He began his task by filling in the instrumentation in Mozart's manuscript as far as the Confutatis, THE REQUIEM. and writing two bars of a continuation of the Lacrimosa,[ 3 ] but he then abandoned the work in despair. Other musicians seem to have declined it after him until it finally fell to the lot of Süssmayr. He had been Mozart's pupil in composition, had lent a hand in "Titus" (p. 288), and had often gone over the parts of the Requiem already composed with Mozart, who had consulted him as to the working-out of the composition and the principal points of the instrumentation. The widow, at a later time, said to Stadler:
As Mozart grew weaker Süssmayr had often to sing through with him and me what had been written, and thus received regular instruction from Mozart. I seem to hear Mozart saying, as he often did: "Ah, the oxen are on the hill again! You have not, mastered that yet, by a long way."[ 4 ]
This expression was also well remembered by her sister Sophie, and we can enter into it, remembering the manner in which Mozart himself wrote and developed his compositions (Vol. II., p. 423).
The first two movements, Requiem and Kyrie, were finished and written out in full score by Mozart; there can be no question about them.[ 5 ] The Dies iræ was sketched out in his usual way, the voice parts completely written out, together with the fundamental bass—sometimes figured—and the instrumental parts where they had to go without the voices; where the accompaniment was at all independent the subject was indicated sufficiently clearly to be carried on and filled in subsequently. The score was left in this state as far as the last verse of the Dies iræ; Mozart stopped at the words:—
Qua resurget ex favilla
Iudicandus homo reus.
He had not set himself, however, to compose the Requiem straight through, but had thrown off different parts of it according to the mood he happened to be in. Thus before the Dies iræ was finished he had composed the Offertorium, of which the two movements, Domine Jesu Christe and Hostias, were left virtually complete in the same state as those mentioned above.
It will now be understood how Mozart, going through the score, either at the piano or the desk with his pupil Süssmayr, would discuss the various points of the instrumentation, would encourage him to make suggestions, and explain his own ideas and intentions, so that Süssmayr would in many respects have formed a lively image in his mind of what the completed score would be, and would often be able faithfully to reproduce Mozart's own intentions. Of the remaining movements, Sanctus, Benedictus, and Agnus Dei, there were no such sketches in existence.
Süssmayer's first care was to copy out all that Mozart had left imperfect, "that there might not be two handwritings together," as the widow wrote to André (Càcilia, VI., p. 202)—she must have had Eybler's promised completion in her mind—and then to fill in the instrumentation according to Mozart's apparent design. Pages 11-32 of Mozart's original manuscript, containing the Dies iræ as far as the Confutatis, fell into the hands of the Abbé Stadler, and were by him bequeathed to the Imperial Library in Vienna. The remaining sheets (33-45) containing the Lacrimosa, Domine, and Hostias, belonged to Eybler, who presented them to the same library. That Mozart had contemplated carrying them out, and uniting them into one score with the Requiem and Kyrie is proved by the continuous numbering of the pages in his own handwriting; there is no instance to be found of his having recopied a score so sketched out when filling it in.[ 6 ]
