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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Maurice Ravel - Pavane pour une infante défunte


Maurice Ravel seems to have chosen this title - "Infante" means Spanish princess - only for the pleasant sonic tinge, since the princess is a completely fantastic person. The composer wrote the Pavana in 1899 while he was still a student at the Paris Conservatory. The immediate success of this work surprised Ravel, who considered the project morphologically impossible. However, when it was presented in 1902, the critics considered its form smooth and charming.

The solo violin, which plays in high tones accompanied by the pulsating sound of deep strings, produces the warm and rich tone of this form of Pavana. A short final section ends with the chords played by the soloist on the violin.

A second melody is repeated higher, again with chords of the violin, creating the impression of more than one instrument. Rich chords lead to a return to the original melody, now played on a higher scale of the violin.

A pizzicato appears as a third section begins. A rather sad, mournful passage leads to a final iteration of the original music. This time the melody is underlined by the use of violin harmonics - high sounds reminiscent of flute and produced by touching the string without pressure on the fret.


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