Mozart’s Requiem

Maundy Thursday Service, 4/17, 7:00 p.m. Sanctuary

At the 7:00 p.m. Maundy Thursday service our Chancel Choir and members of the Trinity Lutheran Choir and Cantabile will join voices in singing Mozart’s Requiem.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Requiem in D minor, K. 626, is probably one of the most well-known works in the classical music repertoire. Composed in the final year of his life, 1791, the Requiem is surrounded by a tapestry of mystery and legend, mainly because of Mozart’s wife, Constanze, who created stories to make the work more appealing to the public.

The piece was commissioned by Count Franz von Walsegg, an eccentric nobleman who intended to pass it off as his own work in memory of his late wife. Mozart, already in declining health, began working on the Requiem with great intensity. It is often rumored that he perceived the Requiem as his own funeral mass, and as his health deteriorated, he became increasingly obsessed with the project, reportedly saying, “I fear I am writing a requiem for myself.” Mozart was unable to complete the composition before his untimely death on December 5, 1791. His widow, Constanze, desperate to secure the commission fee, enlisted Mozart’s student, Franz Xaver Süssmayr, to finish the work based on Mozart’s sketches and instructions. The finished work was then premiered on February 14, 1792, on the anniversary of count Walsegg’s late wife’s passing.

A cornerstone of choral and orchestral literature, and admired for its powerful expression of sorrow, hope, and beauty, the Requiem Mass is structured into several movements, including the Introit, Kyrie, Sequence, Offertory, Sanctus, Benedictus, and Agnus Dei. The Requiem is written for winds, strings, timpani, organ, choir, and soloists.