as eighth and get out of the way of the strings who are going hell for leather. And while they are, the choir stands bug-eyed, scared out of your wits!

“Quantus” m 31 and m 34 big swell.

Lots of forward momentum.

Mm 10 and 11, mm 13 and 14: bring forward the tenor “quantus” and “quando”

For the solo movements— Tuba Mirum, Recordare, and the Benedictus up to Osanna,— paper clip the solo pages together. Put your full focus on the conductor. If you can’t bear to look, then glaze your gaze. But make the figure of the conductor your focus, so that not only do you do nothing to distract from the music, but you participate in it —because you onstage— by helping to direct the audience’s focus to the music.

Rex Tremendae

The music is tremendae only when every singer is watching.

Mm 12-15 is a magical, poignant moment. It’s also a triple canon. So, be sure sure sure of your entries, because it’s impossible for the conductor to cue each one and then luxuriate in the poignancy.

“Salva me” mm 18 and 19. Have the vowel in your mouth on the breath intake. Then tap in the “s”. We are asking here to be saved. Saved from, among other things, going out of tune on the 3-note descents. No vibrato, sotto voce, head voice. Mingy intervals going down.

Confutatis

Like Rex, only effective when the mass that is the choir is looking as one.

Mm7 et foll: S& A “Voca me” sopranos modify vowels. At all costs, in tune, soft as possible but also cresc to ben-ne_DIC-tus.

Mm 17-24. “Voca me” Similar to the previous “salva me but here extended in melodic interest. The dueting brought forward; Emphasize the opening “Vo” like call and response betw S and A.

M 24: diminuendo, ritardando, as if you and the music are just giving out.

Mm 26, 30, 34: Bass entries in tune, together, and as soft as possible. We are on our knees, contrite. It’s quite an image and it’s right in the music. Move not an eyelash in the last 2 mm of the confu and the first 2 of the Lacry.

Lacryrmosa

Please be aware, Virginians, that the orchestration we are using at Carnegie is different from that used at your VT concert.

The final amen should be such a climax ( I don’t mean just loud, but also so emotion-laden) that an uninformed audience will think the piece is over after the LACRY.

Domine Jesu

Another movement to sing watching like hawks so that the choir and orchestra stay together.

“tartarus” is where we will all be unless this is rhythmically tight, but also buoyant, with a nice oomph on “tartarus”.

At beginning of quartet solos, turn ahead to Quam olim and be ready to get out of the gate.

Always syllable emphasis on first syllable of “A-bra-hae.” Last syllable, “ae’ is “eh” with no diphthong, no ay, not a sniff of ay.

M 65-71 (1) “et Semini”. You see the piano marking. Complete change of mood. All the masculine, chug chugging of the Quam ollim Abrahae has evaporated into something wholly different: now dolce, tender, lyrical, and altogether yummy.

Similarly the last 4 measures.

Hostias

Contrast in dynamics. More than any other movement, the dynamic contrasts are dramatic. They tell the story. And with each dynamic, there is a timber.

M 46 is the quietest moment of the movement.

M 53 is a gorgeous orchestral unwind, and the music comes to a most interior place to pause for a moment.

Before Quam Olim bursts forth once more, with all the confidence, assurance and striding forth that says robust and legacy.

Sanctus

Full of confidence.

Osanna

Party time! Fun and bubbly. Champagne uncorked. Light. Effervescent.

Always always the word is O-SA-nna, with the emphasis on the SA, not on the higher therefore sticky-outy NA. Put your zip into the ZA!

Just for kicks, I will subdivide the penultimate measure so that means a slight pull up in tempo. Watch so that your “sis” doesn’t SSSneak in early and spoil the party.

Benedictus

Don’t you. Wish this was a choir movement? Why, because the only text is “Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domine” Anyway, you can stare ahead, green with envy, and enjoy the soloists. But remember, you are onstage, so the way you convey your involvement and enjoyment is seen by the audience and should contain both subtlety and intensity. It’s not a fakey thing. It’s the other part of performing. During these 53 measures, yes, 53!! Stay on the alert so that you are alert for the next PARTY! Osanna, in a new key, with new entries, and fewer measures overall!

Agnus Dei

Just look at the poignancy in this Agnus by Zurbaran! Don’t you want to cry? That’s what the choir does in this movement.

Against tumultuous string scales in the violins, and chugging heartbeats in the lower strings, the choir cries out. Choir: stay forte even when the strings shift to piano.

Mm 9-10. The music has come to standstill on 9(3). I want to extend that drama and wait before the string basses and the vocal basses enter at m 10 with a plea “dona…” And my most urgent plea, basses, is that you hear the pitch, sing in time and in tune and in ensemble, and that the descent to the “do-na” is one of a careful mountaineer. No reckless dives for that bottom A.

Similarly, we’ll extend the rest m 24 (3) before the sops enter with their “dona” mm 24-25. No delay possible in M 4; here we go straight through in tempo. But not without extraordinarily hushed intensity.

Oh, yes, “pe-KKKA-ta mundi” the sins of the world. How much kick can you muster in your KKK? So that the sting of the sins is heard.

M 45 is the most wow chord of the whole piece! As you sing this “em” of requiem.

The crescendo we make mm48-end should blow the audience out of their seats. Not overly loud, but overly dramatic. Except there ain’t such a thing. So…dramatic!

Lux Aeterna

You have 7 measures to come out of your Agnus Dei reverie, so come out slowly.

But be ready ready steady for m 8 “Lux ae-ter-na” because you have to sing one eighth earlier than you did in first movement “exaudi”: you have four notes “lux ae-ter-na” instead of three “ex-au-di” so please be ready early, and, if I forget to cue you early, please just sing right smack on the second beat.

Cum Sanctis

All the same concerns as the Kyrie, except more. We are tired. We are near the end. But we have new words and some new rhythms. Stay sassy to the last.

I mentioned earlier Mozart was he consummate opera composer, and in 1791 his having just written and premiered two monumental operas, Magic Flute and the Abduction of the Seraglio, when he was writing the Requiem: The Requiem too is operatic; it is expressive, and human, and filled with moods and feelings, and hopes and fears. It is those we want to uncover in the music, for ourselves, and for our audience.

Post Amble

It is not easy to know the music so well that every singer is looking at the conductor’s cues for every entrance of their part, for every cut-off, and for every phrase shape. But that is the ideal, isn’t it? So, singers, even though you have just given a wonderful performance, continue to practice the Requiem. You all know the music well enough. I ask that you Sspend the next two months of your own practicing concentrating on this presentation-performance aspect. This way of performing won’t happen in two rehearsals in NY if singers have not worked on this on their own, beforehand. You will just think I am over -demanding and unrealistic and cranky, and you won’t know what to do to placate me! But, if you focus on your own, on these three things—entrance, cut-off, high point for every phrase—in your prep for Carnegie, the music will reveal itself more and more, and you will live in it more and more fully. And you will give a different tenure of performance.

Consider where you are looking when you sing and how this affects your sound. Also, perhaps you know of the Mehrabian research that says the expression with which one says (sings) something affects the listener more than the meaning of the words. Perhaps you know about Tolstoy’s emotional contagion, which is what we’d like to do to the audience. Singers are method actors. Actors are not fake. They embody a character. Singers can also.

These three seemingly simple points—am I looking up for my entrance, for the phrase direction, for the cut-off— need buy-in and a specific, dedicated, focus. We work on this in my choir, Viva la Musica, over and over, 20 years-worth of working… Some singers can and do easily; some can’t so easily. But all strive for the polish and poise this kind of practice yields.

We have a wonderful opportunity together to cultivate this polish and poise, AND commitment to the music, to Mozart, to the audience, to the occasion, to the magic of the transformative power of the moment when everyone is single pointed. It is not fake. It is a thing to embrace to lift the performance out of its socks!

If you have performed or listened to recordings of completions other than Sussmayr's

Be aware that the orchestral writing is different in every completion. The Beyer orchestration is most like Sussmayr's but there are small differences. It's good for choristers to know the Sussmayr orchestration, so that when they hear it onstage at Carnegie, they are expecting it. Otherwise even small differences, for instance in the trumpet and timpani entrances, can throw one off!

Watch this performance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbuRRPbKUew

Claudio Abbado and the Lucerne Festival Choir and Orchestra. The choir is stunningly attentive. As is the orchestra. And the intensity is so affective!

If you have questions or concerns, if anything I have written here is not clear, please feel free to reach out to me.

I look forward to Mozart Requiem with you, both rehearsing and performing!

It will be my privilege and a pleasure to make music with you all.

I am all yours and Mozart’s,

And I give you my most musical self,

Shulamit