Born in Salzburg, then in the Holy Roman Empire and currently in Austria, Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty. His father took him on a grand tour of Europe and then three trips to Italy. At 17, he was a musician at the Salzburg court but grew restless and traveled in search of a better position.
While visiting Vienna in 1781, Mozart was dismissed from his Salzburg position. He stayed in Vienna, where he achieved fame but little financial security. During his final years there, he composed many of his best-known symphonies, concertos, and operas. His Requiem was largely unfinished by the time of his death at the age of 35, the circumstances of which are uncertain and much mythologized.
Requiem in D Minor K.626: 4. Offertorium: Hostias
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Lyrics
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Laudis offerimus:
Tu suscipe pro animabus illis,
Quarum hodie memoriam facimus:
Fac eas, Domine, de morte transire ad vitam,
Quam olim Abrahae promisisti
Et semini ejus.
The lyrics to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's song Requiem in D Minor K.626: 4. Offertorium: Hostias are sung in Latin, which was a common language for liturgical music during Mozart's time. This song is a part of the Requiem Mass, which is a Catholic Mass for the dead. It is composed of multiple sections or movements, of which Hostias is the fourth.
The lyrics of Hostias are a prayerful offering of thanks to the Lord. The singers offer the Lord sacrifices and prayers and ask him to receive them on behalf of those whose memories they honor that day. They pray that the Lord will grant them passage from death to life, as he once promised Abraham and his descendants.
Mozart's setting of these lyrics is powerful and dramatic, with swelling choral harmonies that emphasize the solemnity of the occasion. The music is in D minor, a key that was often associated with mourning and lamentation. The tempo is slow and deliberate, with long, mournful phrases that build in intensity and then recede.
Overall, the lyrics of Hostias are a demonstration of faith and hope in the Lord's promise of eternal life. Through song and prayer, the singers offer their devotion and their pleas for the souls of the departed.
Line by Line Meaning
Hostias et preces, tibi, Domine,
We offer sacrifice and prayers to you, Lord,
Laudis offerimus:
We offer you praise:
Tu suscipe pro animabus illis,
Accept them on behalf of those souls,
Quarum hodie memoriam facimus:
Whose memory we celebrate today:
Fac eas, Domine, de morte transire ad vitam,
Grant them, Lord, to pass from death to life,
Quam olim Abrahae promisisti
As you once promised to Abraham
Contributed by Allison A. Suggest a correction in the comments below.