Requiem - W.A. Mozart

Though it remained unfinished, Mozart’s Requiem is one of the most influential scores of music history. By integrating Gregorian chorales and Handelian fugue themes into his music, the composer was a forerunner of nineteenth-century historicism. At the time, the work was regularly performed at large social events, having a lasting effect on the image of Mozart during this period. The instrumentation that included basset horns but no flutes, oboes, or horns anticipated the reduced orchestral scorings of composers like Stravinsky. Mozart thus created a masterpiece that continually radiated its influence toward the future and whose power and emotional poignancy still take our breath away today.