BC Chorale Performs Mozart’s Requiem

On November 11 and 12, the University Chorale of Boston College performed Mozart’s Requiem in D minor at Trinity Chapel on Newton Campus. The University Chorale was accompanied by a professional orchestra and four soloists.

The performance opened with a selection of songs performed by the Chamber Singers of the University Chorale, including O Magnum Mysterium, a piece in Latin marveling at the Nativity and how the animals saw Christ the Lord as a baby in a manger. After giving a taste of the music to come in their Christmas concert, the Chorale began its performance of the Requiem.

In the Catholic Church, a Requiem Mass is a Mass that is offered for the souls of the dead, usually said in the context of a funeral. Many other composers authored pieces to be performed at a Requiem Mass, but Mozart’s is unique thanks to its fascinating backstory.

Mozart began composing the Requiem in 1791 as a commission from Count Franz von Waslegg for the count’s recently deceased wife. Walsegg was known for passing off works he commissioned from other composers as his own and likely planned to do the same for this piece. His plan was thwarted, however, by Mozart’s death on December 5, 1791.

Mozart died with only the first part, the Introit, finished, with the rest in draft or note form. In order to collect the final payment for the Requiem, Mozart’s widow Constanze asked Joseph von Eybler and then Franz Xaver Süssmayr to complete it while she pretended that Mozart himself had finished the composition.

Constanze held a public benefit performance after the work was completed. She also claimed that Mozart wrote the Requiem for his own funeral. While this may have been an embellishment to hide that the work was not finished at the time of his death, that the Requiem in D minor was the last thing Mozart worked on adds weight to a piece that was meant as an offering to the dead.

The University Chorale recognized this meaning of the piece, offering it up for one of its own dearly departed, Kerry O’Reilly, BS ‘12, MS ‘13. The program for the concert indicated that Kerry’s friends and family had contributed donations that made the performance possible. It was a touching gesture, and the beautiful, mournful Requiem provided a fitting tribute to a former Chorale member.

It was also perhaps an appropriate piece to play for Director of the University Chorale John Finney, who is in his 30th and final year with the group. He is beloved by the Chorale and Boston College community at large, as evidenced by the popularity of the Chorale among performers and attendees alike.

Chorale member Sean O’Donovan, MCAS ‘24, said of the performance, “It was a beautiful piece to sing and it was an honor to have performed it with John Finney in his last year as the Chorale director. He’s done this piece many times over his 30 years at BC and I’m very grateful to get a chance to perform it with him for the last time.”