(Photo: Courtesty of the Choral Arts Society)
After more than three centuries, stories and mysteries still cling to Mozart’s final, unfinished composition. Was the anonymous patron of the requiem mass—who was not, despite the depiction in Amadeus, Antonio Salieri—planning to pass off the work as his own? Did Mozart, overworked and in failing health at the time he accepted the commission in July 1791, somehow imbue it with a sense of his own impending death, which came just 5 months later? What might the composer have had in mind for the sections of the liturgy left incomplete? And did his widow, Constanze, add more spin to the stories that swirled around the work and her husband’s death at the age of 38?
No matter the questions around its creation, Mozart’s Requiem Mass in D Minor, K. 626 remains one of the composer’s most powerful and most-performed works. Scott Tucker, artistic director of the Choral Arts Society of Washington, explores the musical structure, text, various completed versions, and cultural history of this beloved work, as well as the motivations of its enigmatic composer. Musical examples are provided by recordings and a performance by members of the Choral Arts Chorus.
Now in its 51st year, the chorus, a symphonic ensemble featuring nearly 200 singers, performs Mozart’s Requiem at the Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall April 23 at 5 p.m. Program registrants receive a discount code for the performance.
