Süssmayr, Franz (Xaver) (1766-1803)

Austrian composer. He assisted Mozart with the opera La clemenza di Tito (probably the recitatives) and completed his unfinished Requiem. In 1792 he became conductor of the Kärntnertortheater.

He was educated at the monastery of Kremsmünster and was a pupil of Salieri and Mozart in Vienna. His completion of Mozart's Requiem has been reviled in recent years by scholars, but it remains the most satisfactory solution to a remaining musical problem.

Works Opera and stage operas Moses (1792), L'incanto superato (1793), Der Spiegel von Arkadien (1794), Il Turco in Italia (1794), Idris und Zenide (1795), Die edle Rache, Die Freiwilligen, Der Wildfang (after Kotzebue), Der Marktschreier (1799), Soliman II (after Favart, 1799), Gulnare (1800), Phasma, and others; two ballets.

Sacred and secular music Masses and other church music; cantatas Der Retter in Gelfahr (1796) and Der Kampf für den Frieden (1800).

Chamber clarinet concerto; serenades for flute, viola, and horn, and for violin, guitar, and English horn; instrumental pieces.