Your very own requiem
Work & Lifestyle
Grand funerals and eloquent eulogies are all very well when it comes to marking the demise of the wealthy and well-respected, but as the royalty and nobility of days gone by can attest, there’s nothing quite like a requiem to cement one’s name in the annals of time. Fortunately for today’s moneyed elite, there’s Requiem for You, an Austrian firm that can compose a personal requiem on demand.
Just launched last year, Requiem for You offers services on three levels, the most basic of which is the composition of an individually tailored requiem. The firm represents a network of composers, librettists and musicians who will write an individual requiem in advance, capturing the client’s unique personality and accommodating preferences for balance among vocal, instrumental and textual components. Styles available include baroque, classical, romantic, jazz or Broadway musical, with text in German, Latin or English. A personal laudatio is also available.
In addition to composing the piece, Requiem for You can also produce an audio recording of it using a team of freelance artists, orchestras and recording studios, once again honouring the client’s personal tastes in the CD’s cover art. Finally, upon request the company can arrange a performance of the requiem, using anything from an audio presentation of the recorded version to a live performance with orchestra and choir. Prices reportedly range from EUR 20,000 for the requiem’s composition to EUR 400,000 for the all-out live performance.
Requiem for You obviously targets the highest of high-end consumers, offering a premium shot at immortality that only the wealthiest can afford. This is where gravanity and premiumization meet—and given that there are some 9.5 million millionaires in the world, according to the 2007 World Wealth Report from Cap Gemini and Merrill Lynch, that’s not a bad place to be! (Related: Art after life.)
Spotted by: Martina Meng
23rd January 2008
Email: salzburg@requiemforyou.com
Website: www.requiemforyou.com