Mass for the dead at Palma's music conservatory

Studium Aureum has been a foundation since 2009, the Studium Chamber Choir having originally been created by conductor Carles Ponseti in 1982.

It now also has an orchestra and each year organises a season of concerts, usually at the Conservatory in Palma, that are aimed at a diverse and demanding audience. Consequently, Studium Aureum regularly tackle demanding works, which is the case with Niccolo Jommelli, 'Missa pro Defunctis' (Mass for the Dead).

Jommelli, whose career ran from 1737 until his death at the age of 59 in 1774, was primarily known for writing operas. But there were also sacred works. Missa pro Defunctis was composed for the 1756 funeral of Princess Marie Auguste Anna of Thurn and Taxis, the Duchess Consort of Württemberg. He only had eight days to compose the work, and so it was something of a reworking of other pieces. As requiems go, it is considered to be one of the finest from the eighteenth centuries.