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Details
St John's Smith Square
Smith Square
City of Westminster
London
SW1P 3HA
England
Programme
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Requiem in D minor, K.626
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Church Sonata in F major, K.244
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Vesperae solennes de confessore, K.339
Performers
Greg Morris – Conductor
Grace Davidson – soprano
Jess Gillingwater – mezzo-soprano
Nathan Vale – Tenor
Richard Latham – Bass
Collegium Musicum of London Chamber Choir
Collegium Musicum of London Orchestra
Programme Note
After an absence of 18 years, CML returns to St John’s Smith Square for a performance of Mozart’s famous Requiem.
The fifth of December, 1791 saw the death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, at the age of only 35. To commemorate the eve of this anniversary, Collegium Musicum of London Chamber Choir and Orchestra will present his famous Requiem, featuring a dazzling array of top-flight soloists and period instrumentalists.
Mozart wasn’t in the best of health when, in July that year, an ‘unknown, grey stranger’ turned up at the composer’s door, saying he represented someone who wanted to commission a Requiem, on the understanding that Mozart did not seek to learn the identity of his patron. Initially suspicious of the mysterious request, Mozart soon threw himself obsessively into the work. However, it proved too much for the ailing composer; he was only able to complete the Requiem aeternam and Kyrie movements, and before his death on 5 December, he had only managed to sketch the voice parts and bass lines for the Dies irae through to the Hostias.
Mozart’s widow, Constanze, eager to ensure the commission was completed, passed the job of finishing the Requiem to the composer’s pupil Franz Xaver Süssmayr, to whom he had given detailed instructions about its completion. The Requiem remains a work of astonishing Mozartian invention – resembling death itself, as it brilliantly conjures pathos, serenity and terror.
Alongside the Requiem, CML performs Mozart’s sublime Vespers, and – as a an exquisite curtain-raiser – his elegant Church Sonata for organ and orchestra in F major, K 244.
