The planned honor for Rossini never materialized, but as a result of his effort on its behalf Verdi was provided with a limb of the “Manzoni” Requiem. He already had in hand the last section of a mass for the dead, a Libera me, having written it, or a version thereof, in 1868 as part of a Requiem Mass intended to commemorate the death of Rossini, to which the composers of the day were to contribute a movement. He would write a Requiem Mass and express the depth of emotion he felt. But with the passage of time the loss became somewhat bearable, and as the haze of mourning lifted, the idea of honoring Manzoni through music appeared clearly. When he heard of Manzoni’s death he was stunned, incredulous, so much so that he could not even bring himself to attend the revered man’s funeral. They say it is wrong to do so and it may be, although we raise up on altars many that have neither the talent nor the virtue of Manzoni and indeed are rascals.” I would have gone down on my knees before him if we were allowed to worship men. The dramatic impulses that gave life (and death) to La Traviata, Il Trovatore, Aida, and the rest could not be diluted or stilled when directed toward this work honoring a man of whom Verdi, after they had met, wrote with unashamed emotion, “How to describe the extraordinary, indefinable sensation the presence of the saint produced in me. When Verdi wrote the Requiem, he was, at 60, the composer of some 25 remarkably vivid operas, with only Otello and Falstaff to come.
Alessandro Manzoni, born in 1785, is considered the father of the modern Italian novel his masterpiece, I promessi sposi (The Betrothed), although a charming love story, was actually intended by the writer to express a strong political statement. Verdi equated Italy’s freedom from foreign rule with an author whom he idolized as much for his championing of Italian independence as for his literary excellence.
#Dies irae requiem mark hayes professional
Verdi’s sympathies with the Italian nationalist liberal cause may not have been the guiding force of his professional activities, but there was no question that he held high the ideal of his country’s desire for independence, which finally came in 1870.
#Dies irae requiem mark hayes free
“Va, pensiero, sull’ ali dorate” (Go, thought, on golden wings) became a rallying cry of freedom from Austrian rule and Verdi the musical standard bearer of the movement towards a united and free Italy.
His singular stature in the world of 19th-century lyric theater effectively began with the success of his third opera, Nabucco, in 1842, a work that the composer came to write only after the most intense urging and cajoling by Bartolomeo Merelli, impresario of Milan’s La Scala.Ī vital element of Nabucco’s success was a performance-stopping chorus in the opera’s third act.
When Verdi composed the Requiem, in 1873, he had long been considered opera’s reigning master.
For his trouble, Bülow was soundly rebuffed by Brahms himself, who said, “Only a genius could have written such a work.”īrahms, of course, was right it takes one to know one. Is the Requiem Mass Verdi’s greatest opera? Did this great man of the lyric theater compose a work in which four solo singers, one from each vocal group, stand on a platform in company only with a symphony orchestra and a mixed chorus, and produce anything even remotely resembling the kinds of staged works that had made him famous? Or was it just his latest opera in ecclesiastical vestments? This was the snide assertion made by the loyal Brahms partisan, pianist-conductor Hans von Bülow. Orchestration: 3 flutes (3rd = piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 4 bassoons, 4 horns, 8 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, and stringsįirst Los Angeles Philharmonic performance: August 5, 1932, with soprano Monnie Hayes Hastings, contralto Clemence Gifford, tenor Dan Gridley, bass Clifford Lott, and the Los Angeles Civic Chorus, Bernardino Molinari conducting