Charlotte Master Chorale & Charlotte Symphony present Mozart’s Requiem — Pay What You Want

Charlotte Master Chorale and Charlotte Symphony are presenting Mozart’s Requiem on Sunday, May 7, 2023, at 3 p.m., at East Mecklenburg High School, 6800 Monroe Road, Charlotte, NC.

Tickets are “Pay What You Want.” Don’t delay on buying your tickets, as they might sell out. It really is “Name Your Own Price.” Charlotte Master Chorale is covering the processing fees and sales tax. Purchase tickets here.

About the Work:

Mozart’s Requiem was created in a shroud of mystery. His health was deteriorating in early July of 1791 when a stranger showed up at the composer’s door on behalf of an individual who wanted a Requiem Mass from Mozart—but only if Mozart didn’t seek to learn the identity of his patron.

At the time, Mozart was battling debilitating fevers, while deeply engaged with the writing of The Magic Flute and another opera. On December 5, 1791, at the age of 35, he died without having completed the Requiem. Mozart had already been paid, and his widow Constanze was worried about having to return the payment if she submitted an incomplete score. In the end, Mozart’s pupil Süssmayer completed the work and copied the entire score in his own hand—making it virtually impossible to discern who wrote what—and gave it to the stranger.

Mozart’s patron turned out to be Anton Leitgeb, son of the mayor of Vienna and the valet of Count Franz von Walsegg-Stuppach. Leitgeb had a reputation of representing other people’s music as his own, and it was a full decade before Constanze was able to persuade the Count to acknowledge Mozart as the Requiem’s composer.

Charlotte Master Chorale website