Choreography: Birgit Scherzer

Conception: Birgit Scherzer aided by Sven Grützmacher

Assistant to the Choreographer: Sven Grützmacher

Dramaturgy: Matthias Kaiser

Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Set & Costume Design: Brigitte Benner

Lighting Recreated by: John Bohuslawsky and Judy Barto

These notes compiled by Gerard Charles, BalletMet Columbus, September 1998

When Birgit Scherzer was approached by the Saarländisches Staatstheater, Saarbrücken, in 1991, to create her first work for that company as its artistic director she thought she would like to choreograph to Mozart’s Requiem. It was music she had been considering for some time and, being the 200th anniversary of Mozart’s death, the timing seemed opportune. However, in reaction to the similarity of the many dance works that had been staged in 1991 using Mozart’s Requiem, Ms. Scherzer did not seek to merely create a dance using the Requiem as a soundtrack. Neither did she want to create a dance that was a biography of Mozart. What she has made is a powerful and theatrical dance piece that explores the relationship of man to death, death’s presence in the world and its inescapable power over all of us. The success that greeted her Requiem!! has assured its place as Ms. Scherzer’s signature piece. BalletMet is the first North American company to present this work.

Requiem!! is danced in three parts without intermission. The first part shows the different ways man relates to death and also its ultimate hold over us. Part two is lighter and more playful. The third part shows modern man and how society can "kill" him.

Two characters are seen throughout the work, "M" and Death. Both literally in the staging of the work, and metaphorically, Death is always present but in different ways. Sometimes he is close at hand and active, at others he is in the distance.

In reading accounts of Mozart’s life Ms. Scherzer realized that each author had a differing descriptions of Mozart the man. She found it impossible to combine this variety of attributes in one dancer so decided to create 3 views of Mozart. "M" also represents man in each section. "M" always dies at the end of each part of the ballet. In the first section "M" is reflective of the general character of man who, not unlike Mozart, dies quickly at a young age. In the second part "M" is the young Mozart; we see him with his parents and two women in his life. In the third part "M" is modern man of today. In all his incarnations "M" displays some aspects of Mozart’s character, but it is only in the second part that it is truly a biographical representation of Mozart’s life. In the third part a suitcase is very evident, a symbol of being on a journey, of not being at home, of impermanence. Mozart was always moving from place to place, either on the great tours his father arranged or later in his life when he had outstayed his welcome with landlords. Thus the suitcase can be a connection between Mozart and man today who, due to mobility, is often very removed from his roots. This aspect of not being at home is taken a step further in the M3 is shunned by the group, he never becomes part of it. The Maiden tries to support him but her resolution fails at the crucial moment leaving M3 alone. He seeks out Death as an escape from this life.

The third section also features a couple that Ms. Scherzer sees as the polar opposite of Death. They are not a literal human couple but represent the vibrancy of and ideal life. They play a game of chess with Death for the life of M3. Death, of course, prevails. At the end of the work this couple are suspended from the ropes in replication of some stone angels that hang in a church in Germany.

The work is full of symbolism that underscores the basic theme of the work: death’s presence in the world and its inescapable power over all of us. The audience is invited to interpret these signs as they wish. For instance the black umbrellas originate in the fact that it was snowing when Mozart died and so people were seen with umbrellas. (Snow is also denotes winter when nature is dead). Black is a funereal color, however, the umbrellas can also be viewed in a more generally sheltering or reassuring way.

The set itself is a monochrome room into which you may enter easily, or be pushed, but from which there is no escape. It can be seen as representing life; we are all born into this place and must continue on with the life we are given, the only way out being death. The set opens up into the audience and thereby draws the spectators into this world as well. We see a group of dancers in colored clothes. Dark coats descend from above which the dancers put on like death coats. Death gives the rhythm of a dance into which all join in. Look also for the many signs of power in the dance; in movements, the relative placement of people on the stage and, various props. The oversized coat is one such prop. It is stiff and rigid, much like Mozart’s authoritarian father.

Shoes are seen throughout the work, they represent not only themselves and their symbolism to Ms Scherzer of being a very personal item and one of the last things you give up before death but also as flowers being placed at a graveside or the piles of personal belongings as seen in the concentration camps.

Ms. Scherzer and her associates have rearranged the music both for dramatic effect and practicality. At forty-five minutes, the Requiem is not long enough, as written, to accompany a full length ballet. The rearrangement also underlines that this is not just another interpretation of Mozart’s music in dance, but a work of its own value. When Mozart composed his Requiem he did not work in a methodical order from beginning to end. Requiem!! begins with a fragment of Mozart’s music, the first eight bars of the Lacrimosa, which is seemingly the last music Mozart wrote before he died. The Amen is not a traditional component of the Requiem as it was discovered comparatively recently as a sixteen bar fragment, but it clearly belongs to the work being an inversion of earlier material in the Requiem.

In the 3rd section of Requiem!! Ms. Scherzer has chosen to use only music that she believes to be the least altered by subsequent composers and thus the most true to Mozart.

Ms. Scherzer’s ordering of the music is as follows. The titles of the three sections have retained their German language titles as literal translations do not reflect the alliteration and play on words of the German. In rough translation Part 1 is various forms of the word "death", Part 2 is ‘reflecting back’ and Part 3 is ‘threats to life.’

PART 1

Lacrimosa -Fragment

Confutatis

Recordare

Rex tremendae

Tuba mirum

Dies irae

Kyrie

Requiem

PART 2

Lacrimosa-Fragment

Amen

Domine Jesu Christi

Quam olim abrahae

Hostias

Quam olim abrahae

Agnus dei

PART 3

Requiem

Kyrie

Dies irae

Tuba mirum

Rex tremendae

Recordare

Confutatis

Lacrimosa

Mozart’s Requiem was commissioned in 1791, anonymously by Count F. von Walsegg, as he wished to pass the work off as his own. It was to be written in memory of his wife. Mozart deferred work on the composition in order to compose La clemenza di Tito for Leopold II’s coronation as King of Bohemia and also to complete Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) which he had begun earlier in 1791.

Quite a legend has built up around the Requiem and its writing. A familiar version is that a somber stranger clad entirely in gray announced that he had been sent to ask Mozart to compose a requiem mass. He asked what the fee would be and how long it would take to complete. Already mortally ill, Mozart took the gray messenger to be an emissary from the world beyond and, believing he would be composing the Requiem for himself, set to work feverishly giving his faithful pupil Süssmayr full instructions on how to complete it if he had to leave the work unfinished. There remain many questions as to what really happened, and there is a healthy debate today among musical scholars as to Mozart’s "true" intentions for completion of the work.

Count von Walsegg did send a messenger dressed in gray to order the Requiem from Mozart . Far from being desperately ill at the time of receiving the commission, Mozart was in good spirits. A letter he wrote to his wife Constanze in Baden after the premiere of The Magic Flute in Vienna shows him in a very mischievous and happy state following the success of the opera. Mozart’s letters also show that Süssmayr was out of Vienna for several periods at this time and was not a favored pupil. Ironically it seems that Süssmayr probably received more instruction from Antonio Salieri. Mozart became ill only two weeks before his death and from his writings it appears he had no fear of it being a fatal illness. Süssmayr was, however, in attendance at Mozart’s bedside a few hours before he died, whether by coincidence or summoned is not known. It appears that Mozart sang several of the portions of the Requiem to Constanze, Süssmayr and others who were there close to his death. Constanze’s sister Sophie wrote "Süssmayr was by Mozart’s bedside. The well-known Requiem lay on the cover, and Mozart was explaining to him how in his opinion he should complete it after his death." This is probably the origin of the legend.

It seems that Mozart’s widow Constanze was eager to have the Requiem completed for financial reasons and in some secrecy so that she could present it as her husband’s final effort. She turned first to Joseph Eybler, a favored student of Mozart’s, who made a formal undertaking to complete the score by the spring of 1792. It is stated that he found the work took more time than he had thought and so returned the score, with some extensive filling in, to Constanze. According to Eva Badura-Skoda, Wybler’s actual reason for giving up at the point where Mozart left off - a few bars into the Lacrimosa - was a sense of respect and awe at adding any invention of his own to Mozart’s incomparable inspiration. Constanze approached several other composers before turning to Süssmayr who was assisted by another of Mozart’s pupils, Freystädtler, in completing the Kyrie fugue. How much detailed instruction did Mozart leave Süssmayr, and how much did he make up independently? The picture is clouded by Süssmayr’s apparent attempts to pass some music off completely as his own invention, when it clearly is of Mozartian origin, and other passages that he claims were of Mozart’s design but are seemingly not so.

In a final analysis, it is mostly for the experts to argue over details. The Requiem is a powerful piece of music that has stood the test of time. The mystique surrounding its composition and Mozart’s death merely have added to its fame. The first performance was arranged by Gottfried van Swieten as a benefit for Constanze. It took place January 2, 1793, preceding von Walsegg’s performance of it on December 14 that same year.

A Requiem is a Roman Catholic mass for the dead beginning "Requiem aeternam" (rest eternal). The text follows that of a regular mass with the Gloria and the Credo omitted and Dies Irae added. The order of the Mozart Requiem is: Requiem-Kyrie, Dies irae, Tuba mirum, Rex tremendae, Recordare, Confutatis, Lacrimosa, Domine Jesu, Hostias, Sanctus, Benedictus, Agnus Dei, in keeping with the practices of the day.

Choreographer: Gigi Gheorghe Caciuleanu

Music: John Lennon (Imagine) Angelo Branduardi & Mozart’s Requiem (excerpts)

First performance: Theatre Choreographique, Rennes, France. October 20, 1982

Choreographer: Edward Stierle

Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Requiem excerpts)

Costumes: Rosemarie Worton after Jennifer Irwin

First performance: Joffrey Ballet II, Aurora, Illinois, October 14, 1988. Later taken into repertoire of Joffrey Ballet (1990)

Choreographer: Miko Sparemblek

Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

First performance: Croatian National Ballet, Zagreb, 1990

Choreographer: Rosemary Helliwell

Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Scenery & Costumes: Marcel Zaba

First performance: Mannheim Nationaltheater, March 30, 1991

Choreographer: Irina Pauls

Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Excerpts of Requiem, The Magic Flute, & Don Giovanni)

Scenery : Edwin Bode

Costumes: Marlis Knoblauch

First performance: Leipzig, Neue Szene, April 18, 1991

Choreographer: John Neumeier

Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart & Gregorian chants

First performance: Hamburg Ballet and the Vienna Boys Choir, Salzburg Festival, July 26, 1991

Choreographer: Boris Eifman

Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

First performance: St. Petersburg Ballet Theatre, August 21, 1991

Choreographer: Alain Germain

Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

First performance: Compagnie Alain Germain, Vichy, September 14, 1991

Choreographer: Rui Horta

Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Excerpts from Requiem and The Magic Flute)

First performance: S.O.A.P. Dance Theatre, The Place, London, 1991

Choreographer: Bernd Bienert

Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Costumes: Keso Dekker

First performance: Zurich Ballet, 1991.

Choreographer: Gray Veredon

Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Various)

Scenery: Eric Ulfer

First performance: Royal New Zealand Ballet, Brisbane, September 1992

Choreographer: Jean-Paul Comelin

Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

First performance: Ballet du Nord, Roubaix, France, May 1993

Choreographer: Lisa Kent

Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Costumes: Maxi Tschunko

First performance: Schloss Schonbrunn, Vienna, July 13, 1993

Choreography & Direction: Richard Allen & Karen Pearlman

Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Requiem)

Costumes: Brian Humphrey

First performance: Sydney Sidetrack Theatre, July 14, 1993

Choreographer: Jochen Ulrich

Music: Johannes G. Fritsche

Scenery: John MacFarlane

First performance: Kolner Tanz-Forum, Cologne, February 2, 1976. Based on the life of Che Guevara.

Choreographer: Kenneth MacMillan

Music: Gabriel Fauré

Scenery: Yolanda Sonnabend

First performance: Stuttgart Ballet, November 28, 1976

Choreographer: Kenneth MacMillan

Music: Andrew Lloyd Weber

Scenery & Costumes: Yolanda Sonnabend

First performance: American Ballet Theatre, Chicago, February 7, 1986

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg 1756 and baptized Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, (Theophilus and Amadeus both mean "beloved of God"). He was the son of Leopold Mozart, who was Vice-Kapellmeister to Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg. He showed exceptional musical precocity playing the klavier at three and composing at five. He also possessed perfect pitch and could write down music with just one hearing.

His sister Maria Anna (Nannerl) was also a brilliant keyboard player, and in 1762 Leopold decided to present his children’s talents at various European courts. During this tour Wolfgang taught himself to play the violin, took composition classes with J.C. Bach and Abel in London, composed his first three symphonies in 1764, and proposed marriage to Marie Antoinette. She turned him down.

The family returned to Salzburg in 1766, and by 1768 he had composed two operas, La finita semplice and Bastien und Bastienne. On further trips to Italy he was acclaimed and studied with well known composers. At fourteen he heard Allegri’s Miserere at the Sistine Chapel and wrote down the score after one hearing. Mendelssohn did the same thing seventy years later, when he was twenty one. In 1770 his opera Mitridate, Ré di Ponto was successfully produced in Milan.

When his father became too ill to travel, his mother accompanied him on a tour of German states that led to Paris where his mother died in 1778. No longer a child prodigy, Mozart had trouble making his mark in Paris where the musical world was occupied with the controversy between Gluck and Piccinni, (the director of the opera). Unable to find a job he returned to Salzburg where he spent two years as court and cathedral organist. A growing feud with the archbishop culminated in his leaving Salzburg for Vienna where he stayed with the Webers, whom he had met in Mannheim, and went on to marry the middle daughter Constanze in August 1782. Leopold Mozart was not pleased that his son would marry a penniless girl from a dubious family, and relations between him and his son cooled considerably.

From age six young Wolfgang was steadily on the road being exhibited to the courts of Europe, learned musicians and the public. Later in his life, he also traveled extensively so that fourteen of his thirty six years were spent away from home. Probably due to having matured very early as an artist but not having the opportunity to mature as a person, Mozart’s later life was thwarted by his irresponsibility. "For just as this rare being early became a man so far as his art was concerned, he always remained - as the impartial observer must say of him - in almost all matters a child. He never learned to rule himself... He always needed a guiding hand," wrote his first biographer, Friedrich Schlichtergoll in 1793.

Growing up a complicated man he had an unprecedented knack for making enemies and never succeeded in landing a lucrative position which by his talent alone, should have been no trouble. The last nine years of his life produced a vast quantity of great works in stark comparison with his serious financial troubles.

During the composition of his Requiem, Mozart became very ill and died on December 5, 1791. Much speculation has surrounded the circumstances of Mozart’s death, but despite the many theories, none have been proved.

Les Petits Riens Noverre / Les Petits Riens 1778

Ashton / Les Petits Riens 1928

Sinfonia Concertanto K364 Balanchine / Symphonie Concertante 1947

Divertimento No. 15 K287 Balanchine / Divertimento No. 15 1956

Concerto for Flute and Harp K299

Cassation No. 1 in G Smuin / Gartenfest 1968

Piano Concerto No. 21 K467 Arpino / Secret Place 1968

Concerto for Clarinet& Orchestra K226

The Magic Flute Martins / The Magic Flute

Born July 14, 1954, at Stollberg/Erzgebirge, Germany, Birgit Scherzer made the decision she wanted to dance at age 9. She and her younger sister, Steffi, auditioned for a professional dance school. Steffi was accepted but Birgit was told she would have to wait four years before being reconsidered for admission. At the end of those four years she was informed that they were still unsure if she was suited to dance on account of her body type, she was not sufficiently turned out in the hips, etc. Birgit decided on a career in archeology but was informed by the university that she would have to wait two years for entry into the school. In the meantime she auditioned for the Palucca School in Dresden, where they taught a contemporary based dance curriculum. She was accepted and eventually graduated with a diploma as a dancer.

From 1976 to 1981 she was a dancer and Apprentice Choreographer at the Landestheater Halle. In 1981 she auditioned for the Komische Oper, Berlin by performing a pas de deux of her own creation. She was hired as a dancer and choreographer. While at the Komische Oper her choreography was recognized with awards in 1983 and 1987 as well as a special award from the Confederation of Creative Theatre, German Democratic Republic, and in 1988 the Critics’ Prize from Berliner Zeitung for Keith.

Ms. Scherzer remained at the Komische Oper until 1989, when she made the very serious decision to leave East Germany thus leaving her family and established reputation behind. In the West she had to start from nothing. She also had no idea that the Berlin wall would shortly fall. Ms. Scherzer was to pursue a freelance career, she taught at the College of Musik and Drama in Saarbrücken, and in 1991 was appointed the Director and choreographer of the Saarbrücken Staatstheater Ballet. With that company she has toured her works in Germany and to Switzerland, Luxembourg, Paris and Iceland.

Ms. Scherzer has also produced films of her choreography, including The Dying Swan (1971), Carmina Burana (1994) and Kassandra / Bluebeard (1997).

Having spent 8 years as the director of a dance company, Ms. Scherzer has decided to resign from that position in order to spend more of her time as a creator of new and exciting dance works. At the end of the 1998 - 99 she will once again pursue a freelance career and already has secured many commissions.

1980 Psychogramm Landestheater Halle

Baba Yaga Landestheater Halle

1983 Concert in Tailcoat and Hat Komische Oper, Berlin

1984 Mentality Komische Oper, Berlin

1986 The Master and Margerita Volksbühne, Berlin

Concerto Staatstheater, Schwerin

Tango Deutsche Staatsoper, Berlin

Marriage of Figaro Theater im Palast, Berlin

Etude 1 Staatliche Balletschule, Berlin

Etude 2 Staatliche Balletschule, Berlin

1987 Mentality Bühnen der Stadt, Gera

Adagio Komische Oper, Berlin

Alone Komische Oper, Berlin

Solo with a Ladder Komische Oper, Berlin

Concert in a Tailcoat and Hat Deutsche Staatsoper, Berlin

1988 Keith Komische Oper, Berlin

Ararat Komische Oper, Berlin

Story of a Soldier (w/Ruth Berhaus) St. Moritz Music Festival

1989 Quartet Theater im Palast, Berlin

The Prohibition of Music Theater im Palast, Berlin

Bach Pas de deux Bühnen der Stadt, Leipzig

Sweeney Todd Staatstheater, Saarbrücken

1990 Zarewitsch Staatstheater, Saarbrücken

1991 Women - Men - Couples Komische Oper, Berlin

Macho, Macho Staatstheater, Saarbrücken

Requiem!! Staatstheater, Saarbrücken

Stille (Silence) Staatstheater, Saarbrücken

1992 Women - Men - Couples Staatstheater, Saarbrücken

Jesus Christ Superstar Staatstheater, Saarbrücken

1993 Romeo und Julia Staatstheater, Saarbrücken

Act Without Words Staatstheater, Saarbrücken

1994 Requiem!! Komische Oper, Berlin

Kaspar Hauser Staatstheater, Saarbrücken

1995 Requiem!! Opernhaus, Chemnitz

Carmina Burana Staatstheater, Saarbrücken

sturm im mund janis joplin Staatstheater, Saarbrücken

1996 The Miraculous Mandarin Staatstheater, Saarbrücken

Le Sacre du printemps Staatstheater, Saarbrücken

Franz Woyteck Komische Oper, Berlin

1997 Orféo und Euridice Staatstheater, Saarbrücken

Kassandra / Bluebeard Staatstheater, Saarbrücken

1998 Swan Lake Staatstheater, Saarbrüken

Brigitte Benner was born in Cologne, Germany. From 1979 to 1982 she studied Costume and Fashion design, including an apprenticeship of tailoring in Trier, Germany. Beginning in 1982, she continued her studies in costume and stage design, including an apprenticeship in set painting, at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, from where she graduated in 1987.

From 1987 to 1991 Ms. Benner was the assistant costume designer at the Wagnerian Festival of Bayreuth, Germany. From there she went on to become the assistant for stage design at the Staatstheater in Saarbrücken, Germany, where she remained until 1995. Having already received many commissions for settings in opera, musical, drama and dance productions, Ms. Benner became a self employed designer for sets and costumes and has since worked in several German theaters.

Mr. Kaiser was born in Bremen in 1956. His early studies included the cello and trombone. From 1976 - 79 he studied music and theater at the Freien University in Berlin. and went on to the Hamburg University Music School where he studied Musical Theater Direction under Professor Götz Friedrich from 1979 - 83. He graduated from that school with high honors as a director.

After graduation he worked in the management of several theaters and was a journalist in both Hamburg and Bremen. From 1985-89 he was the dramaturgist for the State Theater in Heidelberg and from 1980 - 91 held the same position at the Staatstheater Braunshweig in Bremen. Since 1991 he has worked at the Saarländ State Theater in Saarbrücken first as the assistant and then as the chief dramaturgist. Since 1998 he has also directed operas for that theater. His collaboration with Birgit Scherzer began in 1991, and since that time he has worked as Ms. Scherzer’s dramaturgist on all he works both in Saarbrücken and in Berlin and Essen. Mr. Kaiser also maintains an active schedule of creations for independent productions and experimental theater.

Born in Berlin in 1966, Sven Grüetzmacher studied at the Staatliche Ballettschule, Berlin, from 1976 - 84 receiving a diploma as a dancer. He began his professional career dancing with the Komische Oper in Berlin where he was promoted to soloist in 1986.

In 1988 he was engaged as a soloist with the Staatstheater, Saarbrücken, where in 1994 he received a prize for his performance of Kasper Hauser in Kasper Hauser by Birgit Scherzer. Mr. Grüetzmacher’s repertoire includes John Cranko’s Jeux de Cartes; The Green Table of Kurt Joos; Zettel in Summernightdream of Phillipp Lansdale; Bluebeard and Carmina Burana of Birgit Scherzer as well as Mercutio in her Romeo and Juliet. Mr. Grüetzmacher has also appeared as a guest artist with the Aalto Theater, Essen, the Komische Oper, Berlin and the Oper Chemnitz.

In 1994 he became the assistant to the Director of the Ballet at the Staatstheater, Saarbrücken.

Mr. Grüetzmacher has also taught at the College of Musik and Drama in Saarbrüken, acted the role of Hamlet’s father in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, been the Co-Director for the play Conversation and choreographed his own work, The Black Rider. In 1997 he co-produced the documentary film of Kassandra /

Bluebeard and in March of 1998 will direct the opera Brundibar by Hans Krasa.

There are many fine recordings of the Mozart Requiem available. The following is merely a sampling.

Westminster Boys Choir & the Chorus and Orchestra of the Academy of Ancient Music / Christopher Hogwood. L’Oiseau-Lyre. 411 712-2

Boston Baroque / Martin Pearlman. Telarc. CD-80410

The Hanover Band and Chorus / Roy Goodman.

Nimbus NI5241

Academy of St. Martins in the Fields Orchestra and Chorus / Neville Marriner. Argo 417133-2

Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Swedish Radio Chorus / Muti.

Angel. CMGB-63607

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Vienna Singerein Chorus / Herbert von Karajan. Claque 2 GM-2003/04