Comparison Essay Mozart's Lacrimosa vs Evanescence Lacrymosa

Classical Composers are untouchable; the music they have composed has the ability to “speak” to music lovers of different cultures and time periods. The techniques they used only help mold the best music of our time. Throughout the years, artists of different genres have done variations of classical pieces. Sometimes the variations are just in the background with different instruments, or tempo, while other times the piece is completely remixed. A few popular variations are The Fifth of Beethoven by Walter Murphy, which is a variation of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, Graduation (Friends Forever) by Vitamin C, which uses Pachelbel’s Canon in D, and I Can by Nas a variation of Beethoven’s Fur Elise. Lacrymosa by Evanescence is another variation that uses Lacrimosa from Mozart’s requiem. Being from different time periods the instrumentation Evanescence uses to embellish the piece makes it more modern by fitting it into the rock genre.
Mozart composed his Requiem Mass in D Minor in Vienna in 1791. Due to an illness that caused his death, Mozart was unable to finish Lacrimosa. Fortunately, one of his pupils Franz Xaver Süssmayr was able to finish it for him. Lacrimosa is a sorrowful dissonant piece about death. Violins start the piece my introducing the motiv repeated many times to build tension. In the background of violins are violas and cellos playing the same notes but augmented in a syncopated rhythm. After the second time the motiv is repeated, the choir enters all together at mezzo piano creating homophony. The dissonant harmonies continue to add darkness, and somberness to the music. Then both strings and the chorus have a subito piano. With the addition of brass, the orchestra crescendos on accented notes creating the first climax and ending in a timpini rumble. After the timpani rumble there is another subito piano, followed by and unexpected subito forte after a few measures. You begin to notice that it is no longer homophonic because the basses and tenors... [continues]

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