... on the Requiem for several weeks. But, shortly after resuming work in mid-November, Mozart became ill and took to his bed. He gathered a choir of friends around his bedside the afternoon of December 4th to sing the movements he had completed. He died less than twelve hours later. In dire need of money to support herself and her two young sons, Constanze asked several noted composers to complete the Requiem so that she could collect the balance of the commission. Feeling unequal to the task, they declined. Mozart's students Freystädtler and Eybler filled in some of the orchestration, but it fell to Franz Xaver Süssmayr to actually complete the score. Busy composing an opera of his own, Süssmayr rushed to meet the February deadline imposed by the mysterious Messenger. Able to imitate Mozart's handwriting, Süssmayr forged Mozart's signature on the title page and gave no indication that he had ...

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