- Composer
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
(1756–1791) - Work
- Requiem in D minor, K. 626
- Composed
- 1791 (unfinished; completed by Franz Xaver Süssmayr)
- Premiere
- January 2, 1793, Vienna (Jahn Church)
- Key
- D minor
- Instrumentation
- 2 basset horns, 2 bassoons, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, organ, strings, SATB soloists, SATB chorus
- Structure
- Introitus · Kyrie · Sequentia (Dies irae, Tuba mirum, Rex tremendae, Recordare, Confutatis, Lacrimosa) · Offertorium (Domine Jesu, Hostias) · Sanctus · Benedictus · Agnus Dei · Communio (Lux aeterna)
- Duration
- Approx. 50 minutes
In the summer of 1791, a stranger knocked on Mozart’s door. He wore grey, spoke little, and carried a commission: write a Requiem Mass. No name was given. No patron was identified. Just the music — and an advance in gold.
Mozart accepted. He was 35, buried in debt, and his health was failing. Over the following months, he poured himself into the work with an intensity bordering on obsession. According to his wife Constanze, he began to speak of it as his own funeral mass.
“I am writing this Requiem for myself.”
He never finished it. On December 5, 1791, Mozart died. The Requiem — a meditation on death, composed by a dying man — became the most mythologized work in classical music.
The Stranger in Grey
The identity of the mysterious messenger was eventually revealed, though it took decades. Count Franz von Walsegg, a Viennese aristocrat and amateur musician, had commissioned the Requiem in memory of his recently deceased wife. Walsegg had a peculiar habit: he regularly commissioned works from composers and then presented them as his own. Mozart’s name was to appear nowhere.
There was nothing sinister about the commission — only a vain nobleman playing at being a composer. But Mozart, increasingly ill and prone to dark thoughts, appears to have read a more ominous meaning into the anonymous request. The grey stranger became, in his mind, a messenger of death.
A Dying Man Writing About Death
By the autumn of 1791, Mozart’s condition was deteriorating rapidly. He continued to compose — finishing The Magic Flute and the Clarinet Concerto — while working on the Requiem whenever his strength allowed. Friends who visited described him singing through the Requiem’s vocal parts from his bed.
On December 4, the night before his death, Mozart reportedly gathered several musician friends to sing through what he had completed. When they reached the “Lacrimosa” — the movement depicting the weeping of the dead rising on Judgment Day — Mozart broke down in tears. He never got past the eighth bar of that movement.
He died in the early hours of December 5, 1791. He was 35.
Who Finished the Requiem?
Constanze Mozart faced a practical crisis. The commission fee had been paid, but the work was incomplete. If she couldn’t deliver, she might have to return the advance — money already spent. She needed someone to finish it.
Several composers were approached. Joseph Eybler began but abandoned the task. Finally, Franz Xaver Süssmayr — a 25-year-old former pupil of Mozart’s — took on the job. Süssmayr had been present during much of the composition, and Constanze insisted that Mozart had given him detailed verbal instructions.
What Süssmayr actually added, and what he merely orchestrated from Mozart’s sketches, remains one of music’s greatest puzzles. The scholarly consensus today:
- Entirely by Mozart: Introitus and Kyrie (fully orchestrated)
- Mozart’s sketches completed by Süssmayr: The Sequentia (Dies irae through most of Lacrimosa) and Offertorium
- Largely or entirely by Süssmayr: Sanctus, Benedictus, Agnus Dei
- Communio (Lux aeterna): Recycled from the Introitus and Kyrie — possibly on Mozart’s instruction
The “Lacrimosa” breaks off at bar eight — the precise point where Mozart’s pen stopped. Süssmayr completed it, but the shift in quality is debated to this day. Some hear a noticeable drop; others argue the seam is imperceptible.
Movement by Movement: What to Listen For
Introitus (Requiem aeternam) — The work opens with a somber march in D minor. Basset horns give the orchestration a uniquely dark, veiled color that Mozart used nowhere else quite like this. When the soprano soloist enters with “Te decet hymnus,” a sliver of light breaks through.
Kyrie — A double fugue of extraordinary intensity. “Lord, have mercy” rendered not as a gentle plea but as urgent, almost desperate supplication. This is among the finest fugues Mozart ever wrote.
Dies irae — The Day of Wrath erupts. Furious strings, blazing trumpets, pounding timpani. This is the Requiem at its most operatic — Mozart the dramatist unleashed.
Lacrimosa — The weeping movement. Mozart’s pen stopped at bar eight. Even in those eight bars, the sorrow is almost unbearable. The descending chromatic line in the strings is one of the most devastating passages in all music.
Confutatis — A violent contrast between the damned (thundering men’s chorus in unison) and the saved (pleading women’s chorus in pianissimo). The theatrical genius of Mozart compressed into two minutes.
Mozart’s Burial and the Rain
Mozart was buried on December 7, 1791, in St. Marx Cemetery, in a common grave — standard practice for Vienna’s middle class at the time, not a sign of poverty or disgrace. A persistent legend holds that it rained heavily during the funeral procession and mourners turned back. The truth is less dramatic: the weather records for that day show mild conditions, and the story of the rain appears to have been invented decades later.
What is certain is that no gravestone was placed, and the exact location of his remains has been lost. A memorial was erected at St. Marx in 1859, but it marks only an approximate location.
Constanze’s Quiet Triumph
After Mozart’s death, Constanze proved far more astute than history has generally credited her. She managed to have the completed Requiem delivered to Count Walsegg, securing the fee. She then organized a series of benefit concerts featuring the work, gradually establishing it as one of Mozart’s crown jewels — and securing her own financial independence in the process.
Walsegg did perform the Requiem under his own name in December 1793. But Constanze had already arranged public performances under Mozart’s name, making Walsegg’s pretension obvious and unsustainable. By the time the score was published in 1800, no one doubted whose music it was.
Recommended Recordings
Karl Böhm / Vienna Philharmonic (1971) — The benchmark. Grand, deeply felt, and thoroughly Viennese. The “Dies irae” is volcanic.
Nikolaus Harnoncourt / Concentus Musicus Wien (2003) — A period-instrument reading that strips the work to its essentials. Stark, unsentimental, and riveting.
John Eliot Gardiner / English Baroque Soloists (1986) — Brisk tempos, crystalline textures. The fugues have a startling clarity that makes them feel newly composed.
Currentzis / MusicAeterna (2017) — The most radical modern recording. Extreme dynamics, relentless intensity. Not for traditionalists, but impossible to ignore.
Follow the Score
The full score is freely available at IMSLP. View the Requiem in D minor, K.626 score on IMSLP
Frequently Asked Questions
How much of the Requiem did Mozart actually write?
Mozart fully orchestrated the Introitus and Kyrie. For the Sequentia and Offertorium, he wrote the vocal parts and bass line with varying degrees of instrumental indication. The Sanctus, Benedictus, and Agnus Dei are largely or entirely by Süssmayr. The final Communio reuses the Introitus and Kyrie.
Who was the mysterious stranger who commissioned the Requiem?
A messenger sent by Count Franz von Walsegg, a Viennese nobleman who habitually commissioned works anonymously and presented them as his own. The commission was for a memorial Mass for his late wife.
Is there a version that’s purely Mozart?
Not a performable one. Several musicologists have created performing editions that try to strip out Süssmayr’s additions and hew closer to Mozart’s sketches — notably Robert Levin’s 1991 completion and Richard Maunder’s edition. But any complete performance inevitably includes non-Mozart material.
Final Thoughts
A stranger at the door. A commission written in secret. A composer who believed he was writing his own death Mass. A wife who turned grief into strategy. A student who finished what the master could not.
Mozart’s Requiem is not just a piece of sacred music. It is a story — of genius, mortality, deception, and survival. The eight bars of the “Lacrimosa” where Mozart’s hand stopped are among the most haunting measures ever written. Not because they are beautiful, though they are. Because they are the last notes of a man who knew he was dying.
Press play. From the opening bars of the Introitus, you’ll hear why this music has been played at the funerals of Beethoven, Chopin, and JFK — and why it will be played long after all of us are gone.
🎼 View the Score — Free score download at IMSLP
What is the significance of Mozart’s Requiem in D minor, K.626?
Mozart’s Requiem in D minor, K.626, is his final and one of his most powerful compositions, left unfinished at his death in 1791. It stands as a monumental work in the classical choral repertoire, known for its dramatic intensity and profound emotional depth. The Requiem was commissioned by Count Franz von Walsegg to commemorate his late wife.
Who completed Mozart’s Requiem after his death?
Following Mozart’s death in 1791, his student Franz Xaver Süssmayr completed the majority of the Requiem, including orchestrating much of the work and composing several movements such as the Sanctus, Benedictus, and Agnus Dei, as well as finishing the Lacrimosa. Joseph Eybler also contributed to the early completion efforts, orchestrating several movements before withdrawing.
What is the most famous movement in Mozart’s Requiem?
The “Lacrimosa” movement is widely considered the most iconic and emotionally charged part of Mozart’s Requiem. Although Mozart only composed the first eight measures, its profound melodic and harmonic ideas are instantly recognizable. The remainder of the movement was completed by his student Franz Xaver Süssmayr.
What is the typical duration and structure of Mozart’s Requiem?
Mozart’s Requiem consists of fourteen movements, traditionally divided into seven main sections. These include the Introitus, Kyrie, Sequentia, Offertorium, Sanctus, Benedictus, Agnus Dei, and Communio. A typical performance of the complete work usually lasts between 50 and 60 minutes.