LLUC Verdi Requiem Concert Program - Loma Linda University ...

Giuseppe Verdi
Messa da Requiem
(“Requiem”)
Requiem
Dies irae
Dies irae
Tuba mirum
Mors stupebit
Liber scriptus
Quid sum miser
Rex tremendae
Recordare
Ingemisco
Confuntatis
Lacrymosa
Offertory
Sanctus
Agnus Dei
Lux aeterna
Libera me
About the Music
Messa da Requiem
Composed 1873–1874
Orchestration: piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 4 bassoons, 4 horns,
4 trumpets, 4 off-stage trumpets, 3 trombones, ophicleide*, timpani, bass
drum, strings, chorus, and soloists. (*Obsolete bass instrument replaced by
a tuba.)
In 1873, the year he composed his Requiem, Giuseppe Verdi had reached
an enviable position among his compatriots. Born in 1813 in humble
circumstances, he had slowly but steadily risen to become the most famous
Italian composer of his time. His operas were the most popular ones in his
home country, his name was familiar in all households, and his melodies
were sung in the streets of every Italian city. His works had triumphed not
only in Italy but had conquered all the capitals of Europe and beyond. They
were performed in all the major theaters from Madrid to St. Petersburg and
from London to Cairo.
When Verdi received the news that Alessandro Manzoni, the great man of
Italian letters and respected political figure, had died on 22 May 1873, he
was deeply saddened and he decided to compose a work to pay homage to
a man he venerated as a writer and patriot. For this purpose he turned to a
piece he had composed four years earlier as part of another commemorative
project. This consisted of a Requiem mass to which a number of Italian
composers, including Verdi, had contributed and that was to be performed
on the anniversary of Gioachino Rossini’s death. The performance of this
work, however, never took place, and Verdi set aside the piece he had written.
In 1773, wishing to honor Manzoni on the anniversary of his death, he began the composition of a complete Requiem Mass using
his earlier piece, the Libera me, as the starting point. The work received its first performance on 22 May 1874 in the church of San
Marco in Milan under Verdi’s conductorship. On 25, 27, and 29 of the same month the work was performed to great acclaim at the
Teatro alla Scala in Milan. And in little more than a year it was performed with great success in Paris, New York, London, and Vienna.
Why did Verdi choose the text of the Mass for the Dead for a commemorative work, one may ask. All the evidence indicates that Verdi
did not intend the work to be a confession of faith but rather a public ceremony of homage. Before Verdi, Cherubini and Berlioz had
used the text for musical Requiems designed for political celebrations. The Requiem Mass provided a ready-made text that gave Verdi
ample opportunities to apply his vast experience as a composer of vocal dramatic music.
Throughout the history of Requiem Mass settings, composers have shown particular attraction to the text of the Sequence “Dies
irae” because of the possibilities it offers for dramatic musical expression. The “Dies irae” is a long poetic text attributed to Thomas of
Celano (died about 1250). The poem consists of seventeen three-line stanzas, all lines in each stanza rhyming together, and a four-line
stanza at the end (the final two unmetrical lines are later additions). The poem paints in solemn terms the awe-inspiring events of
the Last Judgment, the sound of trumpets, the burning of the earth, and the gathering of humankind before the Judgment Throne. In
contrast to this picture, the text is also a prayer for deliverance from eternal punishment and for admittance to God’s kingdom with
all the redeemed. The student of the Bible will notice the varied imagery drawn from Scripture throughout the poem.
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VERDI
REQUIEM