Mozart’s exquisite Requiem Mass in D Minor is the highlight of an evening of dramatic music performed by the Royal Free Music Society and the Hampstead Sinfonietta.
Now one of the best-loved choral works in the classical repertoire, Mozart’s Requiem has long been shrouded in mystery. Commissioned by an anonymous patron (now believed to have been Count Franz von Walsegg), this haunting and passionate piece was left unfinished when the great composer died at the age of 35. It was completed by his pupil Süssmayr. The image of the dying composer writing a mass for his own death has become one of the most enduring and romantic images in the history of music.
Allegri’s Miserere is also part of the Mozart story. For more than a hundred years, Allegri’s sublime music could only ever be sung in the Sistine Chapel. However, Mozart visited the Sistine Chapel, heard the piece being sung, and later wrote it down from memory (though in a slightly different version from the one that is familiar to audiences today). Like Mozart’s Requiem, Allegri’s Miserere has become one of the world’s favourite pieces of choral music.
The evening will also include a performance of Mozart’s Symphony No. 38. First performed in the city of Prague in 1787, the ‘Prague Symphony’ has remained one of his most popular orchestral works.
The Royal Free Music Society will be joined by Coro Polofonico Giorgio Giovannini from Fermignano in Italy - and conducted by Benjamin Wolf . The soloists are Maud Millar, Lilly Papaioannou, Ed Hastings and Benjamin Seifert. The Hampstead Sinfonietta will be conducted in their performance of Symphony no.38 by Robert Chatley.
Wheelchair access.
