Mozart’s Requiem, a musical setting of the Mass for the Dead, heads to the Coronado Performing Arts Center.
Mozart’s Requiem: the icing on the cake, the best of the best, or, in Osvaldo Mendoza’s words, the “Mona Lisa” of Mozart’s repertoire is coming to Coronado on March 9.
And this experience of directing and conducting the Requiem, according to Mendoza who is the music director of the Coronado Philharmonia Orchestra and Choir, has been a 20-year dream in the making.
“Even though it’s a mass for the dead, the quality of the music of Mozart is just unbelievable. Just to hear his last composition, that’s pretty much his Eiffel Tower, his Mona Lisa, the last thing he did,” Mendoza said.
Little did Mendoza know that part of this lifelong dream to conduct this piece would require some creative orchestration and effort of his own in the community of Coronado.
Starting an orchestra in Coronado
“When I came to Coronado, the first question I asked myself was, ‘Where is the orchestra?’ I had two options: There’s no orchestra so there’s nothing to do here, or there’s no orchestra so there’s a lot to do here,” Mendoza said. “That was the perspective of that opportunity.”
In 2020, Mendoza began to play with the idea of creating an orchestra on the island, and through the help of the library and the community in Coronado, the Philharmonia hosted its first performance in 2021.
Since then, the Philharmonia has ushered audiences into the music world ranging from Irish music to Mariachi, exploring different cultures and historic compositions with the help of talented musicians.
The peculiar origin story of the Requiem
Like the Philharmonia, Mozart’s Requiem had its own origin story, though one with a bit more unorthodox drama and intrigue.
A mask. Mysterious circumstances. Death. Remembrance. And a score to honor the dead. These may sound like elements of a dramatic play or opera, but these elements are part of a true story, according to Keith Pedersen. This is Pedersen’s sixth time conducting a choir for the Requiem.
Pedersen, a choir conductor and music professor at Point Loma Nazarene University, shared that what is known as one of the most celebrated pieces in music history by Mozart actually has, in some ways, a peculiar origin.
According to Pedersen, Mozart was approached by a man in a mask who commissioned Mozart to compose this piece. After accepting the job, Mozart began to work on the piece alongside other compositions at the time.
He began experiencing ailing health, and Pedersen said the masked stranger returned asking for the composition. His wife took the piece away to encourage him to rest and heal. Mozart eventually got back to work, but his health continued to deteriorate.
The imagination of Mozart at work
Pedersen said that even on the night of his death, he was still working on the piece and did not finish it. And yet:
“You can see the imagination of Mozart working,” Pedersen said. “Even on his deathbed, as he’s going through these lines of text, [he explores], ‘What kinds of music can I create that’s going to express the emotion and the meaning of what we’re talking about here?’”
After Mozart passed, Pedersen said Mozart’s wife, Constanze, recruited one of Mozart’s students, Franz Xaver Süssmayr, to finish the piece. And through Süssmayr, it was completed.
It was later discovered that the masked patron was sent by a count named Franz von Walsegg-Stuppach, an aristocrat who allegedly was in the practice of commissioning music for dinner parties and claiming it was his own work.
“All these little things pique your interest and make this very different from most other musical pieces that we listen to. The music itself is extremely dramatic.”
-Keith Pedersen, choir conductor and music professor.
“All these little things pique your interest and make this very different from most other musical pieces that we listen to. The music itself is extremely dramatic,” Pedersen said.
But for Mendoza, his fascination with this piece is less about the peculiar origins and the drama of the music, but more so about the religious legacy.
“It’s not so much for me the drama, but the opportunity for me to serve through this music in mass,” Mendoza said. “In Catholic liturgy, we believe that the mass is the most important thing: there is the sacrifice of Christ and the resurrection of him. That’s definitely something when you hear this music; all the movements are according to the mass. If you go to a Latin mass right now, and literally you play Mozart’s Requiem in a Latin Mass, everything will fall in the right spot because it was written for the church.”
Performance on March 9
The Coronado Philharmonia Orchestra and Choir is comprised of 60 musicians and a choir of roughly 50-60 people, including a quartet who will sing solo parts.
“The quality of the musicians we have, we’re really excited about it,” Mendoza said. “Out of the 60 performers [in the orchestra], easy, 45-50 something have at least a master’s degree in music. They’re very qualified and have a lot of experience.”
The performance will open with a section of sacred music, including compositions by Bach and Piazzolla, according to Mendoza. Then, the evening will shift into a choir piece by Mozart and finally the Requiem will fill the atmosphere of the Coronado Performing Arts Center with the sounds of the Mass for the Dead.
“It’s not just for [the] elite. It’s for everybody. It’s for anybody. All of life’s emotions are represented in this piece.”
“It’s not just for [the] elite. It’s for everybody. It’s for anybody,” Pedersen said. “All of life’s emotions are represented in this piece.”
The choir is also still taking auditions and prospective singers can fill out the interest form. Pedersen said they are accepting applications in all sections.
The performance of Mozart’s Requiem will take place Saturday, March 9, at 7 p.m. The Coronado Performing Arts Center is located at 650 D Ave. Tickets can be bought online at coronadophilharmonia.org.
