MOZART’S REQUIEM

Mozart’s Requiem was written in circumstances that have remained unclear and in complete silence. Nobody was allowed to breathe a word about it, so the nobleman who commissioned it could present it as his own composition. Mozart avoided tackling the job for several months, and finally took action far too late. Sudden illness and death interrupted the composition halfway through and turned the ominous visions into reality: the fateful Requiem Mass became, as it were, Mozart’s swan song in memory of himself.

Completed by Mozart’s friends, the Requiem is a profound portrayal of death and mercy, a masterpiece that has appealed to listeners for centuries, and a myth that gave the life story of an artistic genius an unassailable place in the annals of music. The Lahti Symphony Orchestra, early music specialist Peter Whelan and a select group of Finnish singers lead the way into the Easter season.