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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Domenico Scarlatti - Introduction


Domenico Skarlatti had to be released from the paternal domination and emigrate, in order to benefit the music by developing his jealous gifts. In search of the new, he focused his effort on composing for the keyboard instruments (mainly the harpsichord), which in his time, were constantly evolving and had invaded spectacularly in the lives of the music lovers.

The 555 sonatas for keyboard instruments that came to fruition from his creative mind are not just exercises of interpretation (essercizi), as he had named them and as was previously believable. They are an imaginative series of short compositions, which introduce new techniques of interpretation and herald the magnificent form of the tripartite sonata.

A rare arsenal of harmonious and rhythmic wealth is revealed by listening to these compositions by Domenico Skarlatti. He wasn't just a virtuoso performer, he was also a master of imagination. Mixes with exceptional subtlety and balance the polyphony with the monody. His writing is constantly met with the grace, spirit and elegance of the Baroque era. He doesn't imitate anyone. On the contrary, being innovative, he creates the conditions to imitate him.

Sonatas, the cutting edge of Domenico Skarlatti's much-documented work, were the subject of a major investigation and cataloguing. First the Italian pianist and composer Alessandro Logo dealt with the archiving and organization of these works. Their numbering is defined by the prefix L.

Newer is the work of the American harpsichordist Ralph Leonard Kirkpatrick. The list he has drawn up - where sonatas are defined by K - is considered definitive.

(George Monemvasitis)


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