“Franz Beyer, who has died aged 96, was a German musicologist who in the 1970s provided a satisfactory conclusion to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s unfinished Requiem; it has since become widely used by orchestras around the world,” reads an unsigned obituary in Friday’s (7/20) Telegraph (London). “Mozart began working on his Requiem in 1791 but died before it could be completed…. Franz Xaver Süssmayr … Mozart’s pupil, [completed] the work, but his efforts have often been criticized as unworthy of his teacher. Beyer published his edition in 1971. It has been described as ‘essentially a skimming of Süssmayr’ and is notable for its lighter texture, particularly in the wind parts…. It was quickly adopted by conductors including Leonard Bernstein, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Franz Welser-Möst…. Beyer made more than 150 revisions and completions of pieces by some 25 composers, as well as writing cadenzas for all three of Haydn’s surviving violin concertos. Franz Beyer was born at Weingarten, south-west Germany…. [During] the Second World War … he was imprisoned in France, from 1943 until 1947…. After the war became a [violist] of the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra…. From 1962 to 1995 Beyer was professor of viola and chamber music at the Munich Hochschule für Musik und Theater.”
Posted July 20, 2018
