Cambridge Music Festival: Mozart Requiem

In 1791 Vienna’s golden boy of music, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, was at the height of his popularity with concert-goers and his royal patrons. But as the after-concert parties took their toll, he fell gravely ill. He began to pen a Requiem (Mass for the Dead) at the request of an anonymous patron, but he himself died before the year was out, at the age of just 35.

Whether Mozart knew he was effectively writing his own Requiem we will never know. What is undeniable is the searing, heartbreaking power of the music.

In his final Cambridge Music Festival concert as Director of Music at King’s College, Stephen Cleobury combines these two choral works from Mozart’s last year with the ‘Little G minor’ symphony.

“I would happily sit in King’s chapel listening to this choir sing for the rest of my days.” The Times