Mortalities - W. A. Mozart: Maurerische Trauermusik, Laudate Dominum & Requiem

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart:
Maurerische Trauermusik K 477 (479a)

Laudate Dominum
from „Vesperae solennes de Confessore“ K 339

Requiem D minor K 626

Ekaterina Krasko, soprano
Collegium Vocale Salzburg with its soloists| Michael Schneider, choir master
L’Orfeo Barockorchester
Michi Gaigg, direction

Reverence for the deceased hasn’t exactly been a common virtue in music history. No sooner did a composer leave a work unfinished than the volunteers emerged to pay their respect. Few composers were as canny as Johannes Brahms who burnt every unfinished work. Many works were left unfinished: Bach’s Art of the Fugue, Schubert’s symphonic fragments… the list is endless, but one work will always have a distinguished position:

Mozart ‘s Requiem. Many myths developed around this awesome „mortality music “. Tragically it became Mozart’s own swan song. The historical origin of the Masonic Funeral Music is an equal flurry of speculation. Was it indeed intended for the Freemasons, or should it be regarded as church music?

In Gmunden we will include the Laudate Dominum from the „Vesperae solennes de Confessore“KV 339, one of Mozart’s most well-known church compositions. The soprano solo sings an exquisite cantilena on the glorification of God, in the end supported by the choir.