Verdi: Sanctus from Messa da Requiem

Description

Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) wrote his Requiem Mass for four soloists, double choir, and orchestra in 1874 in memory of Italian writer and humanist Alessandro Manzoni, whom Verdi greatly admired. It premiered on May 22, 1874, the first anniversary of Manzoni's death, at the San Marco church in Milan under the baton of the composer. The revised version was first performed the following year at Albert Hall in London. The oldest part of the work is a "Libera me" that Verdi wrote in 1868 as part of a collaborative Requiem project with other Italian composers following the death of Gioachino Rossini. After this project fell through, Verdi repurposed and revised the "Libera me" for the Manzoni Requiem. The "Sanctus" starts with a brassy fanfare to announce him "who comes in the name of the Lord." The music that follows for the double chorus is a complicated eight-part fugue. Instrumentation: 2+Picc.2.2.4: 4.4.3.1: Timp: Str (4-4-3-3-3 in set): Mix Chor.