Among the brilliant composer’s unusual wealth of compositions that this child prodigy produced during his short but very productive life of 35 years, the Requiem by Mozart is one of the most enigmatic pieces of music ever composed, shortly before his death.
The staging of the Requiem, Mozart’s last and uncompleted composition (he was born in 1756 and died in 1791) will be another performance of the Unisa Music Foundation Symphony Orchestra, collaborating this time with the vocal art section of the Tshwane University of Pretoria.
The conductor, Thami Zungu, is currently a Program Coordinator for the Vocal Art section of the Performing Art Department at Tshwane University of Technology.
Born in Durban, he studied at the KwaZulu-Natal University and then went to America to study at Indiana University and The Juilliard School in New York.
The Unisa Music Foundation Symphony Orchestra has presented several successful concerts since October 2010, when it was founded with funds from the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund.
The aim of the orchestra is to give young, inexperienced players an opportunity to perform repertoire with professionals who have been part of orchestras for many years.
The soloists will be Andiswa Makana (soprano), Nokuthula Sidambe (alto), Nkululeko Maseko (tenor) and Khaya Mniki (baritone).
Ms Makana has recently given impressive performances at the voice master classes presented by the Unisa Music Foundation with distinguished German tenor Josef Protschka.
She has performed a number of roles in operas and was a member of the Black Tie Ensemble. She will be joined by talented young singers from TUT.
The Requiem by Mozart is one of the most enigmatic pieces of music ever composed, mostly because of the myths and controversies surrounding it, especially around how much of the piece was completed by Mozart before his death.
The eccentric count Franz von Walsegg commissioned the Requiem from Mozart anonymously through intermediaries. The count, an amateur chamber musician who routinely commissioned works by composers and passed them off as his own, wanted a Requiem Mass to memorialize the recent passing of his wife.
Mozart received only half of the payment in advance, so upon his death his widow Constanze was keen to have the work completed secretly by someone else, submit it to the count as having been completed by Mozart and collect the final payment.
It was completed by Franz Xaver Süssmayr, who borrowed some of Josef von Eybler's work, the first composer Constanze requested to finish the composition.
The Requiem was performed at numerous important occasions, including at a memorial service for Joseph Haydn in 1809, at the reburial of Napoleon I in Paris in 1840, and at Chopin’s funeral in 1849.
Tickets for this event are sold through www.itickets.co.za and cost between R55 and R130. Telephonic bookings can be made through the iTicket call centre: 0861 000 291.