Messa da Requiem

'A man, a great artist who left his mark on a whole epoch, has died' wrote Verdi in 1868, referring to Rossini whom he had greatly admired. To honour the deceased, Verdi wanted to compose a mass together with the most renowned Italian composers of his time. But the composition initiated by him was never presented to the audience, not least because of wounded vanities. Only the death of the Italian national poet Alessandro Manzoni prompted Verdi to make the mass torso into a complete requiem which was to conquer the whole of Europe with its marvellous temperament and lyrical verve after the resounding success of the world premiere.