St. John’s Archcathedral, Warsaw
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Requiem in D minor, KV 626
Dorota Szczepańska | soprano
Maya Gour | mezzosoprano
Mykhailo Kushlyk | tenor
Krzysztof Bączyk | bass
Vocal Ensemble of the Warsaw Chamber Opera
Kierownik Zespołu Wokalnego | Krzysztof Kusiel-Moroz
Period Instrument Ensemble of the Warsaw Chamber Opera
Musicae Antiquae Collegium Varsoviense (MACV)
Duration | 50 min.
Mozart’s Requiem has inspired centuries of fascination and legend. Commissioned anonymously—today we know the patron was Count Franz Walsegg, a musical amateur who often claimed works as his own—Mozart composed it in the final months of his life, concurrently with The Magic Flute and La clemenza di Tito. Exhausted by illness, he dictated the last sections to his student and friend Franz Xaver Süssmayr, believing he was writing a mass for his own soul. Mozart passed away on December 4, 1791, at the age of 35, in the midst of composing the eighth measure of the Lacrimosa.
The work combines Mozart’s transcendent genius with Süssmayr’s sensitive completion. Iconic sections such as Dies Irae, Confutatis, Tuba mirum, and Lacrimosa bear the master’s hand, while the Sanctus, Benedictus, and Agnus Dei reflect the skillful continuation by Süssmayr, maintaining the profound spiritual and emotional depth.
As the renowned conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt observed, listening to Mozart’s Requiem is like hearing the composer himself pray with childlike trust, confronting mortality with faith and serenity. This performance offers a rare opportunity to experience these timeless expressions of human emotion and divine reflection.