programme
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) Miserere mei, K. 90
Caroline Shaw (*1982) inhale
Shaw And the swallow
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) Symfonie nr. 44 ‘Trauer symfonie’
Mozart Requiem, KV 626
performers
Cappella Amsterdam
Netherlands Chamber Orchestra
Rosalia Cid soprano
Matteo Ivan Rašić tenor
Nicole Chirka mezzosoprano
Martin-Jan Nijhof baritone
Roberto González-Monjas conductor
background
While working on a requiem commission, the 35-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart fell seriously ill. According to contemporaries, he wondered if he was composing his own funeral mass. Mozart’s Requiem (1791) has become one of the most iconic choral works in Western music history, shrouded in mystery and myth due to its unfinished state at the time of his death. His student, Franz Xaver Süßmayr, completed it based on Mozart’s sketches. The music is filled with drama and emotion, as if Mozart were imagining what it means to bid farewell to life.
This depth of musical expression is also found in the other works on this program. In Inhale and And the Swallow, Caroline Shaw (*1982) blends ancient forms with a contemporary sound palette, seeking the transcendent—just as Mozart does in his Requiem—through harmony and text.
Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 44 (Trauer), from the Sturm und Drang period, is compact, melodically engaging, emotionally charged, sometimes fierce, with harmonic twists and striking dynamic contrasts. Haydn himself wished for the slow third movement to be played at his funeral.
Though differing in style and era, these works share a common quest for solace, reflection, and the essence of human existence.
