Zimmermann's Requiem consists of 4 main sections, each with
several simultaneous streams of sound. In this synopsis, the columns
represent the different sound streams; reading down, the passage of time.
The Latin Mass for the Dead ("Missa pro defunctis," on the far left) provides a general framework for the composition. Parts of the mass, along with source texts, speeches, musical quotations, and sound samples are indicated briefly by name (the complete text appears in the libretto). Entries in upper case represent the Requiem's main sections and subsections. Entries in quotes contain exact phrases sung by soloists or the choirs. All appear here on the page approximately as they occur in performance.
Highlighted entries link directly to the corresponding section of the requiem animations.
| PROLOGUE | Requiem I . Requiem II . Dona Nobis Pacem | |||
| Choir III | Tape I: Track I |
Track II | Track III | Track IV |
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Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical
Investigations |
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| Missa pro defunctis:
Postcommunio |
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Speech of Alexander Dubcek to the Czech people (8/27/68) |
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Speech of Pope John XXIII at the Second Vatican Council |
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| Introitus |
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James Joyce, Ulysses, Monologue of Molly Bloom |
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Oratio |
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Lectio |
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| REQUIEM I | |||
| Choirs I - III | Speakers I - II | Tape I: Tracks I - IV |
Tape II: Tracks I - IV |
| Missa pro defunctis: "Requiem" |
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Parlimentary address by G.A. Papandreou (1967); Aeschylus, Prometheus |
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Article 1.1, Federal Republic of Germany Constitutional Law |
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Vladimir
Mayakovsky, Honored comrade descendents |
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Words of Chairman Mao Tse-Tung |
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Speech of
Imre Nagy during the Hungarian civil uprising
(10/31/56) |
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Sándor Weöres, Drum and Dance; Verses from Latin Vulgate Bible; Darius Milhaud, The Creation of the World; crowd noise |
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Joyce, Finnegan's Wake; Weöres, Drum and Dance; Richard Wagner, Tristan and Isolde; crowd noise, ocean breakers |
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Weöres, Drum and Dance; Olivier Messiaen, The Ascension; war sounds, crowd noise | |
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Aeschylus, The Persians |
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Mayakovsky,
Eulogy to Sergei Esenin |
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Kurt
Schwitters, To Anna Blume; electronic
sounds |
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Article
1.2, Federal Republic of Germany Constitutional Law |
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Speech of
Adolf Hitler (3/16/39) |
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Article 2,
Federal Republic of Germany Constitutional Law; Mao Tse-Tung |
Speech of Neville Chamberlain (1938) |
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Ezra Pound, Canto LXXIX; Albert Camus, Caligula |
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Mayakovsky,
Honored comrade descendents and Eulogy to Esenin; Messiaen,
The Ascension; ocean breakers |
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Zimmermann,
Symphony in One Movement |
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Articles
2-3, Federal Republic of Germany Constitutional Law; Mao Tse-Tung |
Speech of A. Dubcek (1968) |
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| REQUIEM II |
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| Choir I - III | Soloists: Soprano, Baritone |
Tape I: Tracks I - IV |
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"Requiem aeternam" |
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RICERCAR
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The Beatles, Hey Jude |
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Mayakovsky, Honored comrade descendents; Jazz quintet |
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Hans Henny
Jahnn, The Record of Gustav Anias Horn |
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| RAPPRESENTAZIONE |
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| Missa pro defunctis:
Introitus |
Ezra Pound, Canto LXXIX |
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| ELEGIA |
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Weöres, Drum and Dance |
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| TRATO |
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| LAMENTO |
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Mayakovsky,
Eulogy to Sergei Esenin |
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| Mayakovsky, Eulogy to Sergei Esenin |
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| Missa pro defunctis: "Kyrie eleison, christe eleison" |
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Missa pro defunctis: "Kyrie eleison, christe eleison" |
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Lectio |
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| Schiller, "Brothers, above the starry canopy a loving father must surely dwell" | ||||||||||||||||||
| DONA NOBIS PACEM | ||
| Choirs I - III | Soloists: Soprano, Baritone |
Tape: Tracks I - IV |
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Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 9, fourth movement The Beatles, Hey Jude |
| Missa pro
defunctis: "Dona nobis pacem" |
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| Missa pro defunctis: "Dona nobis pacem" |
Speech of
Joachim von Ribbentrop to the Soviet government; Josef Stalin to the
Russian people (7/3/41); Joseph Goebbels in the Berlin Sports Palace
(2/18/43); Winston Churchill (BBC broadcast); Report of the first
anti-aircraft artillery division; Testimony at the People's Court of
Justice following the attempted assination of Hitler on
7/20/44 |
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Montage of political demonstrations |
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| Konrad
Bayer, the sixth sense |
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