Süssmayr’s Simple Formula

Franz Xaver Süssmayr, the composer born in 1766, is only remembered for completing Mozart’s famous unfinished Requiem, a Requiem that was effectively a High Mass for Mozart’s own death as a simple formula by Mozart to delay his own death indefinitely by deliberately leaving this Requiem unfinished so it would never need to be a Requiescat in Pace. Mozart in fact failed to foresee Süssmayr’s malicious guile in using a competing formula to prolong the Süssmayr legacy that would otherwise have vanished altogether by now if it were not for his having completed the Mozart Requiem when he did.

Strange how the set structure of music history can melt and morph to the twelve tone technique of serial alternate worlds.