Join us on Sunday, Aug. 23 at 1 p.m. on WRTI 90.1 and Monday, Aug. 24 at 7 p.m. on WRTI HD-2 as The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert brings you an all-Mozart program from the 2025/2026 season, featuring the Symphony No. 40 and the unfinished Requiem, as completed by Mozart’s pupil Franz Xaver Süssmayr. British conductor Harry Bicket, a renowned specialist in Baroque and Classical repertoire, makes his Philadelphia Orchestra debut with this program, which also features the Philadelphia Symphonic Choir and a quartet of superb soloists.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was one of the first composers to earn his living largely as a freelancer. Without a full-time position working for a noble or royal patron, he depended on concert fees, commissions, and publisher’s receipts. This meant that he usually composed with a specific performance or purpose in mind. And so his last three symphonies — all great masterworks — present us with a mystery. He wrote his 39th, 40th, and 41st symphonies in a burst of creativity over six weeks in the summer of 1788, but for what reason, we’re not sure. No firm record of performances in his lifetime has survived. Having composed them with such urgency, it’s hard to believe that he never heard them at all. And in fact there is a clue in the 40th symphony, which we hear on this program: At some point, he revised it, adding clarinet parts and making other tweaks. If he hadn’t heard the symphony performed, it’s unlikely he would have felt a need to change it. In this performance, though, Harry Bicket gives us a rare chance to hear the Symphony No. 40 in G minor as it was originally conceived.
This all-Mozart concert concludes with the Requiem in D Minor, K. 626, left unfinished at his death and then completed by his student, Franz Xaver Süssmayr. In the summer and fall of 1791, Mozart faced a daunting schedule. He had taken a post as assistant musical director of St. Stephen’s Cathedral, and was also composing two ambitious operas: The Magic Flute and La Clemenza di Tito. He rehearsed and conducted both premieres within less than a month, then set to work on his Clarinet Concerto.
In the midst of all this activity, Mozart received a commission to compose a Requiem Mass. He received a handsome advance, and devoted himself to the Requiem as soon as the operas and concerto were safely behind him. By this time, though, he was exhausted and ill. In fact, he had less than two months to live, and seemed to sense he wouldn’t be able to complete the work. He gathered colleagues and his wife Constanze around him as he composed, to sing through his sketches. And he gave instructions to his 25-year-old student, Süssmayr, on how to finish it. Others have since attempted their own completions of the Requiem, but Bicket calls himself “a fan of this version. It uses a lot of material more than once, but I think that gives it a kind of a nice cycle.”
When the opening music returns at the end — an idea generally thought to be Mozart’s direction to Süssmayr — Bicket notes that “it does feel like a book-ending.” In this performance the Philadelphia Orchestra is joined by the Philadelphia Symphonic Choir and soloists Lauren Snouffer, soprano; Elizabeth DeShong, mezzo-soprano; David Portillo, tenor; and Brandon Cedel, bass-baritone.
PROGRAM:
Mozart: Symphony No. 40 in g minor, K. 550
Mozart: Requiem in d minor, K. 626
The Philadelphia Orchestra
The Philadelphia Symphonic Choir
Harry Bicket, conductor
Lauren Snouffer, soprano
Elizabeth DeShong, mezzo-soprano
David Portillo, tenor
Brandon Cedel, bass-baritone
WRTI PRODUCTION TEAM:
Melinda Whiting: Host
Alex Ariff: Senior Producer
Tyler McClure: Broadcast Engineer
Listen to The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert broadcasts, every Sunday at 1 p.m. on WRTI 90.1, streaming at WRTI.org, on the WRTI mobile app, and on your smart speaker. Listen again on Mondays at 7 p.m. on WRTI HD-2. Listen for up to two weeks after broadcast on WRTI Replay or by scrolling down the home page at WRTI.org to Philadelphia Orchestra In Concert On Demand.
