Verdi Requiem

When the great Italian poet and patriot Alessandro Manzoni died in 1873, the composer Giuseppe Verdi felt moved ‘to honour, as best I could, this great man whom I held in such high esteem.’ Five years earlier, the Italian opera composer and national icon had written a short ‘Libera me’ in memory of his fellow composer Gioachino Rossini. Now Verdi had the impetus he needed to extend that work into a full Requiem Mass.

The result is the greatest setting of the Latin text ever written in Italy - a famously high-octane score for soloists, chorus and orchestra whose expression of grief, faith and judgment drew such dramatic music from its composer that some thought it unsuitable for performance in church.

A century and a half since its first premiere in Milan Cathedral, the Italian Music Director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Jader Bignamini, comes to Bergen to lead two performances of Verdi’s unparalleled take on death, belief and redemption with world-class soloists and the combined forces of the Edvard Grieg Kor, Bergen Philharmonic Chorus and Collegium Musicum Choir.

Related concert recordings at Bergenphilive:
Giuseppe Verdi: Messa de Requiem
Giuseppe Verdi: La forza del destino, overture