This church is very near to the Hofburg Palace, the palace of the Holy Roman Emperors. St. Michael's was the parish church of the Emperors and their families. Many famous people are buried in the church. One of them is the Italian poet, Pietro Metastasio. The church has a very large pipe organ. Parts of the organ are covered with gilt (thin sheets of gold). The famous composer, Joseph Haydn, played this organ when he was a very young man. In 1791, parts of Mozart's "Requiem" (music set to the words of the Requiem Mass) were performed for the very first time in St. Michael's Church. They were performed in memory of Mozart by the singers and musicians who worked with him in Vienna. 