Mozart: Requiem in D Minor, K. 626 "Missa pro defunctis"

Featuring

Golda Schultz
Katrin Wundsam
Martin Mitterrutzner
Nahuel di Pierro
Stefano Montanari
Coro del Teatro Regio Torino

Orchestra Teatro Regio Torino
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

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Compositional Technique

Mozart's Requiem is considered a radically new work for its genre, opening the path for later composers like Cherubini, Berlioz, and Verdi due to its powerful dramatic subjectivism.

Composition History

At the time of his death, Mozart had only completed and orchestrated the Introitus of the Requiem, with other sections existing as detailed drafts or sketches.

Compositional Technique

The Requiem features a unique blend of tone-colors, with the woodwind family entirely represented by two bassoons and two basset horns.

Composition History

Mozart's Requiem was commissioned anonymously in July 1791 by Count Franz von Walsegg, who intended to pass it off as his own work to honor his deceased wife.

Composition History

Franz Xaver Süssmayr, a pupil of Mozart, completed the Requiem and even signed the finished work, imitating Mozart's signature, creating an "authentic forgery."

Composition History

Mozart's wife, Constanze, arranged for his pupils, primarily Franz Xaver Süssmayr, to complete the Requiem to avoid losing the agreed compensation.

Composer Biography

Mozart was suffering from a rheumatic illness and dark delusions of persecution, believing he had been poisoned and was writing the Requiem for his own funeral, shortly before his death.