Requiem (Verdi)
The Messa da Requiem is Giuseppe Verdi’s setting of the Catholic funeral mass, scored for four soloists, double choir, and orchestra. It is also known as the Manzoni Requiem because Verdi wrote it in memory of Alessandro Manzoni, a writer he greatly admired. The piece premiered on 22 May 1874 at the church of San Marco in Milan, exactly one year after Manzoni’s death, with Verdi himself conducting. Three days later, the same performers repeated it at La Scala. Verdi later conducted the work at major venues across Europe. Because it is considered too operatic for liturgical use, the Requiem is typically performed in concert; it runs about 90 minutes. Musicologist David Rosen has called it “probably the most frequently performed major choral work composed after Mozart's Requiem.”
Verdi composed the final section of the text, the Libera me, first. He wrote it as his contribution to the Messa per Rossini, a collaborative project he initiated after Gioachino Rossini’s death in 1868. Verdi suggested to his publisher, Ricordi, that a group of Italian composers create a Requiem in Rossini’s honor. He submitted the Libera me, and twelve other composers joined him to compile the Messa per Rossini. The premiere was scheduled for 13 November 1869, the first anniversary of Rossini’s death, but the organizing committee abandoned it nine days before. Verdi blamed the conductor, Angelo Mariani, for the cancellation, claiming Mariani lacked enthusiasm—though Mariani had been on the committee and supported the project. This dispute ended their friendship. The Messa per Rossini remained unperformed until 1988, when Helmuth Rilling premiered it in Stuttgart, Germany, after which it was presented at festivals and recorded.
When Manzoni died on 22 May 1873, Verdi—who had admired him his entire adult life and met him in 1868—decided to complete a Requiem entirely on his own. He traveled to Paris in June 1873 and began work, giving the piece its final form. This version included a revised Libera me, originally written for Rossini.
The first performance at San Marco in Milan featured soprano Teresa Stolz, mezzo-soprano Maria Waldmann, tenor Giuseppe Capponi, and bass Ormondo Maini. Stolz, Waldmann, and Maini had all sung in the European premiere of Verdi’s Aida in 1872 (as Aida, Amneris, and Ramfis, respectively); Capponi had been scheduled to sing Radames in that same premiere but was replaced due to illness. Stolz went on to a brilliant career, Waldmann retired very young in 1875, and the male singers faded into obscurity. Stolz had been engaged to Angelo Mariani in 1869 but later left him. The Requiem was repeated at La Scala on 25 May 1874 with the same soloists and Verdi conducting. It was an immediate success, though not everywhere. It received seven performances at the Opéra-Comique in Paris, but the new Royal Albert Hall in London could not fill its seats for a Catholic occasion. In Venice, elaborate Byzantine ecclesiastical decor was designed for the performance. The first US performance was in Boston in 1878, by the Handel and Haydn Society. The Requiem later fell out of the standard choral repertoire but returned in the 1930s and is now regularly performed and a staple of many choral societies.
Between 1943 and 1944, prisoners in the Theresienstadt (Terezín) concentration camp performed the Requiem about 16 times under the direction of Rafael Schächter, as part of the camp’s cultural organization, the Freizeitgestaltung. Since the 1990s, memorial performances in the US and Europe have honored these Terezín performances. In 2006, Murry Sidlin performed the Requiem at the Terezín Memorial, rehearsing the choir in the same basement where the original inmates had rehearsed. As part of the Prague Spring Festival, two children of survivors sang in the choir while their parents sat in the audience. The Requiem has also been staged in various ways. Achim Freyer created a production for the Deutsche Oper Berlin in 2006, revived in 2007, 2011, and 2013, with the four sung roles—Der Weiße Engel, Der Tod-ist-die-Frau, Einsam, and Der Beladene—complemented by choreographed allegorical characters. In 2011, Oper Köln premiered a full staging by Clemens Bechtel, placing the four main characters in different life-and-death situations: the Fukushima nuclear disaster, a Turkish writer in prison, a young woman with bulimia, and an aid worker in Africa. In 2021, the New York Metropolitan Opera performed the Requiem for the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. In 2025, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by JoAnn Falletta, performed it as part of the American Choral Directors Association National Conference.
For a Paris performance, Verdi revised the “Liber scriptus” movement to give mezzo-soprano Maria Waldmann an additional solo for future performances. Originally, that movement had been set as a choral fugue.
Lore & Background
Verdi’s Requiem sets the Catholic funeral mass for four soloists, double choir, and orchestra. Composed in memory of the writer Alessandro Manzoni, whom Verdi greatly admired, it is often called the Manzoni Requiem. The composer began work on the final section, the Libera me, years earlier as his contribution to a collaborative Requiem for Gioachino Rossini, a project that was abandoned before performance. After Manzoni’s death, Verdi revised that movement and completed the full work. The premiere took place in Milan’s San Marco church on the first anniversary of Manzoni’s death, with Verdi conducting; three days later, the same performers repeated it at La Scala. Verdi later conducted the work at major European venues. The piece lasts about 90 minutes and is considered too operatic for liturgical use, so it is usually performed in concert. Musicologist David Rosen has called it probably the most frequently performed major choral work composed after Mozart’s Requiem. The four soloists at the first performances were soprano Teresa Stolz, mezzo-soprano Maria Waldmann, tenor Giuseppe Capponi, and bass Ormondo Maini.
Reader's Guide
The Messa da Requiem is a central work in the choral repertoire, noted for its dramatic, operatic style. Musicologist David Rosen calls it 'probably the most frequently performed major choral work composed after Mozart's Requiem'. It later disappeared from the standard choral repertoire, but made a reappearance in the 1930s and is now regularly performed and a staple of many choral societies. Since the 1990s, commemorations in the US and Europe have included memorial performances of the Requiem in honor of the Terezín performances. The work has been staged in a variety of ways, including productions by Achim Freyer for the Deutsche Oper Berlin and by Clemens Bechtel for Oper Köln. In 2021, the New York Metropolitan Opera performed the Requiem for the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
Did You Know?
- Verdi composed the Libera me movement first, as his contribution to the Messa per Rossini.
- For a Paris performance, Verdi revised the 'Liber scriptus' to allow mezzo-soprano Maria Waldmann a further solo.
Origins in Grief and Rivalry
The Requiem's genesis is tangled in two acts of mourning. Their friendship fractured over this episode. He traveled to Paris in June and shaped the work into its present form, weaving in a revised version of the Libera me he had written for Rossini. The result was a deeply personal memorial that also carried the ghost of an earlier, abandoned tribute.
The Milan Premiere and Its Cast
Three days later, the same ensemble repeated the work at La Scala to immediate success. Yet reception was not uniform. Paris embraced it with seven performances at the Opéra-Comique, while London's new Royal Albert Hall could not fill its seats for what was perceived as a strictly Catholic occasion. Venice went to extraordinary lengths, commissioning Byzantine-style ecclesiastical decoration for its performance.
Voices from Theresienstadt
Perhaps the Requiem's most haunting chapter unfolded not on a concert stage but in a basement at the Theresienstadt concentration camp. The performances became a lifeline of dignity amid unimaginable suffering. Decades later, the memory of those renditions has inspired commemorative performances across the United States and Europe. In 2006, conductor Murry Sidlin brought the Requiem back to Terezín as part of the Prague Spring Festival, rehearsing his choir in the very basement where the original inmates had prepared. Two children of survivors sang in that choir while their parents sat in the audience, a generational echo that transformed a memorial into a living act of remembrance. The work, composed as a private tribute to one writer, had become a vessel for collective mourning on a scale Verdi could never have imagined.
From Church to Concert Hall and Beyond
Although written for a Catholic funeral liturgy, the Requiem was deemed too operatic for regular church use and is almost always heard in concert form, a performance lasting roughly ninety minutes. After a period of absence from the standard choral repertoire, the work re-emerged in the 1930s and has since become a fixture of choral societies worldwide. Musicologist David Rosen has called it probably the most frequently performed major choral work written after Mozart's Requiem. Its interpretive life has expanded well beyond the concert podium. In 2006, Achim Freyer staged a production at the Deutsche Oper Berlin featuring choreographed allegorical figures alongside the four solo roles.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who composed Verdi's Requiem and what was its purpose?
Giuseppe Verdi wrote the Messa da Requiem as a musical setting of the Catholic funeral mass, created specifically as a tribute to the Italian writer Alessandro Manzoni, whom he deeply respected.
What type of work is Verdi's Requiem?
It is a large-scale choral and orchestral composition scored for four solo vocalists, a double choir, and full orchestra. Because of its dramatic, operatic character, it is almost never used in actual church liturgy and is instead presented as a concert piece.
Why is Verdi's Requiem also called the 'Manzoni Requiem'?
Verdi composed the piece as a personal memorial to the novelist and poet Alessandro Manzoni, so the alternate name stuck and it is commonly referred to by both titles in the classical repertoire.
How long does a performance of Verdi's Requiem last?
A standard concert rendition runs for roughly ninety minutes from the opening Kyrie through the final Lux Aeterna.
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