A Free Concert as Tribute to Mozart

The Florence Chamber Orchestra will perform in the Basilica of Santa Croce to mark the anniversary date of the great composer Mozart’s death on December 5 (9 pm). Santa Croce come alive with the sounds of Ave Verum Corpus (Hail True Body) K. 618 and Requiem in D minor K. 626, two great works by the musician (free entry until places are filled).

The public will be able to pick up a free ticket starting Friday, December 1 at the Santa Croce box office (piazza Santa Croce, 16) from 9:30 am – 5 pm daily.

Mozart, born in Austria 1756 and died in 1791, began composing by the age of five and 12 years later was already travelling around the world in search of fame and musical growth. By the end of his life, Mozart had produced more than 600 works, many among which were musical symphonies, concerts, chambers, operas and chorals, inspiring other well-known composers such as Beethoven and Haydn.

The Florence Chamber Orchestra will play alongside The Florence Choir to produce the classical sounds created by Mozart himself. At the centre of the performance will be Requiem, his last score, albeit unfinished, left to inspire future composers (1791).

The work was completed by composer Franz Xaver Süssmayr (1792), who then delivered Requiem to Count Franz Von Walsegg to use as a service to commemorate his wife’s death on February of the same year. The vibrational sounds of the piece with its accentuated and loud notes fit the funereal and gloomy theme. Mozart’s confrontation and approaching of death is the key to the inspiration of the work.

Verum Corpus (Hail True Body) K. 618 is a motet composed just six months before Mozart’s passing, which is said to foreshadow aspects of the Requiem. The composition, dedicated to his long-term friend, Anton Stoll, musical director of the Parish, St. Stephan, celebrated the feast of Corpus Christi, a solemnity that commemorated the life and presence of Jesus Christ.

By using historical instruments, Florence’s Chamber Orchestra will deliver a fine performance, which is part of a series of concerts dedicated to promote finely crafted quality string instruments entitled “Concerti dei quartetti della liuteria Toscana.”

Resonate notes will be delivered by Sabrina Bessi (soprano), Patrizia Scivoletto (contralto), Tenore Giampaolo Franconi (tenor) and Diego Colli (bass) who comprise the Florence Choir. These musicians have achieved great success in Florence, with Bessi and Scivoletto having worked in the Maggio Musicale Choir and Franconi and Colli having worked alongside Zeffirelli in his production of ‘Aida.’

The musical pieces, which celebrate both life and death, fit the occasion’s purpose and theme perfectly. The location is also a burial place for composers such as Rossini.

The evening is an opportunity to pay tribute and remember first-hand the great composer who was Mozart. For further information, e-mail info@orcafi.it. (karen gee)