2020_11_26_ICS_requiem_mozart

The Institute for Culture and Society (ICS) of the University of Navarra and the German publishing house Reichenberger have published an unknown version of Mozart' s Requiem found in the Cathedral of Pamplona. The volume, part of the 'Chantria Pampilonense' collection, comes out on the 229th anniversary of Mozart's death, which took place on December 5, 1791. 

The musical edition has been edited at position by Aurelio Sagaseta, Chapel Master of the Cathedral of Pamplona, and is preceded by an extensive bilingual study in English and Spanish by Miguel Ángel Marín, Professor of Musicology at the University of La Rioja. 

The Requiem was Mozart's last composition, which he left unfinished because of his untimely death. From agreement with the authors of the book, from an early date it became a kind of official music for the funeral honors of kings, aristocrats, military and other distinguished members of society. This explains the dozens of sources scattered throughout Spanish archives that were copied for practical purposes, sometimes incorporating creative variations on the original text.

The research collected in the new book reveals some of the particular features that make the version of Mozart's Requiem in Pamplona Cathedral unique. For example, it modernizes the orchestration replacing the original corni di basseto and trombones with clarinets and horns, while adding a new double bass invoice. 

Professor Marín's study reveals that this Requiem was performed in Pamplona in 1844 as part of the royal funeral of Infanta Luisa Carlota de Borbón-Dos Sicilias, mother of Francisco de Asís, king consort after his marriage to Isabel II. 

According to research, this music served as a sign of ostentation and prestige in this funeral ceremony organized by the military regiment in Pamplona to show loyalty to the new queen at a time of maximum political tension in Spain. It should be remembered that the First Carlist War had just ended and the status of the throne was unstable.

Premiere at the Cathedral of Pamplona

This unique version of Mozart's Requiem was premiered last year in Pamplona Cathedral itself, conducted by Aurelio Sagaseta, as part of the Mass for All Souls' Day, November 2, 2019. The recording is available at: https: //youtu.be/A2Sbn6Z0oXM.

The collection 'Chantria Pampilonense' was born as a result of a agreement between the ICS -the research center in Humanities and social sciences of the University of Navarra- and the Music Chapel of the Cathedral of Pamplona. It has been edited by Aurelio Sagaseta and coordinated by Rafael Zafra, partner of the ICS' project 'Creativity and Cultural Heritage' of the ICS.

In September 2018 the first volume of the collection, Works by Italian Masters in Pamplona Cathedral, was published, and in 2019 the second came out, with a collection of 21 anonymous and unpublished motets from the Cathedral's file de Música.

About the authors

Miguel Ángel Marín studied musicology at the Universities of Salamanca, Zaragoza and Cardiff (Wales). He holds a PhD from the University of London and Senior Associate Professor at the University of La Rioja and, since 2009, director of the Music Program of the Fundación Juan March. He has published twelve books as author or publisher and numerous articles in national and international journals. He currently directs a project of research and development funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation.

Aurelio Sagaseta has been Chapel Master of the Cathedral of Pamplona since 1962. After studying composition with Fernando Remacha, he obtained a degree in Sacred Music, Gregorian Chant and Musicology in Rome. He is the author of numerous monographs on the history of music in Navarre, among others the recent Catalogue of the file of Music of the Cathedral of Pamplona. As a performer he has published 19 recordings with choir and orchestra with works mainly preserved in the Cathedral of Pamplona.