K. 618 Ave verum Corpus in D Major

K. 618,  Ave verum Corpus in D Major

I went with this piece next, because it was also played at the Requiem concert.  A fitting contrast…

I apologize for the morbidity of the following story (trust me, a point will follow).

When I was in high school, I had some of my own horses.  There was this beautiful black and white paint, not quite two years old.  She was mine. One day, she fell extremely ill.  The vet tried some medications, but nothing worked.  It was summer.  I was home alone.  My yearling reached the worst shape I had seen—shaking uncontrollably, unable to hold herself up.  I tried to move her, get her to walk.  Nothing.  I called dad.  He said he’d end it when he came home.  (Ending it was a little less civilized in rural areas back then.)  I didn’t think I could wait.  I grabbed a .22 caliber rifle.  That rifle would have most likely prolonged her pain.  But, I didn’t know.  I lost courage and couldn’t do it.  I just waited beside her.  Suddenly, her head popped up, her ears wiggled, her shaking stopped and she took a step.  I led her around our driveway patting her neck.  “Good girl.  You’re feeling better.  Good thing I didn’t do it.”  She walked with this unexplainable peace, so I took her to the hitching rail to reward her.

When I got to the rail, her head jerked up, her front legs widened, she wobbled violently, and I could see the white edges of her eyes.  If anyone knows anything about horses, they don’t have much for white edges. “Whoa,” I said.  With a panicked grunt, she flopped toward me.  I somehow managed to get most my body to far end of the hitching rail.  However, a telephone pole had been lying on the ground parallel to the rail.  The yearling and the pole sandwiched my right leg.  It hurt, and I’m surprised nothing broke.  I tried whapping her off, but she was limper than a rock. Eventually, I wriggled free unsurprised she was dead.

Ok.  What does this story have to do with Mozart’s Ave verum Corpus in D Major?

The work was composed around 6 months before Mozart’s death.  The piece hums with submissive peace, a contrast to the Requiem.  There are no desires of power, or on-bended-knees pleas, just soft acceptances. The Ave verum Corpus, a spiritual work like the Requiem, is like my yearling’s sudden peace.  Who knows exactly what was going on in Mozart mind?  His wife was sick in a spa after numerous child-birthing issues, causing considerable debt.  But, maybe she was getting better.  Visiting her, Mozart had prospects of new employment from a friend in the area—to whom this piece was written.  Maybe, he had a reinvigorated faith in God, his fellow humans, or both.  A spiritual composition and a possible helping friend could be clues.   

Whereas the Ave verum Corpus is my horse’s sense of peace, the Requiem is the sudden jolt before the fall.