Verdi's Requiem

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Kirsten Flagstads Plass 1,
0150 Oslo

Verdi's Requiem

Description

Verdi's monumental mass for the dead Operaorkestret, Operakoret and four of Nasjonaloperaen's soloists perform Giuseppe Verdi's monumental Requiem, led by music director Edward Gardner. A full evening with Nasjonaloperaen's own forces A century and a half after its premiere, Verdi's Requiem is still in a class of its own. With its enormous sonic splendour and its emotional range - from quiet prayer to apocalyptic Day of Judgement - it has become one of the most gripping musical reflections on life, death and hope ever written. Experience Marita Sølberg, Astrid Nordstad, Eirik Grøtvedt and Yngve Søberg in Verdi's monumental Requiem, performed with full orchestra and full chorus. In memory of two Italian masters Behind Verdi's Messa da Requiem lie the deaths of two of Italy's greatest cultural figures: the opera composer Gioachino Rossini and the author Alessandro Manzoni. When Rossini died in 1868, Verdi proposed that a group of Italian composers should write a joint mass for the dead in his memory. Verdi himself contributed the movement «Libera me», but the project was cancelled shortly before the premiere. When the author and national hero Alessandro Manzoni died in 1873, all of Italy mourned. Verdi had long looked up to Manzoni and set about writing a mass for the dead in his honour. Now the «Libera me» was brought out again. The result was his famous Requiem, written for soloists, chorus and large orchestra, first performed in the church of San Marco in Milan on 22 May 1874 - on the first anniversary of Manzoni's death. Verdi conducted the premiere himself, which was met with overwhelming enthusiasm and quickly followed by several performances at La Scala. From quiet prayer to apocalyptic Day of Judgement The work follows the Latin liturgy of the mass for the dead in seven main movements. Among them we find the famous «Dies irae», in which Verdi depicts the Day of Judgement with tremendous power from chorus and orchestra. In the midst of the drama there are also more reflective moments, including in the tenor's «Ingemisco», the duet «Recordare» and the mourning «Lacrymosa». Later in the work the three soloists step forward in the more intimate «Offertorio», before the chorus once again fills the space in the virtuoso «Sanctus». In the simple «Agnus Dei» the soloists sing in almost naked sound. In the finale «Libera me» the soprano returns in a prayer for salvation and freedom, while the «Dies irae» motif breaks forth one last time before the work ends in a powerful fugue.