Mozart's Requiem

A stranger is announced who asks to speak to him: he enters. Mozart sees a man of a certain age, very well dressed, very noble of ways, even imposing: 'Sir, I was instructed by a very influential man to pay you a visit." "Who is it?" interrupts Mozart. "He does not want to reveal his identity." "Well, and what would he want?" "[...] he asks you to compose a Requiem [...] Employ all of your genius in the composition: you work for a connoisseur of music." "So much the better." "How long will it take?" " Four weeks." "Well, I will return in four weeks. What is the fee for your work?" "One hundred ducats." The stranger counts the money on the table and disappears. Mozart remains absorbed for a few moments in deep thought; then, abruptly, he asks for pen, ink and paper, and despite the protests of his wife, he begins to write. This creative enthusiasm lasts several days and nights, and with a constantly increasing fervor; but his body, already weak, cannot resist that enthusiasm: one morning he fell unconscious, and was forced to suspend work. Two or three days later, while his wife was trying to distract him from the gloomy thoughts that occupied him, he snapped: "It is for sure: I'm composing this Requiem for myself; it will serve for my funeral." Nothing could dissuade him from this idea.

Stendhal, The Life of Mozart

Program

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Messa di Requiem in D minor K 626, version for piano, soloist and chorus by Carl Czerny

Artists

Choir director
Lorenzo Fratini

Choir of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino

Soprano
Sarina Rausa

Alto
Barbara Zingerle

Tenor
Carlo Messeri

Bass
Nicolò Ayroldi

Piano
Andrea Severi
Leonardo Andreotti

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART

He was born in Salzburg in 1756 into a family of musicians. A child prodigy, he started playing the harpsichord at three and composed his first works at five. His father, Leopold, arranges for the talented young Amadeus tours in Frankfurt, Paris, London and Italy. Hired as a court musician in Salzburg in 1773, in 1777 he travels in search of a better job, but without success. Returning to Salzburg as the court organist in 1779, in 1781 he was dismissed "with a kick in the backside." He began composing on commission and for the audience, performing as a soloist in the Concerto in D minor, n. 20 K466 and the Concerto in C minor, n. 24 K491. This period of economic fortune had its climax in 1786 with the triumph of The Marriage of Figaro in Prague, where he received the commission for Don Giovanni. He was appointed composer to the imperial court in December 1787 but received only eight hundred florins per year instead of the two thousand Gluck was paid for the same position.  He began to borrow money and go into debt. The year 1790 was the least productive for Mozart, however, he did compose Così fan tutte. In 1791 he composed The Magic Flute and a serious opera, La Clemenza di Tito, also receiving a mysterious commission for a requiem mass: he fell ill during its composition and died in Vienna on December 5, 1791.