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Article: DE PROFUNDIS : Verdi's searing 'Requiem'.(composition and musical elements of work by composer Giuseppe Verdi)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- Commonweal
- Article date:
- June 1, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Commonweal Foundation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The hundredth anniversary of the death of Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901), widely commemorated in the music world this year, reminds us that he wrote what is generally conceded to be the greatest and most popular work of modern spiritual music, the Messa da Requiem (1874). Studded with mighty choral episodes and a terrifying "Dies Irae" ("Day of Wrath") movement, the Requiem has been called--only half jokingly--"Verdi's greatest opera."
Operatic or not, the Requiem is certainly Michelangeloesque, and its wild and sometimes savage emotions require interpreters of unusual majesty. Feverishly passionate conductors like Arturo Toscanini and Victor de Sabata made ...