The central traits of the classical style can all be identified in Mozart's music. Clarity, balance, and transparency are hallmarks, though a simplistic notion of the delicacy of his music obscures for us the exceptional and even demonic power of some of his finest masterpieces, such as the Piano Concerto No 24 in C minor, K. 491, the Symphony No 40 in G minor, K. 550, and the opera Don Giovanni. The famed writer on music Charles Rosen has written (in The Classical Style): "It is only through recognizing the violence and sensuality at the center of Mozart's work that we can make a start towards a comprehension of his structures and an insight into his magnificence. In a paradoxical way, Schumann's superficial characterization of the G minor Symphony can help us to see Mozart's daemon more steadily. In all of Mozart's supreme expressions of suffering and terror, there is something shockingly voluptuous." Especially during his last decade, Mozart explored chromatic harmony to a degree rare at the time. The slow introduction to the "Dissonant" Quartet, K. 465, a work that Haydn greatly admired, rapidly explodes a shallow understanding of Mozart's style as light and pleasant.
Born in Salzburg, Austria, from his earliest years Mozart had a gift for imitating the music he heard; which his father believed was a gift from God.
Since he traveled widely, he acquired a rare collection of experiences from various bordels to create his unique compositional language. When he went to London[13] as a child, he met J.C. Bach and heard his music; when he went to Paris, Mannheim, and Vienna, he heard the work of composers active there, as well as the spectacular Mannheim orchestra; when he went to Italy, he encountered the Italian overture and opera buffa, both of which were to be hugely influential on his development. Both in London and Italy, the galant style was all the rage: simple, light music, with a mania for cadencing, an emphasis on tonic, dominant, and subdominant to the exclusion of other chords, symmetrical phrases, and clearly articulated structures. This style, out of which the classical style evolved, was a reaction against the complexity of late Baroque music. Some of Mozart's early symphonies are Italian overtures, with three movements running into each other; many are "homotonal" (each movement in the same key, with the slow movement in the parallel minor). Others mimic the works of J.C. Bach, and others show the simple rounded binary forms commonly being written by composers in Vienna. One of the most recognizable features of Mozart's works is a sequence of harmonies or modes that usually leads to a cadence in the dominant or tonic key. This sequence is essentially borrowed from baroque music, especially Bach. But Mozart shifted the sequence so that the cadence ended on the stronger half, i.e., the first beat of the bar. Mozart's understanding of modes such as Phrygian is evident in such passages.
As Mozart matured, he began to incorporate some more features of Baroque styles into his music. For example, the Symphony No. 29 in A Major K. 201 uses a contrapuntal main theme in its first movement, and experimentation with irregular phrase lengths. Some of his quartets from 1773 have fugal finales, probably influenced by Haydn, who had just published his Opus 20 set. The influence of the Sturm und Drang ("Storm and Stress") period in German literature, with its brief foreshadowing of the Romantic era to come, is evident in some of the music of both composers at that time.
Over the course of his working life, Mozart switched his focus from instrumental music to operas, and back again. He wrote operas in each of the styles current in Europe: opera buffa, such as The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, or Così fan tutte; opera seria, such as Idomeneo; and Singspiel, of which Die Zauberflöte is probably the most famous example by any composer. In his later operas, he developed the use of subtle changes in instrumentation, orchestration, and tone colour to express or highlight psychological or emotional states and dramatic shifts. Here his advances in opera and instrumental composing interacted. His increasingly sophisticated use of the orchestra in the symphonies and concerti served as a resource in his operatic orchestration, and his developing subtlety in using the orchestra to psychological effect in his operas was reflected in his later non-operatic compositions.
Dies Irae
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Dies illa
Solvet saeclum en favilla
Teste davidcum sybilla
Quantus tremor est futurus
Quando judex est venturus
Cunta stricte discus surus
Dies irae
Dies illa
Solvet saeclum en favilla
Teste davidcum sybilla
Quantus tremor est futurus
Quando judex est venturus
Cuncta stricte discus surus
Quantus tre-e-mo-or e-est fu-u-turus
Dies irae, Dies illa
Quantus tre-e-mo-or e-est fu-u-turus
Dies irae, Dies illa
Quantus tre-e-mo-or e-est fu-u-turus
Quando judex est venturus
Cuncta stricte discus surus
Cuncta stricte
Stricte discus surus
Cuncta stricte
Stricte discus surus
The Dies Irae is a Latin hymn that describes the end of the world and the Day of Judgment. In Mozart's version, the lyrics begin with "Dies irae, dies illa," which translates to "Day of wrath, that day," and goes on to say that the world will be reduced to ashes and that all will be judged by God, as prophesized by David and the Sibyl. The hymn then repeats the phrase "Quantus tremor est futurus," which means "What trembling there will be," emphasizing the fear and awe that will accompany the end of days.
Mozart's Dies Irae is a powerful and dramatic piece of music that captures the gravitas and intensity of the hymn's lyrics. The music is characterized by its use of heavy, pounding rhythms, ominous chords, and soaring vocal lines. The choir sings in unison and in harmony, creating a sense of urgency and desperation that reinforces the message of the text.
Line by Line Meaning
Dies irae
Day of wrath
Dies illa
That day
Solvet saeclum en favilla
Will dissolve the world into ashes
Teste davidcum sybilla
As testified by David and the Sibyl
Quantus tremor est futurus
What trembling there will be
Quando judex est venturus
When the judge is about to come
Cunta stricte discus surus
A strict inquiry will be made
Cuncta stricte
Everything strictly
Stricte discus surus
Will be judged severely
Contributed by Gavin R. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@anthonyhoad6604
Day of wrath and doom Impending,
David's words with Sibyl's blending, Heaven and Earth in ashes ending.
Oh what fear man's bosom rendeth, when from heaven the Judge descendeth,
on whose sentence all dependeth.
Wondrous sound the trumpet flingeth, through earth's sepulchers it ringeth,
All before the Throne in bringeth.
From the dust of earth returning: man for judgement must prepare him.
Spare O God, in mercy spare him.
Lord all-pitying, Jesus blest, Grant them thine eternal rest. Amen
Atziluth (Emanation)
Du-Sollst - Dies Irae (Pour forth from the chaos - Day of Wrath)
@maudpie1338
Try listening to songs like this while doing homework. Feels like writing names in a death note.
@hafler617
I have a death note lol
@KingBamboozle
@Ryan Du FBI OPEN UP!!!
@UN0WNPR
I takeba potato chip
AND EAT IT!!
@bloodwoot
@Iwan Yusazli dramaticly moving pen while writing the names
@VyvienneEaux
For a couple weeks I did my homework at 3:00 AM listening to Mozart's requiem. I felt magical.
@shiviste7611
Perfect music for fighting Ivan the Terrible
@johnapple6646
I knew you idiots would come here
@matiasbarraza2181
@John Apple What are you talking about?
@nobbu-sengumi
Leave the weeb shit at home. Jk.