Giuseppe Verdi – Messa da Requiem

Historical discussion in this chapter focuses on the reasons Verdi composed a Requiem (first for the death of Gioachino Rossini and then for the death of the poet Allesandro Manzoni), followed by factors of composition, performance, and text. Musical discussion focuses on motives and structures that provide unity to the work and that give it aesthetic substance. Performance practice concerns address important revisions to the score, articulation markings that are particular to Verdi and that give the Requiem a unique expressiveness, tempo concerns, vocal and instrumental forces, and the performance of the Requiem with vocal forces on one side of the stage and orchestral forces on the other.