Mozart was 35 years old when he died in Vienna in 1791. Shortly before his death, he agreed to compose a Requiem for a strange man, who offered Mozart money that the composer badly needed.
The Requiem was not completed when the composer died. Several other composers published their own versions of the Requiem, based on sketches that were left incomplete by Mozart.
I have always been greatly moved by this music. And again this morning I listened to one of the very sad sections called “Lacrimosa” from this work.
Here we are, 225 years after Mozart’s death, and I have for you this music, as conducted by the late Claudio Abbado:
