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Verdi's 1874 musical setting of the Requiem came late in life, in the years after Aida's composition. In many ways it represents both a historical culmination of centuries of musical contributions and a personal summation of Verdi's gifts as a composer (even though in the two and a half decades of his "retirement" that followed he produced the supreme masterworks of Otello, Falstaff, and the Four Sacred Pieces).
The musical influences (and influencers) that preceded Verdi are proudly on display and ingeniously integrated into his masterful Requiem setting. It is a path paved by history to a uniquely single masterwork, where technique and spirit are melded into one. Here's a look at some of those influences (have your score handy!):
Berlioz
No two composers could have been more different in their approach to a requiem setting—Berlioz's French mysticism versus Verdi's heart-on-sleeve operatic style—but the musical evidence in Verdi's setting shows that he was quite taken with Berlioz's. Verdi incorporated a few similar techniques and approaches such as:
1. The offstage brass, calling all to Judgment at "tuba mirum"
While Berlioz used entire brass bands in all four corners of the room (along with 13 or so timpani), Verdi opted for three sets of trumpets (two offstage and one onstage). The effect was similarly spectacular, but in its driving animando, uniquely Verdian.
2. Extremes of dynamics
Like Berlioz, Verdi painted in broad strokes by employing an extreme of dynamic ranges, from markings of pppp to ffff, from a whimper to a shout.
3. Orchestration
Berlioz was the great innovator in writing for instruments in the early 19th century. Verdi definitely learned from (or maybe intuitively arrived at) certain specific techniques Berlioz employed in his Requiem, in particular the sinister low doubling of bassoons with the choral bass voices. Verdi uses this in the forte passage at the beginning of the "Rex tremendae" and in the piano at the end of the "Agnus dei" at measures 67-68.
Cherubini
Well known to Verdi would have been Cherubini's Requiem setting. Luigi Cherubini was an Italian-born composer who spent most of his working life in France. His popular but rather second-rate 1816 Requiem has even been championed in recent times by the likes of Toscanini and Riccardo Muti. One of its tackier features is a melodramatic gong-stroke in the "Dies irae."
Verdi's famous thundering bass drum blows in his "Dies irae" may have been inspired by Cherubini. The difference: Verdi's sense of timing, drama, (and taste) were superior.
Italy's Musical Past: Gregorian Chant, Palestrina, and Gabrieli
In setting this old Latin text, Verdi made a point to evoke not only the music of the early Roman church but the glory of Italy's musical past.
1. Gregorian Chant
The single line monophonic sound of 5th-century chant is dramatically evoked in the first entrance (and final statement) of the soprano soloist in the "Libera me," marked senza misura (unmeasured). Its later, 15th-century version, falso bordone (harmonized chant) is heard when the chorus answers her in hushed tones, like a choir of hermits (at measures 7-10).
Also, modal harmony and chant-like inflections are evoked in the single "amen" at the very end of the Sequence (the multi movement "Dies irae" section). The voices move up one whole tone—like many a Gregorian chant that has wandered around the tonal center. Verdi makes it "modern" by harmonizing it with a third related key: a striking, unexpected appearance of G-major in B-flat major. It is a masterstroke because it sounds old and new at the same time and, most importantly, it generates for a fleeting moment a sense of hope or potential in the midst of mourning.
2. Palestrina
Verdi's evocation of the Italian Renaissance master's a cappella vocal and contrapuntal purity is heard in the choral setting of the "Te decet hymnus." Its blend of ancient modal harmony and Romantic-era chromaticism sounds effortless and natural in Verdi's gifted hands. It lends the effect at that moment—a moment of interrupted thought, with its sudden deceptive cadence—of a reflection on an ancient hymn by contemporary worshipers.
3. Gabrieli
The tour de force double-choir writing of the "Santus," especially at "pleni sunt coeli," evokes the late 16th-century cori spezzati (separated choirs) tradition of Venice as exemplified by the works of Giovanni Gabrieli.
Mozart
While we are not sure Verdi knew of Mozart's famous unfinished Requiem, he surely knew of the great operas penned by Amadeus. It is well known that D-minor was a special key for Mozart, and Verdi seems to have "channeled" that in two spots in his Requiem:
1. Mozart's Requiem
Verdi's D-minor writing at "solvet saeclum" at measures 21-23 sure looks a lot like Mozart's "Dies irae," 4/4 Allegro D-minor... Verdi's choral bass line even resembles Mozart's soprano "melody."
2. Don Giovanni
The famous D-minor overture and its dramatic recapitulation in the "Stone Guest" scene near the end of the opera were well known to all Romantic-era artists. In addition to its tonality, Mozart gave this music a strong, foreboding repeated rhythmic figure of a dotted quarter followed by an accented eighth.
Verdi uses this figure (on a D, just like Mozart) to chilling effect in the "Liber scriptus" at measures 214-218 where the mezzo sings "Judex ergo cum sedebit..." Verdi also closes the "Lacrimosa" with the same figure, this time for the bass at measures 691-693, singing "dona eis requiem" (grant them rest). It evokes music for a burial, or a solemn funeral procession.
Beethoven
Beethoven was God to the Romantic-era artists. No 19th-century artist, especially a composer, could escape his influence. When writing his Requiem, Verdi borrowed two techniques from two of Beethoven's greatest works:
1. Missa solemnis
Beethoven's total integration of solo and choral voices in this grand mass setting is evidenced in Verdi's supreme mastery of the same technique in many of his operas and in the Requiem. Most notable is the dramatic alternations of solo versus choral voices in the cries of "Salve me!" and we also hear it in the very first section of solo music, the "Kyrie." But what a difference in mood!—Beethoven's manic "KY-RY-e" versus Verdi's melodic, blazing ray-of-hope "Kyrie" in A-major.
2. Leonora Overture No. 3
The brazen off-beat syncopations that lead to the allegro in Beethoven's famous Fidelio "tone-poem" inspired Verdi to do the same in the ascending orchestral figure that leads to the close of his wild and crazy "Sanctus" at measures 131-133. The orchestra is so jolly at this point, they sound like they are on the wrong beat!
Haydn
While it is not known to what degree Verdi was aware of Haydn's vast output as a symphonic and choral composer, he certainly hit upon one of the very same solutions that Haydn came to time and time again at key moments in his late symphonies, masses and oratorios: the dramatic character-shift to a monophonic texture (strong unison writing). Verdi employs unison writing to great dramatic effect at many moments in the Requiem. Here are four very different ones:
1. "Quantus tremor est futurus" in the "Dies irae"
Verdi not only writes unison (always a strong statement), but separates the syllables with rests. The effect is one of frozen-with-fear and not being able to speak the frightening words.
2. "Dies irae," in the measures leading up to the "Quid sum miser" trio (measures 256-266)
This frightening statement is not only unison, but also set in a dark low register for all voices. The effect is that of a collective shudder.
3. "Amen" at the end of the Sequence
As mentioned earlier, this evokes the monophonic texture and melodic contour of the ancient songs of the Roman Church/Gregorian chant.
4. "Agnus Dei"
Verdi's hymn to the "Lamb of God" opens simply with the soprano and alto solo voices unaccompanied in a unison C-major. They are echoed, like a congregational call and response by the chorus and orchestra in absolutely clean unison lines (or as Atlanta Symphony Orchestra conductor Robert Spano described it, "the ideal Catholic congregation").
This article is excerpted from "The Fear of the Lord: Verdi’s Requiem—Influences and Innovations." View the full article at ASOCBlogSpot.
