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.
Tuba Mirum
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
per sepulchra regionum,
coget omnes ante thronum.
Mors stupebit et natura,
cum resurget creatura,
judicanti responsura.
in quo totum continetur,
unde mundus judicetur.
Judex ergo cum sedebit,
quidquid latet apparebit,
nil inultum remanebit.
Quid sum miser tunc dicturus?
quem patronum rogaturus,
cum vix justus sit securus?
The lyrics are from the Latin hymn Tuba Mirum, which translates to "wondrous trumpet." It describes the end of the world, where the trumpet sounds, and the dead rise from their graves to face judgement before God's throne. Death and nature itself will be amazed, and the resurrected will answer to the judge. This day is also called the day of wrath when the world will be judged, and a book containing everyone's deeds will be opened for judgement. On judgement day, everyone, righteous or not, will have to stand before the judge, and there will be no one to plead for the sinner.
Mozart composed Tuba Mirum as part of his Requiem Mass in 1791, a work that he left unfinished at his death. The piece was eventually completed by his student Franz Xaver Süssmayr. The song is dramatic and intense, composed for a choir and orchestra, with a booming brass section that evokes the trumpet mentioned in the lyrics. It is a powerful reflection on life, death, and the final judgement, and remains one of Mozart's most beloved choral works.
Line by Line Meaning
Tuba mirum spargens sonum
A trumpet sounding will spread a remarkable sound
Per sepulchra regionum
Throughout the tombs of the earth
Coget omnes ante thronum.
It will bring everyone before the throne.
Mors stupebit et natura,
Death and nature will be astounded
Cum resurget creatura,
When the creature rises
Judicanti responsura.
To answer to the judge.
Liber scriptus proferetur,
The written book will be brought forth
In quo totum continetur,
In which everything is contained
Unde mundus judicetur.
From which the world will be judged.
Judex ergo cum sedebit,
Therefore when the judge is seated
Quidquid latet apparebit,
Whatever is hidden will be revealed
Nil inultum remanebit.
Nothing will remain unpunished.
Quid sum miser tunc dicturus?
What wretched person shall I then say?
Quem patronum rogaturus,
What patron will I ask
Cum vix justus sit securus?
When scarcely the just man is secure?
Contributed by Juliana M. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@JeniferLohan
Tuba mirum spargens sonum
per sepulcra regionum,
coget omnes ante thronum.
Mors stupebit et natura
cum resurget creatura,
judicanti responsura.
Liber scriptus proferetur,
in quo totum continetur,
unde mundus judicetur.
Judex ergo cum sedebit,
quidquid latet apparebit:
nil inultum remanebit.
Quid sum miser tunc dicturus?
Quem patronum rogaturus,
cum vix justus sit seccurus?
@Delmonaco1969
Tuba mirum spargens sonum
per sepulcra regionum,
coget omnes ante thronum.
Mors stupebit et natura
cum resurget creatura,
judicanti responsura.
Liber scriptus proferetur,
in quo totum continetur,
unde mundus judicetur.
Judex ergo cum sedebit,
quidquid latet apparebit:
nil inultum remanebit.
Quid sum miser tunc dicturus?
Quem patronum rogaturus,
cum vix justus sit seccurus?
@Silverswag-ic4ix
The contrast between the bass and tenor shocked me. The bass was quiet and was in b flat major, while the tenor was loud and in f minor with a modulation to d minor. Superb
@Antony-pp8dg
The tenor part of this gives me shivers... just soooo beautiful!
@janjabaribwegure3688
Im agree with you!
@Equinox1.5
Me too :-) It's also the easiest part for me to sing (as a woman, though it's just as easily in the alto register as the tenor).
@Mrsugarbaby007
@Rose Viola as a woman?? Good luck trying beating Herr. Schreier 😛
@Equinox1.5
@Hassan Moussa I'm not trying to "beat" anybody but as a contralto, I can sing the tenor part with ease. The contralto and tenor registers are not too far apart.
@Mrsugarbaby007
@Rose Viola that I would love to hear🙏🙏 I was only joking, please don't take it seriously 😊🌹🌹
@joshuanye1558
how can anyone unlike this? Mozart take no notice you legendary genius I love you...
@marcor3843
The Verdi fanboys, perhaps?
I mean, I love both Requiems, but some people can take favoritism too far.
@irenashiloh8808
Beautiful vocals - all 4! 👏👌