In 2023, Music Director Hans Graf restored Osip (Józef) Kozłowski’s 1798 Requiem in its original version and recorded it with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. While that story holds interest, it’s the music itself that will captivate you.
Polish-born Kozłowski (1757/9-1831) emigrated to Russia and became an officer in the tsarist army during the Russo-Turkish War. He caught the eye of Prince Grigory Potemkin, Catherine the Great’s former lover and foremost military leader. Under Potemkin’s patronage, Kozłowski became a central figure at the Imperial Theaters in St. Petersburg, writing incidental music for plays, songs and a lyrical drama. His 70 modest polonaises—notably Let the Thunder of Victory Resound, the unofficial Russian anthem until the 1830s—brought him recognition in Russia.
Osip (Józef) Kozłowski
In 1796, Kozłowski was asked to write a requiem mass by the last King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, Stanisław II August, who also lived in St. Petersburg. Stanisław’s reign, supported by Catherine—he was another of her lovers—was marked by the Three Partitions, through which the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was dismembered by Russia, Austria, and Prussia. By 1796, two years before Stanisław’s death, the Commonwealth had completely disappeared.
Two portraits of Stanisław August by Marcello Bacciarelli: (1) At coronation in 1764 and
(2) With hourglass and crown in 1793, after Second Partition
Perhaps Poland’s tragedy inspired the passion of Kozłowski’s Requiem. His choice of E-flat minor, a key likely symbolising anguish, is unique in the entire Classical Era. The theatricality of the work places it in the company of requiems by Michael Haydn (1767), Mozart (1791), Antonio Salieri (1804) and Luigi Cherubini (1817), as well as Joseph Haydn’s Missa in Augustiis (the Nelson Mass, 1798), which, while not a requiem, is similar in nature.
Kozłowski’s Requiem has almost certainly never been performed in the Americas. The original version likely hasn’t been played in Europe since Kozłowski’s death. So let’s listen to Singapore’s performance. I must also confess my personal enthusiasm for Hans Graf: two decades ago, I had the honour of working with him during his tenure as music director of the Houston Symphony, where I served as chief marketer.
Requiem in E-Flat Minor: I. Requiem et Kyrie
Grief stands front and center in the Requiem et Kyrie with its somber key and adagio tempo. In an orchestral introduction, the strings repeat a low E flat, with quarter notes evoking the steps of a procession. These grow louder, leading to anguished cries from the woodwinds. The chorus intones Requiem aeternam dona eis, repeating the phrase in sequence. Insistent two-note sighs return the mood to sorrow.
A contrasting Te decet section soothes the mood with consonant music in parallel sixths. But at the prayer Ad te omnis caro veniet (“To you all flesh shall come”), the sopranos sing a low E flat, rise an octave, a fourth and then a third to high C, forte—an extraordinary passage which the Singapore chorus handles with aplomb. Kozłowski then absorbs the Kyrie Eleison into the Requiem aeternam using the initial choral music.
Requiem in E-Flat Minor: II. Dies irae
The whole Requiem is characterised by such dramatic contrasts. Dies Irae blazes with fury, with abundant text painting and sequences. At Cuncta stricte discussurus (“At whose judgment depends”), the tempo slows, the music hangs on a German augmented sixth chord, and time stands still with a grand pause.
Requiem in E-Flat Minor: III. Tuba mirum
The beginning of Tuba mirum suggests the influence of Mozart’s Requiem, but Mozart’s music wasn’t published until 1800.
According to the piano-vocal score, Tuba mirum was written for baritone Stefano Mandini, who premiered Count Almaviva from The Marriage of Figaro before leaving Vienna for St. Petersburg. Indeed, the music could be an aria from opera, with expert ensemble writing among soloists, winds and trumpet.
Requiem in E-Flat Minor: IV. Judex ergo
The piano-vocal score to Judex ergo, a lament for soprano and alto, calls it Chanté par Mr. Testori è Comaschino. “Il Comaschino” was Cristoforo Arnaboldi, an Italian castrato with a notable career in St. Petersburg.
Requiem in E-Flat Minor: V. Confutatis
Confutatis begins with rhetoric and dotted rhythms, contrasting with an espressivo middle section with an accompaniment of flowing arpeggios. Both the Lachrymosa and Domine Jesu Christe display operatic ensemble writing.
Requiem in E-Flat Minor: VII. Domine Jesu Christe
In Domine, following the words, “Lead them into that holy light, which Thou promised of old to Abraham,” Kozłowski emphasises the poignant phrase, “and to his seed,” twice. First, he reduces the texture from a quartet of soloists to duets. Then, he closes the movement pianissimo diminuendo, a fragile yet hopeful gesture for Poland’s future.
Requiem in E-Flat Minor: VIII. Sanctus
Sanctus juxtaposes forte and piano sections with a glorious Hosanna in excelsis in choral unison. Benedictus, Agnus Dei, and Quia pius es proceed with similar dramatic contrasts, and then the music of the opening Requiem aeternam repeats, closing the mass tenderly.
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