Verdi Requiem - additional lecture materials

​​1) This is the excerpt from the beginning of the Dies Irae, probably the most stunningly "operatic" passage in the Requiem, giving an interesting contrast of approach.  Toscanini, whose reputation is for very fast tempos, actually achieves greater excitement in this 1940 broadcast by holding the tempo back and allowing every excitingly articulated scale and brass fanfare to ratchet up the tension.

​2) This is the excerpt from the duet Verdi had to cut out of Don Carlos just before the dress rehearsal in 1867, so that the audience would not miss the last train to the suburbs after the performance.  As you can hear, we can only be glad for the cut, because of the way the piece was later developed in the Requiem.

​3) A piece of history (not played in the lecture): this is the bass aria sung by a bass who actually collaborated with Verdi in person - Vittorio Arimondi, who sang the role of Pistola in the world premiere of Falstaff in 1892.

​4) My favorite recording of the same aria, by the great Ezio Pinza.

​5 ~ 7) Three beautiful and contrasting recordings of the tenor aria, Ingemisco tamquam reus - Angelo Parola the most lyrical, Jussi Bjoerling the most ringing and golden-toned, and Jon Vickers the most inwardly spiritual and heartfelt.

​8 ~ 9) A portion of the concluding Libera me, which as you will recall is the portion of the Mass that Verdi had composed as his contribution to the failed project of commemorating Rossini's death in 1869.  The first version - in the dim sound of a 1938 broadcast from London - features the unbelievably serene and beautiful soprano voice of the young Zinka Milanov. The second may be a surprise - the thrusting Wagnerian soprano of Birgit Nilsson successfully slimming itself down for the same passage.  

10) The only soloist not represented in the above is the mezzo-soprano or contralto. Verdi provided her with no solo in the original score of the Requiem, but as usual he had second thoughts, and composed the aria heard here for the international tour of the work he conducted in various cities in 1875. The singer here is a nearly-forgotten but magnificent Italian mezzo, Irene Minghini-Cattaneo, recorded in 1931.