messa di Requiem

The Messa da Requiem (at one time referred to as the Manzoni Requiem) is a musical setting of the Catholic funeral mass (Requiem) for four soloists, double choir and orchestra by Giuseppe Verdi. It was composed in memory of Alessandro Manzoni, whom Verdi admired.

'Dies Irae' (literally, Day of Wrath) is a medieval Latin poem, and one of the most famous melodies of the Gregorian Chant. In its original form, it's a four-note melody describing Judgment Day, the Christian day when humanity will come before God to receive judgment.

May 22, 1874 Requiem premiered in Milan on May 22, 1874. It is Verdi's largest-scale nonoperatic work.

The Story: When opera composer Gioachino Rossini died in November 1868, Giuseppe Verdi conceived a grand project to commemorate the anniversary of his death. It was to be a Requiem Mass for which the most prominent Italian composers of the time would each contribute one movement.

Giuseppe Verdi, Requiem, 'Dies Irae' The Dies Irae (Day of Wrath) is the best known movement from the Requiem and displays a distinctive chaotic theatricality. After Mozart's requiem, it has been said that Verdi's requiem is the second most performed choral piece of recent times.

New collaboration between opera and ballet Verdi's Messa da Requiem is sometimes jokingly referred to as 'Verdi's best opera' due to its operatic nature. Verdi put so much drama into the solemn mass that it cries out for a theatrical interpretation, with the addition of moving bodies.

The commission of Mozart's Requiem Intrigued by the rules surrounding the commission, Mozart obsessively threw himself into the piece and worked on almost nothing else for several months. However, by this time, his health was deteriorating and he was unable to finish what he started.

rest Etymology. Middle English requiem "a mass for the dead," from Latin requiem "rest," the first word of the phrase Requiem aeternum dona eis "Eternal rest grant to them," said or sung at the begining of the mass.

Prepare for the 'wow factor' as more than 1,000 singers from The Really Big Chorus raise the roof in Verdi's Requiem – sometimes described as 'opera without the costumes' and certainly one of the most theatrical settings ever of these words.

A requiem, or dirge, can also be a piece of music used for this ceremony or in any other context honoring those who have died. The word requiem comes from the opening words of the Roman Catholic Mass for the Dead, which is spoken or sung in Latin (requies means “rest”).

Mozart's swansong Mozart's Requiem may be called a musical "blockbuster" and the mysterious context surrounding its creation has largely contributed to its legendary status. The virtuosic composer died as he was composing it, at the young age of 35.

It has the drama and humanity of his stage masterpieces. His operas wrestle with the beauty and complexity of being alive in the same way his Requiem grapples with the mystery of death. Composed by a man on the edge of consciousness, Mozart willed his last creation into life with his final breaths.