Messa da Requiem

Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem is a musical setting of the Catholic funeral mass for four soloists, double choir and orchestra. It was composed in memory of Alessandro Manzoni, an Italian writer and humanist, whom Verdi admired. The first performance, at the San Marco church in Milan on 22 May 1874, conducted by the composer, marked the first anniversary of Manzoni's death. It was followed three days later by the same performers at La Scala. Considered too operatic to be performed in a liturgical setting, the Requiem is usually given in concert form; it takes around 90 minutes to perform. Musicologist David Rosen calls it "probably the most frequently performed major choral work composed since the compilation of Mozart's Requiem." 
 
Verdi’s work as an opera composer, for which he was famed worldwide, came to a close with the completion of Aida in 1871. Although he returned to the genre sixteen years later — to create Otello and thereafter his other late masterwork, Falstaff — his self-imposed retirement from the stage appeared to contemporaries to be a permanent condition. Manzoni’s death and the idea of writing a memorial piece rekindled the composer’s passion for creative work. The Requiem unlocked Verdi’s imagination and increasingly absorbed his time from the late autumn of 1873 until its completion on 16 April the following year. “I have never seen Verdi work with so much love on a work and lavish such care upon it,” observed Clara Maffei in January 1874. 
 
Before sketching his new composition, Verdi chose one of several versions of the Latin Requiem text, outlined its separate movements and further sectional subdivisions, and carefully determined the allocation of its words to four soloists, chorus, or distinct combinations of both. Although he was almost certainly familiar with the Requiems of Mozart and Cherubini, his setting’s prominent writing for individual soloists owes more to the models of Rossini’s Stabat Mater and Petite Messe solennelle. It is also likely that Verdi knew of the dramatic use of “offstage” brass instruments in the “Tuba mirum” of Berlioz’s Grande Messe des morts, as illustrated in his copy of the French composer’s influential treatise on orchestration. Verdi’s “Tuba mirum,” no less than that of Berlioz, evokes the vivid imagery of its medieval Latin verse: distant trumpet fanfares preface a mighty outburst from the full orchestra and the men of the chorus, commanding the appearance of all souls before the throne of divine judgment. There is no mistaking the fragility of earthly life here, especially in the apocalyptic music of the opening Dies irae verse, a whirlwind of voices and instruments shot through with the martial thunder of off-beat bass-drum strokes.

Verdi decided to use a subtly revised version of the Libera me from his Rossini project for the conclusion of his Requiem and introduced pre-echoes of its music into the new work’s opening movement, Requiem aeternam, and again in its Dies irae. He also found a home for fine material conceived for, but rejected from, the score of his opera Don Carlos, presenting it as the main theme of the Requiem’s “Lacrimosa.” For the work’s London premiere, in May 1875, Verdi replaced his original setting of the “Liber scriptus” from the Dies irae, a fugue for chorus and orchestra, with the version for solo mezzo-soprano familiar today. 
 
Verdi’s achievement in the Messa da Requiem speaks for his extraordinary capacity to create a unified and powerful work of art from the contrasting textual components of the Latin Mass for the Dead. The composer drew on early lessons received in sacred music and counterpoint during his apprenticeship to the organist and choirmaster of the Collegiate Church of San Bartolomeo in Busseto and during later studies in Milan. His feeling for long-range drama and carefully calibrated expressive contrasts, honed over decades as an opera composer, ideally suited the ebb and flow of emotions arising not least from the Requiem’s periodic textual repetitions, the vivid language and urgent pleas for salvation heard in the Dies irae and the Libera me, and the penitential tone of the Agnus Dei (treated here as a theme and variations rounded out by a sublime coda).
 
At the time of its premiere, the Requiem was criticized by some as being too operatic in style for the religious subject matter. According to Gundula Kreuzer, "Most critics did perceive a schism between the religious text (with all its musical implications) and Verdi's setting." Some viewed it negatively as "an opera in ecclesiastical robes" or alternatively, as a religious work, but one in "dubious musical costume." While the majority of critics agreed that the music was "dramatic," some felt that such treatment of the text was appropriate, or at least permissible. As to the quality of the music, the critical consensus agreed that the work displayed "fluent invention, beautiful sound effects and charming vocal writing." Critics were divided between praise and condemnation with respect to Verdi's willingness to break standard compositional rules for musical effect, such as his use of consecutive fifths.
 
Verdi structured the liturgical text in movements as follows:

• 1. Requiem
  • Introit (chorus)
  • Kyrie (soloists, chorus)
• 2. Dies irae
  • Dies irae (chorus)
  • Tuba mirum (chorus)
  • Mors stupebit (bass)
  • Liber scriptus (mezzo-soprano, chorus – chorus only in original version)
  • Quid sum miser (soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor)
  • Rex tremendae (soloists, chorus)
  • Recordare (soprano, mezzo-soprano)
  • Ingemisco (tenor)
  • Confutatis maledictis (bass, chorus)
  • Lacrymosa (soloists, chorus)
• 3. Offertory
• 4. Sanctus (double chorus)
• 5. Agnus Dei (soprano, mezzo-soprano, chorus)
• 6. Lux aeterna (mezzo-soprano, tenor, bass)
• 7. Libera me (soprano, chorus)

 
Differently from traditional settings of the Requiem mass, he assigned several parts to one soloist. He also wrote duets such as Recordare, Lacrymosa and Agnus Dei, and a quartet of solo voices in the Domine Jesu Christe in the offertory. Throughout the work, Verdi used vigorous rhythms, sublime melodies, and dramatic contrasts—much as he did in his operas—to express the powerful emotions engendered by the text.
 
During his long life, Verdi hovered between faith in God and agnosticism, perhaps compensating for the uncertainty of his position in later years with an extraordinary range of charitable activities and acts of kindness. The Messa da Requiem extends far beyond the scope of an occasional piece for one man. For all its troubling reminders of the Day of Judgment and intercessions for eternal salvation, it attends above all to the fears and hopes of the living. Verdi’s setting, arguably the greatest of all Requiems, crosses sectarian and religious divisions in its recognition of human suffering. Above all, it offers comfort, however brief, to all who mourn and all who are yet to mourn. 
 
Here are four albums:
 
Verdi: Requiem. Daniel Barenboim with Anja Harteros (soprano), Elīna Garanča (mezzo), Jonas Kaufmann (tenor), René Pape (bass), and Orchestra e coro del Teatro alla Scala, Milan. Release Date: 2 Sept 2013. Label: Decca. Catalogue No: 4785245. FLAC (CD Quality, 44.1 kHz, 16 bit).
Awards:
Gramophone Magazine, November 2013, Editor’s Choice.
Presto Favourites, Recommended Recording.
Presto Recording of the Week,
16 September 2013.
 
Verdi: Messa da Requiem. Antonio Pappano with Anja Harteros (soprano), Sonia Ganassi (mezzo), Rolando Villazon (tenor), René Pape (bass), and Orchestra dell’Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Coro dell’Accademia di Santa Cecilia. Release Date: 7 Sept 2009. Label: Warner Classics. Catalogue No: 6989362. FLAC (CD Quality, 44.1 kHz, 16 bit).
Awards:
BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2010, Choral Award Winner.
Gramophone Awards, 2010, Winner – Choral.
Gramophone Magazine, October 2009, Disc of the Month.
Radio 3 Building a Library, October 2015. First Choice.
 
Verdi: Messa da Requiem. Riccardo Muti with Barbara Frittoli (soprano), Olga Borodina (mezzo), Mario Zeffiri (tenor), Ildar Abdrazakov (bass), and Chicago Symphony Chorus & Orchestra. Release Date: 18 Oct 2010. Label: CSO Resound. Catalogue No: CSOR9011006. Hi-Res FLAC (Lossless, 88.2kHz, 24 bit).
Awards:
Grammy Awards 53rd Awards (2010), Best Choral Performance.
Grammy Awards, 53rd Awards (2010), Classical Album of the Year.
 
Verdi: Requiem. Herbert von Karajan with Mirella Freni (soprano), Christa Ludwig (mezzo-soprano), Nicolai Ghiaurov (bass), Carlo Cossutta (tenor), Helmut Froschauer (chorus master), and Wiener Singverein, Berliner Philharmoniker. Release Date: 26 Jan 2018. Label: Deutsche Grammophon. Catalogue No: 4798415. Hi-Res FLAC (Lossless, 96 kHz, 24 bit).

​Reference:
Requiem (Verdi). (2024, September 16). In Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Requiem_(Verdi)
 
Stewart, A. (2013). Verdi Requiem. Unitel GmbH & Co. KG.