Welcome to the Ether Game Weekly Podcast! Ether Game this week is looking at some musical shouldas, couldas, and wouldas! It's unfinished works and things left unsaid in a show we're calling "Fragmented." To get you started (or for those of you who just cannot wait for Tuesday nights), you can sharpen your skills with our podcast selection. Remember to keep your ears out for a portion of Tuesday night's Teaser selection. And don't forget to tune into the full show on Tuesday, May 16th at 8:00pm for a chance to win a prize!
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791): REQUIEM: Lacrimosa
Academy and Chorus of St Martin in the Fields; Sir Neville Marriner, conductor. Mozart: Requiem (Philips)
The intrigue behind Mozart's unfinished Requiem begins with the work's peculiar origins. In the summer of 1791, Mozart was visited by a mysterious stranger, who commissioned the composer to write a Requiem mass. As it turned out, the shadowy figure was actually an agent for Count Franz Walsegg-Stuppach, a nobleman whose wife had died earlier that year. The eccentric count had a penchant for anonymously commissioning works, and then passing them off as his own during their private performances. He intended to do the same with Mozart's Requiem, and planned on taking credit for the work at his wife's memorial service. However, Mozart died suddenly in December of that year, leaving many movements like this one unfinished, and putting an end to the count's dastardly plan. Mozart's student Franz Süssmayer was tasked to complete the Requiem from Mozart's fragments.