|
|
Article: Verdi's Requiem: Nothing Sacred; On Centennial, Exploring Myths Behind the Music
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- January 21, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
|
If a requiem looms large among a composer's works, especially one
written near the end of his or her life or in a morbid frame of mind,
it inevitably becomes an unofficial, autobiographical epitaph.
Mozart's Requiem is interpreted as Mozart on the subject of Mozart's
death; and Verdi's Requiem, which the Washington Opera will perform
at Constitution Hall on Saturday, is in danger of becoming Verdi on
the subject of Verdi's death.
It isn't, and it's a romantic conceit even in the case of Mozart
to read a requiem as anything more than a setting of the Catholic
liturgy for the dead. But with the 100th anniversary of Verdi's death
on Saturday, opera companies and symphonies around the world ...