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Mozart's Requiem may be the piece of music I value over all others but Verdi's Requiem is by far my favorite Requiem.
After it's premiere, many thought it was sacrilegious and better suited for the theater and opera stage than the church.
Performance practice has supported that criticism. Verdi's Requiem is for concert use only.
I'll never forget the first time I heard the Verdi Requiem. The opening Requiem aeternum was introspective until the tenor solo demands mercy in the Kyrie.
I had no idea what was coming next. The Dies Irae attacked and I was conquered by Verdi forever.
As dramatic as the Dies Irae and Tuba Mirum are it is Verdi's Lacrymosa that stuns us.
While Mozart's Lacrymosa is personal and poignant, Verdi's is written on a biblical scale.
One can hear all of humanity rising from the ashes to be redeemed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UENK70U6Lk
Verdi was not a particularly religious man but he was a master of setting text to music. At least he was by the time he wrote The Requiem.
Premiered in 1874, The Requiem belongs to Verdi's mature works which include Aida, Otello, and Falstaff.
Verdi's middle operas (Trovatore, Rigoletto, La Traviata) were inconsistent with the marriage of text and music. However, they contain extraordinary scenes of dramatic vision that rank amongst the most amazing moments in the operatic repertoire.
The Requiem is a flawless, dramatic, interpretation except for the Sanctus. It is fantastic music but sounds more mirthful than holy.
In the final Libera Me, Verdi brings all his compositional powers into focus.
In a tour de force for the soprano soloist, Verdi brings back the powerful Dies Irae, and demands deliverance before pleading for liberation. Finally, the heavens and earth and shaken with a masterful fugue for the chorus and orchestra.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUuIDJqz2XY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPZ8kAIxuKw&feature=related
What Verdi's Requiem gives us is a theatrical experience of music that has a spiritual content. It may not be appropriate for church but Verdi's music is sacred.
So far as the performance in the video clips. We may never see another Verdi performance with a collection of artists such as these.
Leontyne Price is utterly and absolutely amazing.
Mezzo Fiorenza Cossotto is the greatest singer the general public has never heard of. No singer has topped her performances of Santuzza (Cavalleria) and Amneris (Aida).
A svelte, clean-shaved Pavarotti is the tenor.
Bulgarian bass Nicolai Ghiaurov completes the dream team quartet.
At the time of this performance, conductor Herbert von Karajan was simultaneously the principal conductor of The Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna State Opera, Vienna Philharmonic and La Scala. He was, for all intents and purposes, the principal conductor of Europe.
This is more than a documentation of a great piece of music, it is also a recording of tremendous artists some of whom dominated the later half of the 20th century.
Mozart's Requiem may be the piece of music I value over all others but Verdi's Requiem is by far my favorite Requiem.
After it's premiere, many thought it was sacrilegious and better suited for the theater and opera stage than the church.
Performance practice has supported that criticism. Verdi's Requiem is for concert use only.
I'll never forget the first time I heard the Verdi Requiem. The opening Requiem aeternum was introspective until the tenor solo demands mercy in the Kyrie.
I had no idea what was coming next. The Dies Irae attacked and I was conquered by Verdi forever.
As dramatic as the Dies Irae and Tuba Mirum are it is Verdi's Lacrymosa that stuns us.
While Mozart's Lacrymosa is personal and poignant, Verdi's is written on a biblical scale.
One can hear all of humanity rising from the ashes to be redeemed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UENK70U6Lk
Verdi was not a particularly religious man but he was a master of setting text to music. At least he was by the time he wrote The Requiem.
Premiered in 1874, The Requiem belongs to Verdi's mature works which include Aida, Otello, and Falstaff.
Verdi's middle operas (Trovatore, Rigoletto, La Traviata) were inconsistent with the marriage of text and music. However, they contain extraordinary scenes of dramatic vision that rank amongst the most amazing moments in the operatic repertoire.
The Requiem is a flawless, dramatic, interpretation except for the Sanctus. It is fantastic music but sounds more mirthful than holy.
In the final Libera Me, Verdi brings all his compositional powers into focus.
In a tour de force for the soprano soloist, Verdi brings back the powerful Dies Irae, and demands deliverance before pleading for liberation. Finally, the heavens and earth and shaken with a masterful fugue for the chorus and orchestra.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUuIDJqz2XY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPZ8kAIxuKw&feature=related
What Verdi's Requiem gives us is a theatrical experience of music that has a spiritual content. It may not be appropriate for church but Verdi's music is sacred.
So far as the performance in the video clips. We may never see another Verdi performance with a collection of artists such as these.
Leontyne Price is utterly and absolutely amazing.
Mezzo Fiorenza Cossotto is the greatest singer the general public has never heard of. No singer has topped her performances of Santuzza (Cavalleria) and Amneris (Aida).
A svelte, clean-shaved Pavarotti is the tenor.
Bulgarian bass Nicolai Ghiaurov completes the dream team quartet.
At the time of this performance, conductor Herbert von Karajan was simultaneously the principal conductor of The Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna State Opera, Vienna Philharmonic and La Scala. He was, for all intents and purposes, the principal conductor of Europe.
This is more than a documentation of a great piece of music, it is also a recording of tremendous artists some of whom dominated the later half of the 20th century.