Mozart Requiem.

Watch the video for a surprise! Click the arrow, the click then screen again to get the whole view.

Well, we did it.  We left home last night at 9:45PM for the Carmelite church and arrived at 10PM.  There were already about 30 people there, at the back of the church, waiting for the choir to finish it's rehearsal so we sat down and listened.  At about 10:15PM they finished and we allowed to go forward into the church and find a seat.  We were in the fith row on the left of the altar and had good seats because we were so early.We thought this was just going to be a performance for the Mozart Requiem but it turned out that it was actually a complete mass for the dead composer held each year on Dec. 4th, the day of his death.

We've heard the Requiem before but this was the first time we were part of the whole mass while it was being performed. It was quite an experience!  The priest wore a black CHASUBLE – The most important Mass vestment. It is a large, full vestment, made of rich cloth.  He was attended by 6 younger priests and the entire amount of items on the altar were draped in black.  The whole mass was said in Latin, except for the sermon which was given in Polish.  He was an old priest who spoke very slowly so the mass took almost 2 hours but it was fantastic to hear the different parts of the Requiem being sung and played during the complete mass.  We didn't get home until about 1:30AM and it was very cold for the walk back to the car but since we arrived early we parked fairly close to the church.  The crowd, itself, was very large and there were folding chairs everywhere in the church to seat as many people as possible but even with the extra chairs there were still people standing in the back during the service.  We heard the church was heated but it wasn't and everyone wore coats, scarves and gloves.