Commemorative Concert of Chopin's Funeral at the Madeleine

Relive the concert in homage to Chopin's funeral in the Madeleine church on October 30, 1849.

It is not known who decided to perform Mozart's Requiem at Chopin's funeral in the Madeleine church.

At eleven o'clock in the morning on October 30, 1849, three thousand people filled the church, all draped in black, and while the coffin was being raised from the crypt, an orchestra played Chopin's Funeral March in an arrangement by Napoleon Reber.

Then the organist Louis Lefébure-Wély performed the Preludes in E minor and B minor. At the end of the ceremony resounded Mozart's Requiem, performed by the orchestra and choirs of the Conservatory's Concert Society, under the direction of Narcisse Girard, with soloists Pauline Viardot and Luigi Lablache.

Program and cast

“Nocturne N°20, Waltz in A minor”, Waltz op.70 N°2, Waltz N°15, Waltz Op 34 N°2, Waltz op 69 N°2 by Chopin / Requiem by Mozart