Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-01-22
NEWS OF MUSIC
By DAY THORPE


In q stroke of brilliantly
imaginative programming, the
National Symphony is present.
ing both the Mozart Requiem
and the Rossini Stabat Mater
in Constitution Hall this
afternoon at 8 pm. Soloists
for the two works are Adele
Addison. soprano; Mildred
Miller. alto; David Lloyd.
tenor. and Kenneth Smith.
bass. Sung by the Cathedral
Choral Society. the works will
be conducted by Paul Gala
way.
Each Of the two numbers
is q masterpiece of sacred
writing, each by q composer
many Of whose works are for
the church, and each in a
style which bears the stamp
Of the primary lifework of
both Mozart and Rossini---
music for the stage. A perfect
command of vocal writing and
a deep. almost instructive.
feeling for the religious i'm
plications of the two texts
are. however, the only con-
spicuous attributes common
to the Requiem and the Stabat
Mater.
Finished by Mozart Pupil
The Requiem is Mozart's
last work. composed on his
deathbed and finished by his
pupil Sussmayer.
Scholars. aided by Mozart's
widow. have determined mot
with unfailing unanimity)
what movements are entirely
by Mozart. entirely by Suss-
mayer, and Jointly produced
by the two.
The listener is never con-
scious of seams or the presence
OF two styles, and, judging by
ear alone, concludes either
that Sussmayer was a man of
uncommon genius whose origi-
nal music has been lost or
brushed aside by a .curiously
uninterested posterity. or that
Mozart's sketches were fuller
and his instructions more
explicit than scholarship
knows Of.
No Evidence of Premonition
The Requiem was written
on commission of one Count
Walsegg. who wanted a piece
he could conduct and of which
he could claim authorship.
That Mozart thought of the
anonymous counts emissary,
who delivered the commission
for a Mass for the dead, as a
foretelling of his own death,
which he knew was imminent,
Is a popular story. but one for
the truth of which there is no
evidence.
When early in his career
Mozart broke with the tenn
poral authority of the church
in the person of the Archbish-
op Of Salzburg, he gave up
writing church music-which
until then had made up q
large part Of his output-until
the last weeks of his life. He
Joined the Freemasons, for
whom he wrote many works
which can be taken as an ex-
ression of his beliefs and as
his recognition of his spiritual
moorings.
These formal pieces culmi-
mated, of course, in the opera
ode Zauberflote." the spiri-
ituality Of which is seldom
denied, and whose universally
is attested by the many inter-
pretations it has received.
ut is very interesting to
note that while the libretto of
die Zauberflote" is often dis
paraged as trivial and con-
fused, 1t has received the care
full attention of one of today's
leading poets, w. H. Auden,
whose excellent translation
was heard on TV last Sunday.
Mr.. Auden's interest in the
work may have been solely the
result of the National Broad
casting Company's money, but
Goethe was outspoken and
unprecedented In his praise of
the text, and even wrote a Sc
quel to it,
Similar Style, Appeal
The Requiem, one Of
Mozart's most profound and
spiritual works, shows a re-
markable similarity of style
TO die Zauber1ote."
Both works have a poig-
nancy, a disturbed and shad-
owy tenuousness, an uncanny
directness and simplicity, and
o sure emotional appeal that
] can find in no other music
whatever except in o few