Franz von Walsegg

Who was Franz von Walsegg?

Count Franz von Walsegg was an aristocrat, living in Stuppach Castle near Gloggnitz, who is best remembered for having commissioned a requiem mass from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1791 following the death of his twenty-year old wife Anna. A fellow Freemason and amateur musician, Walsegg had a penchant for commissioning works from composers of the day and then passing them off as his own in private performances. In his account of the commission of the requiem mass from Mozart, Anton Herzog states:

Herr Franz, Count von Walsegg... was a passionate lover of music and the theatre; hence, every week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays... quartets were played... So that we would not lack for new quartets, in view of so frequent productions of them, Herr Count not only procured all those publicly announced but was in touch with many composers, yet without ever revealing [their] identit[ies]... they delivered to him works of which he retained the sole ownership, and for which he paid well. To name one man, Herr Hoffmeister...

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