About the Concert
Verdi's "Messa da Requiem" is more popular than almost any other mass for the dead. Perhaps the reason is precisely that it is not a typical requiem, but also sounds like opera. No wonder, since Verdi was predominantly a specialist for operatic music and had never thought of writing something for liturgical use. It was the death of the Italo-Italian national writer Manzoni, whom he admired, that led him to write a Requiem. He succeeded in writing deeply moving music that has had a permanent place in concert halls since its premiere in 1874.