Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a well-known name in the classical music world, is easily one of the top composers to ever have lived. In modern music, light is particularly shed on his Requiem Mass in D Minor, composed in 1791. I'm here to discuss one movement from this requiem: the Lacrimosa.
Okay, so I promise not to bore you with all the musical details of this piece, I'll just give you the general information for now. The word "Lacrimosa" (can be spelled Lacrymosa) is Latin for "with tears of" or "having wept". Mozart's requiem is an arrangement of music having to do with death. In order for you to understand the true eeriness and powerfulness of this song, I'm going to post a video of it.
Hopefully you enjoyed that morbid piece of classical music. What I find most interesting about this piece is that it's about death, and ironically this was the last piece that Mozart ever wrote before he died. Perhaps he saw it coming?
A modified version of this piece was sung by "Evanescence" from the album The Open Door. I find this version even more haunting than the original because it's blended with a new melody that adds a modern twist to the madness. Here's a video of that version:
Alas, we've gotten to the part where I become acquainted with this song. It all began in January 2011, at Virterbo University in La Crosse, Wisconsin. I was at a show choir competition and I took my seat to watch Linn Mar's varsity show choir, "10th Street Edition". They opened their show with this piece, and I was completely mesmerized by it. Here's a video of that performance:
Fortunately, our band director was also at this show choir competition, and she too saw this song performed so well. She was so fascinated by it that she decided to have it arranged this year for our marching band to perform.
Okay, so I know what you're thinking, this is crazy. This song went from classical to hard rock to show choir and now to MARCHING BAND? What?!
The only way to describe it is that there's nothing better than standing up on my podium, listening to the band play this piece, and thinking to myself, "Laaaaaaacrymooooosaaa" as the music corresponds. When I listen to it, I think back to January at the show choir competition, where I first heard it sung by outstanding performers. Sometimes I even wish that I, too, could play this music, instead of just conducting it. The song has such a cold, mysterious feel that's very fitting to chilly marching band nights. It always leaves me walking off the field feeling as if I've done my duty by exposing the rest of the world (or the audience, at least) to this timeless epic.
The Lacrimosa has survived for more than two centuries now, and there's no doubt that it will survive for many more. The fact that it's still being performed and modified today allows us to conlude that Mozart was a pure genius. What could be more legitimate?
I like it =D
ReplyDeleteI'm being awful nitpicky here, but you forgot to mention that Mozart never finished it, and only wrote 8 bars of lacrimosa before he died.
ReplyDeleteYes, you have a point. It was later completed by Sussmayr, though he used much of what Mozart had already written to finish the piece.
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