Iskender Savasir <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Moreover I am not familiar with Michael Haydn's Requiem? Is there a
>recording of it available?

Actually Michael Haydn wrote *two* Requiems.  Let me qualify that.  He
started a second one and died before completing it: just like his friend
and co-worker at the Salzburg court Wolfgang Mozart.

The first one was written in 1778 for the funeral rites for the death
of the Archbishop of Salzburg.  Some theorize though that Haydn had
written the Mass really for his daughter who had died as an infant.  This
setting of the Requiem had a profound influence on Mozart.  He quoted
from Haydn's setting.  This Requiem has been recorded on Hungaroton.

The Requiem fragment also has been recorded, I just can't recall the
label.  The Empress of Austria commissioned the second Requiem, and the
reasons for the commission are sketchy for me.  I would have to dig
deeper.

Hope this helps
Kim Patrick Clow
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