Few choral works have enthralled audiences to the same extent as Guiseppe Verdi’s
Messa di Requiem.
When Rossini died in 1868, Verdi proposed that a Requiem should be written in honour of the great man. Thirteen leading Italian composers, including Verdi himself, would each be invited to contribute a movement. Somewhat predictably, initial enthusiasm for the idea soon gave way to all kinds of professional rivalries, and when it also became clear that the piece would be little more than an unconvincing pot-pourri, the scheme had to be abandoned.
In 1873 the Italian poet, novelist and national hero Alessandro Manzoni died. Verdi, a lifelong admirer, was deeply affected by his death. He decided to write a Requiem to the memory of Manzoni, and began by reworking the Libera me which he had composed five years earlier for the ill-fated Rossini project. Though it is Verdi’s only large-scale work not intended for the stage, the Requiem is unashamedly theatrical in style, with passages of great tenderness and simplicity contrasting with intensely dramatic sections. Writing at the time, the eminent conductor and pianist Hans von Bülow aptly described it as ‘Verdi’s latest opera, in church vestments’.
The first performance of the Messa di Requiem took place on 22 May 1874, the first anniversary of Manzoni’s death, in St. Mark’s Church, Milan. Special permission had to be obtained from the Archbishop to include the female choristers, who were hidden behind a screen, clad in full-length black dresses and mourning veils. Though it was a successful performance, the restrained circumstances and the fact that applause was not permitted produced a somewhat muted reaction. In contrast, the second performance three days later at La Scala Opera House was received by the capacity crowd with tumultuous enthusiasm.
The Requiem became an overnight sensation, and was equally ecstatically received at the many European performances that soon followed. Its British premiere took place in May 1875 at the Albert Hall, conducted by Verdi himself, with a chorus of over 1000 and an orchestra of 140. One journalist described the work as ‘the most beautiful music for the church that has been produced since the Requiem of Mozart’ – a view that was echoed by most people. However, a significant minority found it offensive that Verdi, an agnostic, should write a Requiem. For them the very qualities which made his music so ideally suited to the theatre made it wholly unacceptable for the church.
Text: John Bawden