Verdi’s Requiem
What to Listen For
Requiem:
Verdi’s Requiem is essentially an Italian opera disguised as a religious mass.
Divided into seven segments, the Requiem begins and ends very softly with two closely related themes.
At the heart of the Requiem is the complex and lengthy sequence, Dies irae, with ten small sections, where the chromaticism of Verdi’s late music can be detected. Listen as the dramatic and emotional Dies irae explodes with force, opening with hammering chords and the pounding, terrifying syncopations of the drum, depicting the crack of thunder and flash of lightning as the earth is being torn apart.
Listen for the contrast: after the horror of the Dies irae, the texts become more comforting. The third movement, the Offertory, highlights the soloists in “Domine Jesu Christe” and contains operatic vocal lines. In the Sanctus, Verdi displays his skill in contrapuntal writing: after an opening fanfare and intonation, his spirited Sanctus is a fugue for double chorus based on an inversion of the opening cello motif.
Listen as the work concludes quietly with a prayer that lacks the final peaceful certainty of salvation that many other Requiems have. Verdi may be delivering a bleak and foreboding message that seems to be saying, “We are all doomed.” The closing energy dissolves instead into a simple, quiet, peaceful major chord. Do you miss the certainty at the end?
Giuseppe Verdi: Requiem Mass (Messa da Requiem)
Born: October 10, 1813, in Le Roncole, Italy
Died: January 27, 1901, in Milan
Date of Composition: completed April 16, 1874
Premiere: Church of San Marco in Milan on May 22, 1874
Orchestration: quartet of vocal soloists and a mixed chorus, piccolo and three flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, four bassoons, four horns, eight trumpets (four of which play off-stage), three trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, and strings
Throughout his extensive career, Verdi concentrated his creative efforts on composing operas. Occasionally, he wrote a few sacred works, but for most of his adult life, he was opposed to or indifferent to everything connected with religion. Nevertheless, when Rossini died—in 1868, Verdi wrote to his publisher about a plan to honor Rossini’s memory. He suggested a committee of Italian composers should be formed and that each composer be responsible for writing a section of the liturgy for a Requiem that was to be performed on the first anniversary of Rossini's death, after which the music would be sealed in a library vault of the Milan Conservatory only to be performed by later generations as a tribute to Rossini’s memory. Verdi was to compose the closing Libera me, but due to rivalries among the musicians, the project failed soon after he had completed his section.
Gian Andrea Mazzucato, a professor at the Milan Conservatory, was so impressed with the Libera me that he suggested that Verdi compose a complete Requiem himself. Five years later, Verdi’s close friend and celebrated author, Alessandro Manzoni, died. Manzoni’s works, including his novel, I Promessi Sposi (“The Betrothed”), were a powerful force in the independence movement and the unification of Italy. Verdi resolved to create a memorial and conceived the Requiem as a patriotic act celebrating the Italian republic and mourning the death of the poet/novelist.
In the Requiem, Verdi found an already formed dramatic text that covered the range of human emotions from terror, shame, and sadness to hope and exaltation. He included the original Libera me that he had composed for Rossini as the final section, but for the rest of the score, he created new material. He finished the work on April 16, 1874.
Verdi conducted the premiere of the Requiem at the Church of San Marco in Milan on May 22, 1874, the first anniversary of Manzoni’s death. There were three additional performances given at La Scala, and before the end of the year, the Requiem was performed in Paris and London. Some found the work too theatrical, too operatic, and too non-religious. But the well-known critic Eduard Hanslick wrote: “Religious devotion, too, varies in its expression; it has its countries and its time. What may appear so passionate, so sensuous in Verdi's Requiem is derived from the emotional habits of his people, and the Italian has a perfect right to inquire whether he may not talk to the dear Lord in the Italian language!”
Today, we acknowledge Verdi’s Requiem as one of the greatest choral musical works. Verdi’s direct style, his soaring and lyrical themes, his distinctive orchestration, and the extraordinary dramatic and emotional intensity give this Requiem an undisputed place in the panoply of Western music.
Divided into seven segments, it begins and ends very softly with two closely related themes. The beginning is much like a moment from a Verdi opera with its hushed, solemn, descending cello phrase that helps set the scene for the Requiem aeterna (“Rest eternal”). But soon the music takes on a different character with the choral fugue of Te decet hymnus. In the Kyrie, the music seems to soar heavenward with the soloists entering one at a time. The music has majestic sweep and grandeur.
At the heart of the Requiem is the complex and lengthy sequence, Dies irae. After an explosive opening, the second stanza is softer, serving to heighten the sense of terror. At the third verse, trumpet calls repeat, gradually approaching as well as growing, as the dead are raised from their tombs. This section includes the Tuba mirum, which begins with trumpet calls shared between the orchestra and offstage trumpets; Rex tremendae is a dialogue between the chorus and the four soloists. The following prayer, Recordare, is a duet, presumably conceived with thoughts of Aida and Amneris (from the opera Aida). Two arias follow: the tenor's Ingemisco and the bass's Confutatis. Then the chorus again interjects the refrain of Dies irae. The lament Lacrymosa dies illa (“day of tears”), based on a duet Verdi had planned to use in Don Carlos, brings together the chorus and soloists in passionate prayer. The text evokes the terror and destruction of the Day of Judgment before the petitioners pray for safety from the Lord's wrath in the quiet final prayer, Dona eis Requiem (Grant them peace). The final "Amen" seems to lift the music back into the light.
After the horror of the Dies irae, the remaining texts become more comforting. The third movement, the Offertory, highlights the soloists in Domine Jesu Christe and contains operatic vocal lines. After the intricate fugal Sanctus, the Agnus dei presents a series of exchanges between two female soloists and the chorus, although simple and refined, it reminds the listener of many of Verdi's operatic choruses. The brief Lux aeterna follows with quiet, almost chant-like music for a trio of the three lower vocal soloists. The Domine Jesu Christe offers prayers for the dead and recalls the promise of redemption.
In the final and most personal movement, Libera me, the petitioner prays directly to God, expressing fear and hope for deliverance. Since Libera me repeats some of the Requiem text (Dies Irae and Requiem aeterna), Verdi reuses some earlier thematic material in this movement. The work concludes quietly with a prayer that does not seem to have the final peaceful certainty of salvation of many other Requiems.
© Susan Halpern, 2026