Giuseppe Verdi - Messa da Requiem

Although Requiem was a religious work, it was presented more in concert halls than in churches. Giuseppe Verdi wrote the famous Requiem in honour of his close friend, Alessandro Manzoni, the great Italian poet, writer, and humanist, who died in 1873. It is a powerful fusion of intense drama and passion, with moments of reverent simplicity. Verdi conducted the first performance at St. Mark's Church in Milan on May 22, 1874, the first anniversary of Manzoni's death. Revolutionary composition Verdi's Requiem has been revolutionary in two respects: First, because while the traditional requiem is a prayer of the living for the dead, Verdi's work was a function as much for the living as for the dead. As Verdi would expect, it's a dramatic, theatrical play. Written for four solo voices (soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor and bass) with full choir and orchestra, it follows the typical Roman Catholic Latin mass for the dead. The "libretto" certainly comes from the dram
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Franz Schubert - Introduction


In his brief passage from earth, Franz Schubert marked the beginning of a great era. The evolution of romance would certainly be different without the testimony of the Vienné composer. He first managed to essentially connect music with poetry and achieve the absolute sign identification of musical expression with speech. He thus emerges as a true poet of sounds.

But Schubert was first a man and then a poet. He felt deeply the human suffering, which is why he managed to transform it with touching sincerity into music. The subtle melancholy that is detected even in the brightest moments of his music becomes a guide to diving into the sanctuaries of the human soul and a catalyst in the effort to explore human emotion.

All his works are dominated by the gentle agony of the futile search for personal happiness. The form of the trekker exists everywhere, dominant and distant; even in the compositions of pure music, where each phrase is equivalent to a wonderful song without words, proving the superiority of the creator in melodic inventions. The steps of the trekker can be heard to fade as he walks away, oversteps not only the happiness and joys of life, but also life itself.

(George Monemvasitis)



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