Today is the Qingming Festival, a traditional festival in China, a time for people to pay homage to their ancestors and remember their ancestors. Today, we might as well talk about Requiem.
Requiem is actually a branch of The Mass, mainly referring to the special Mass used by the Roman Catholic Church for the super-undead, the lyrics of the requiem are basically the same as ordinary Mass, but the Gloria and Credo are omitted, and the "Day of Anger" (Dies irae) is added. It is called a requiem because the first line of the lyrics begins with "Requiem aeternam" and the first sentence is "Lord, give them eternal rest." The term Requiem is musically accepted by many people, and the church generally translates it as a memorial song.
Regarding the "Requiem", there are many in history, summed up, there are "the world's three major "Requiem", these three are Mozart, Verdi, Foley's "Requiem".
1. Mozart's Requiem
Regarding this "Requiem", two days ago, the author himself wrote the article "Requiem" and The Death of Mozart" and will not describe it here, please refer to it.
Portrait of Mozart
2. Verdi's Requiem
Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901) was an Italian composer who was born in 1813 to a family of tavern operators near Bussetto in northern Italy. He began to study music at the age of 13, enrolled in the Milano Conservatory in 1832, was not admitted, and remained in Milan to study music with the musician of the La Scala Opera (Lavinia). In 1842, he composed his second opera Nabuco, which was extremely successful and became one of Italy's first-rate composers. Italy was in the midst of a revolutionary wave to break away from Austrian rule, and he was known as the "Musical Master of the Italian Revolution" for his operas "The Lombards" (1848), "Ernanni" (1844), "Alzira" (1846), "Battle of Legnano" (1849) and revolutionary songs. Wrote a total of 26 operas and 7 choral works. His major works include operas: Nabuco, Rigoletto, La Traviata, Troubadour, Othello, Aida, Sicilian Vespers, Falstaff, Masquerade, Don Carlos, vocal music: Requiem, Four Religious Songs
On November 13, 1868, the famous Italian composer Rossini died, and the whole country mourned in Italy, and various events were held to commemorate the musician. Four days later, in memory of Rossini, Verdi issued an initiative to the nation: "Each of the country's outstanding composers wrote a 'Requiem Mass', which was performed on Rossini's anniversary. His initiative was well received, with 12 other musicians writing a movement, but for various reasons the work was not staged. On May 12, 1873, Verdi's friend and the famous Italian poet Manzoni died. The bad news deeply saddened Verdi, who wrote to the publisher Ricodi: "I can't go to Milan tomorrow, I can't afford to attend his funeral, I'm going to go to his grave alone some time later..." Verdi took back the score of the part of the Requiem Mass he had previously composed in memory of Rossini, "Save Me," and wrote to the mayor of Milan: "It is a heartfelt impulse, an urgent need—to pay tribute to this great man with all my strength." On May 22, 1874, on the first anniversary of Manzoni's death, Verdi personally conducted a 100-member orchestra and a 120-member choir at the Church of San Marco in Milan, premiering the work. Heavy music, low melody, let all the people on the scene grief.
"Save Me", a chorus that was later named "Requiem", became one of the most prestigious vocal works outside of Verdi's opera.
Portrait of Verdi
3. Fore's Requiem
Gabriel Fore (1845-1924) was a French composer who had an influence on the history of European music from the second half of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century. His life's creations were mainly concentrated in the field of art songs, and he wrote more than 100 works. These include two vocal suites and three singles collections titled "20 Art Songs". Fore's art songs have a smooth melody, a concise and well-proportioned structure, a profound feeling, giving people a rich imagination, from content to form, they have the characteristics of the French exquisite, delicate, dashing and flowing style. Because of the status and contribution of Foley in the development of French art songs in the 19th century and even in the whole of Europe, he was praised by posterity as "the Schumann of France".
Fore showed a sensitivity to music as a child, and his father provided him with a good musical education. Without entering the Conservatoire de Paris, Fore studied at a church music school, where he studied a great deal of religious music since the Renaissance, which laid the foundation for his later creation of such a classic Requiem. Although Faure did not attend the Conservatoire de Paris, he later taught at the Conservatoire de Paris and served as its director. Among his students, there are more than 20 famous people, such as Ravel, Aenecu, Duca and so on. This Duca was later the teacher of the Chinese composer Xian Xinghai. So Faure is not limited to composers, but more importantly, he is also an actor educator,
Fore's masterpiece is the Requiem composed in 1887. In 1885 and 1887, Foley's parents died one after another, and the great mental blow prompted Foley to begin composing requiems. Compared with other requiems, this work is fresh and elegant in the style of instrumentation, pure and lyrical, and even avoids the use of any drums, which is very legacy of ancient music. Instead of using the traditional Requiem's Day of Wrath (which depicts the judgment of the last days), the work uses the more lyrical In Pardisum, one of the most famous movements of the work.
As a French composer, Faure's name may not be known to many people. Some say his music is like a noble commodity on the Champs Elysées. Fore has some very delicate chamber music and sonatas. Fore's most famous works are the religious music "Requiem Mass" and the "Perias and Melissa" suite.
Requiem album cover
In addition, there are countless composers who have composed "Requiem" in history, and other more famous "Requiem" are Berlioz's "Requiem", Cherubini's "Requiem", Brahms's "German Requiem", Britten's "War Requiem" and so on. Due to space limitations, I cannot describe them all here.
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