Le Cercle de l’Harmonie

Between the feet of the cross and the limelight,
Verdi's Requiem celebrates in a unique way the flamboyant marriage of liturgy and lyrical drama, to the point of being, as is sometimes said, "Verdi's most beautiful opera".

It was during a funeral tribute to Manzoni, the "Italian Victor Hugo" who wrote The Betrothed, that Verdi first performed his Requiem in Milan on 22 May 1874. What happens when an operatic genius tackles the Mass of the Dead? An irresistible chemistry: powerful, tragic, full of effects and contrasts
and contrasts, the work uses every known resource to seduce and impress. Although it scrupulously follows the Catholic liturgy, the score has nothing to envy, from a dramatic point of view, of masterpieces such as Aida or Nabucco. The listener is left dazed, torn between the splendour of the aria Libera me (for soprano), the poignant anguish of the Turba mirum, the telluric power of the Dies Irae, the seraphic light of the Sanctus... Leaving the church quickly, the Requiem triumphed at La Scala in Milan before making a name for itself in Paris, and then all over the world.