Who Commissioned Mozart's Requiem: The Mysterious Count Walsegg 👤

The Requiem in D minor (K. 626) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is famously shrouded in mystery and superstition, a narrative fueled by the composer's declining health and the anonymous nature of the commission. The true identity of the commissioner was revealed only after Mozart's death, exposing a bizarre plot that deeply affected the fate of this classical masterpiece.

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1. The Anonymous Request and the Cloaked Messenger 🤫

In the summer of 1791, just months before his death, Mozart received the commission under highly dramatic and unusual circumstances:

• The Messenger: The request was delivered by a mysterious messenger dressed in a cloak, an anonymous intermediary who demanded strict secrecy regarding the identity of the patron.
• Mozart's Belief: Because his own health was failing rapidly, and influenced by the messenger's dramatic presentation, Mozart (as popularized by his wife Constanze) tragically became convinced that he was composing the Requiem, a mass for the dead, for his own imminent funeral. This belief added a profound, fatalistic intensity to the creation of the work.
• The Fee: Mozart was paid an initial advance, which his widow, Constanze, desperately needed to secure by ensuring the work's completion after his death.

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2. The True Commissioner: Count Franz von Walsegg-Stuppach 👑

The mysterious figure behind the cloak was eventually identified as Count Franz von Walsegg zu Stuppach, a wealthy, if obscure, Austrian nobleman.

• The Motive: Count Walsegg commissioned the Requiem to commemorate the first anniversary of the death of his young wife, Anna. She had died on February 14, 1791.
• The Scandalous Game: Walsegg had a scandalous reputation as a musical dilettante. He was known to commission works anonymously from famous composers (including other works now considered classical repertoire pieces), secretly pay for them, and then perform them at his private gatherings, often passing the compositions off as his own work.
• The Conditions: The demand for anonymity and the strict caveat that Mozart could not make copies were designed to allow Walsegg to claim authorship of the Requiem upon its presentation.

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3. The Aftermath and Impact on Completion ✍️

Mozart died on December 5, 1791, leaving the Requiem unfinished. The knowledge of Walsegg’s identity and strict terms had profound consequences:

• Constanze’s Dilemma: Mozart's widow, Constanze, was in dire financial straits. To collect the remainder of the commission fee, she desperately needed to deliver a "completed" score to the Count before he could back out of the agreement.
• The Completion: This urgency led Constanze to quickly hire Mozart’s pupils, first Joseph Eybler and eventually Franz Xaver Süssmayr, to finish the score, often relying on Mozart's sparse sketches and oral instructions. Süssmayr's completion (which delivered the piece to Walsegg) is the version most commonly performed, though it remains a source of musicological debate.

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Conclusion: A Legacy of Intrigue

The story of Count Franz von Walsegg is central to the Requiem's powerful narrative. While he merely sought a private piece to claim as his own, his secretive commission, delivered by the cloaked messenger, convinced Mozart he was writing his final farewell. This fateful misunderstanding elevated the Requiem from a simple commission to a work of intense personal and spiritual gravity, forever intertwining its musical genius with a haunting, unresolved composer story.