„Mortalities“ was the title of our concerts in Salzburg and Gmunden at the beginning of March 2024 – extracts are now available for listening:
Mortalities | W.A. Mozart
Collegium Vocale Salzburg (Michael Schneider, choir master)
L’Orfeo Barockorchester
Michi Gaigg conductor
Extracts from:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Misericordias Domini KV 222
Masonic Funeral Music, KV 479a
Requiem in d minor KV 626
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?
The prelude: the Misericordias Domini KV 222, a contrapuntal showpiece by the young Mozart combining polyphony with expressive harmony.
Live recording of a concert (in extracts) by the Salzburger Bachgesellschaft on 2 March 2024 at the University of Salzburg.