Franz von Walsegg
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Franz Count von Walsegg (January 17, 1763 - November 11, 1827), living on Stuppach castle near Gloggnitz, was the aristocrat who, in 1791, sent a messenger to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to commission a requiem mass. The count, apparently an amateur musician, had a penchant for commissioning works from composers of the day and then passing those works off as his own in private performances. Walsegg intended to have the requiem performed (as his own composition) in memory of his young wife, Anna, who died on February 14, 1791 at the age of twenty. The grieving Count Walsegg, only 28 himself at the time, would never remarry.
Although Mozart died before completing the requiem, Mozart's wife arranged for one of Mozart's friends, Franz Xaver Süssmayr, to complete the work in order to gain the remainder of the sum Walsegg had promised.
Franz Count von Walsegg is sometimes erroneously referenced as Count Walsegg-Stuppach.
[edit] References
- Bernard Jacobson (1995) Catholic with Masonic Overtones (insert in Sacred Music, CD#18 of the Best of the Complete Mozart Edition), Philips: Germany
