VERDI's Requiem
Saturday 20th November 2010
Our forthcoming concert is at our regular venue,
Leamington's lovely old church of All Saints. It's at 7.30 pm on
Saturday 20th November 2010. Click here to find out how to purchase tickets.
Requiem - Giuseppe Verdi (1813 - 1901)
When Rossini died in 1868, Verdi proposed that a Requiem should be written in honour of the great man. Thirteen leading Italian composers,
including himself, would each be invited to contribute a movement. Somewhat predictably, initial enthusiasm for the idea soon gave way to
all sorts of professional rivalries, and when it also became clear that the piece would be little more than an unconvincing pot-pourri,
the scheme had to be abandoned.
In 1873 the Italian poet, novelist and national hero Alessandro Manzoni died. Verdi had been a lifelong admirer and was deeply affected by
his death. He decided to write a Requiem in Manzoni’s memory, and began by re-working the Libera me which he had composed five years earlier
for the ill-fated Rossini project. Though it is Verdi’s only large-scale work not intended for the stage, the Requiem is unashamedly
theatrical in style, with passages of great tenderness and simplicity contrasting with intensely dramatic sections. Writing at the time,
the eminent conductor and pianist Hans von Bülow aptly described it as "Verdi’s latest opera, in church vestments".
The first performance of the Messa di Requiem took place on 22nd May 1874, the first anniversary of Manzoni’s death, in St. Mark’s Church, Milan.
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