MOZART REQUIEM

The year 1791 was full of important prime ministers for Mozart. There was no indication that this would be the last year of his life. At that time he worked intensively on two operas — The Graciousness of Titus and The Magic Flute — which premiered in September 1791 in Prague and Vienna. Soon he also completed the famous Clarinet Concerto. Today it is difficult for us to understand how it is possible for so many masterpieces to be created in such a short time.

The last compositions also include the unfinished Requiem. He commissioned them from composer Franz Graf von Walsegg zu Stuppach — an amateur musician, concert organizer who wanted to commemorate his late young wife Anna by presenting the mourning mass to the audience as his own work. Mozart, busy composing Titus' Graciousness, accepted the commission in mid-July 1791. He seriously took up the composition of the Requiem only in November, soon after that he became seriously ill, and already on December 5 he died.

Shrouded in legend, the circumstances of the creation of the work bring many intriguing and sensational plots, but it is certain that Mozart stopped composing while writing the famous Lacrimosa. Only eight bars of this moving part come from him. After the death of the composer, his wife Constance was looking for a long time someone who could undertake the completion of the Requiem. After numerous attempts, this task was faced by the disciple of Mozart Franz Xaver Süssmayr, and it is his version that today is most often performed.

How is it different from what Mozart left? How does Requiem speak to us when it breaks in the middle of Lacrimosa? The opportunity to listen to both versions in one concert does not happen often, so it should not be missed.

Photo by Igor Andruch