Mozart’s Requiem is one of the most famous works in classical music. A work, moreover, that has long been shrouded in mystery: a patron who wanted to remain anonymous and, of course, death hot on the heels of the still-young composer while he was writing it. Inspired by Handel’s oratorios, J.S. Bach’s religious works and Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Mozart, sometimes delirious with fever, worked day and night on what would become his swan song.

A swan song that remained unfinished, because somewhere the pen must have fallen out of his hand. To two of his assistants the thankless honour of finishing the work of a genius based on sketches. Joseph Eybler made an attempt, Franz Xaver Süssmayr, finally completed the Requiem. In 2015, Bach Collegium Japan made an internationally acclaimed recording of the famous work, combining the best of Süssmayr with the best of Eybler, resulting in a Requiem entirely in the spirit of Mozart.

Beforehand, you’ll hear one of Mozart’s best-loved symphonies. As a finale, you will hear the Ave Verum Corpus, a short but poignant work that, like his Requiem, Mozart composed in the last year of his life.