Memento mori – Of mourning and consolation in music

How do we keep memory alive? Which rituals carry us through grief, and what can music do when words fail? “Memento mori” looks for answers at Viennese places of remembrance such as St. Marx Cemetery – and in music.

Baritone Rafael Fingerlos and pianist Sascha El Mouissi perform songs by Schubert, Mozart and Richard Strauss. A string quintet drawn from the Vienna Philharmonic plays arrangements of songs by Beethoven and Schubert, and the Divinerinnen ensemble sings Mahler and traditional songs.

In between, a theologian, a representative of Vienna’s municipal funeral service, Bestattung Wien, and a musicologist talk about grief, farewell rituals and Vienna’s relationship with death. The film closes with Mahler’s “Ich bin der Welt abhandengekommen”, sung by the Divinerinnen ensemble.