Requiem

No work has ever left such a profoundly unsettling legacy, magnified by almost three centuries of legend. The circumstances surrounding the composition of the Requiem are shrouded in fanciful mystery. In July 1791, an exhausted Mozart, worn down by work and by mental and financial worries, was putting the finishing touches to The Magic Flute when he received a visit from a secret messenger. We now know that this was the steward of Count Walsegg, a widowed music lover who wanted to commission a Requiem Mass in memory of his wife. We also know that work on the piece was cut short when the musician died in autumn 1791. His wife Constance initially entrusted the score to Eybler, who was also unable to complete it, and then to Süssmayer, the student to whom Mozart had given a number of notes for his Requiem. Recent scholarship has tried to disentangle Mozart’s contributions from those of his student in order to produce an edition which is as close as possible to the musician’s intentions. 

Production Céleste Productions – Les Grandes Voix