Franz Count von Walsegg (1763-1827), 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-Stuppach 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. 1763 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Naval Battle of Navarino by Carneray 1827 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Gloggnitz - a Mountain Town // Facts Altitude: 442 m Area: 0,4 km² Inhabitants: 5596 Municipal area: 19,554 km² Houses: 1713 Gloggnitz is situated in the south-western part of the Vienna Basin in Lower Austria. ... 1791 (MDCCXCI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 11-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Mozart redirects here. ... The Requiem Mass in D minor (K. 626) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was composed in 1791. ... The Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known formally (in Latin) as the Missa pro defunctis or Missa defunctorum, is a liturgical service of the Roman Catholic Church and, in a wholly different ritual form and texts, the Eastern Rite Catholic Churches as well as the Anglican High Church and certain...

Although Mozart died before completing the requiem, Mozart's wife arranged to have the work completed in order to gain the remainder of the sum Walsegg had promised.

Franz Count von Walseg is sometimes erroneously referenced as Count Walsegg-Stuppach.

References

• Bernard Jacobson (1995) Catholic with Masonic Overtones (insert in Sacred Music, CD#18 of the Best of the Complete Mozart Edition), Philips: Germany