Simon Mayr: Requiem in G Minor

Admired for his fusion of German and Italianate musical elements, Johann Simon Mayr is increasingly recognized as one of the most intriguing and influential composers of his time. His Requiem in G minor is shrouded in compositional obscurity but it is clear that the published version is surpassed both in scale and instrumentation by the elaborate edition performed here, which has been assembled from the autograph manuscripts. Small sections were composed by Donizetti and then corrected by his teacher, Mayr. Church style and more Romanticized elements are finely balanced in this important example of Mayr's compositional language.