Mozarts Requiem

Mozart struggled to the last with his requiem, but died before he was able to complete it. Today, it is one of his most popular works. The charismatic Richard Egarr will conduct the Symphony Orchestra through Mozart´s myth-shrouded requiem.

The story begins in 1791, when an unknown man knocks on the door and silently presents a letter requesting the composition of a requiem. Mozart, who was in dire need of money, accepted the commission. He was composing two operas at the same time and so was forced to work harder in order to complete them on time, but the exertion made his already poor health decline even further. Mozart became dejected and depressed (for a time he believed that someone was trying to poison him) and was obsessed with the idea that it was his own requiem he was writing. In the end he died at just 35 years of age, before he was able to finish the piece.

His commissioner was the wealthy count Franz Walsegg; an amateur musician who often ordered works from well-known composers and claimed that they were his own. After his death, Mozart's former student Franz Xaver Süss completed the work. So Walsegg got his requiem, but Mozart's wife made sure to save a copy so that there would be no confusion as to who had written it. The mournful requiem has come to be one of Mozart's most popular works. Its special orchestration - with neither flute, oboe nor French horn - creates a special mood and generates a subtler acoustic pattern than normal.

German-Swedish composer Joseph Martin Kraus (1756-1792) lived and worked in Sweden during the same period. He was the country's premier instrumental composer during the 18th century and is often called "Sweden's Mozart". Kraus made several trips to Vienna where he met Joseph Haydn, who became his mentor and example. Kraus eventually dedicate his Symphony in C Minor to Haydn.
 
Kraus and Mozart were both Freemasons. Mozart composed the funeral music, which begins the concert, known as Maurerische Trauermusik, for one of their memorial ceremonies. The conductor for this sorrowful concert is charismatic Briton Richard Egarr. He is also a coveted harpsichordist and expert on music from this period.

Conductor: Richard Egarr
Soloists: TBA
Student choir and sections of the NorrlandsOperan Choir
NorrlandsOperan Symphony Orchestra

Programme
Mozart: Mauerische Trauermusik
Kraus: Sinfonia c-moll
Mozart: Requiem (version Süssmeyr)