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Dies Irae from Requiem/Verdi
DIES IRAE from REQUIEM
GIUSEPPE VERDI
(1813-1901)
THE COMPOSER
Giuseppe Verdi was born in the tiny village of Le Roncole in Italy on
October, 9, 1813. His father and mother Carlo and Luigia ran a small inn
and shop where they sold sugar, coffee, tobacco, matches and drinks.
Giuseppe was a very obedient and quiet child. Some even say he seemed
sad most of the time. The only time he seemed to get excited was when a
hand organ player would walk down the street. He would follow it all
around town until his legs could walk no more.
When Giuseppe was 7, his father bought an old spinet piano for him.
Giuseppe practiced every day, became quite good and started taking lessons
from the organist at his church. Two years later his teacher died, and at age
10 Giuseppe became the organist at his town’s church. Since there was no
school in Le Roncole Giuseppe’s father sent him to live in the larger town of
Bussetto, where he stayed with a friend of his. Giuseppe was a great student
who studied hard and never skipped school. He continued to play organ for
his home church, walking three miles there and back every Sunday. Two
years later Giuseppe got a job working at the warehouse where his father
bought supplies for his store. Instead of money, he got to live with owner of
the warehouse who happened to also be a musician and had rehearsals of the
local orchestra at his house. Here Giuseppe got the attention of the
conductor, Provesi, who recognized his talent and became his teacher. He
decided that Giuseppe was so talented that he needed to go to Milan to
study. There he studied with Lavigna, the conductor at the LaScala Opera
House. This was the beginning of a great career.
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Dies Irae from Requiem/Verdi
Giuseppe married the daughter of one of his teachers, and soon had
two children. Tragedy hit Verdi soon after. In the span of a year, both of his
children died. Shortly after that, he produced his first Opera, Oberto, in
1838. It was quite successful. However that was not the end of Verdi’s
sorrow. In 1840 his wife, Marguerite, died of typhoid fever, leaving 27 year
old Verdi alone. He was scheduled to write a comic opera soon after the
deaths in his family. Needless to say, happiness was not something he could
find to put into his music and the opera was a total failure. Verdi was so
hurt by the reaction to his opera that he swore he would never compose
again and went into seclusion.
In 1842, the director of the LaScala Opera House begged Verdi to
take a look at a new libretto (story) that the composer he hired to write the
music for refused do. Verdi didn’t want to consider it, but after he took a
glance at the page, he couldn’t put it down. He had it memorized by the next
day. It was taken from the Bible story about King Nebuchadnezzar, and the
result was an opera called Nebucco. This opera was a huge success. Its 57
performances in the autumn season set a record at LaScala that had not been
equaled. After this, the great operas just kept coming. These included
Rigolettto, Il trovatore, La traviata, and Aida.
In 1959 Verdi got married again, this time to a singer in his operas
named Giuseppina Strepponi. He and his wife traveled around the world
supervising the productions of his operas. In 1871, after the success of Aida,
Verdi announced his retirement. For the next 16 years, he wrote very little
including a string quartet and his famous Requiem. After the Requiem he
did not compose for 12 years. Then, he had two final operas Othello, in
1886, and Falstaff in 1893. Verdi’s wife died in 1897. He lived in
seclusion in Milan until he died of a stroke on January 27, 1901, at the age
of 88.
He will be remembered as one of the greatest opera composers that
ever lived.
THE MUSIC
When Rossini passed away in 1868, Verdi had an idea to honor him
with a special Requiem Mass (a mass for the dead). He suggested that the
best Italian composers each write one part. The piece was completed, but
because of all of the different compositional styles, Verdi didn’t think it was
satisfactory. He decided to write the whole thing himself and perform it at
the anniversary of the funeral of Alessandro Manzoni, an author and patriot.
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Dies Irae from Requiem/Verdi
On May 22, 1874, the first anniversary of Manzoni’s death, Verdi’s requiem
was performed in Milan. The piece is scored for; four soloists, chorus, 2
flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 4 bassoons, 8 trumpets (4 on stage and 4
off-stage), 4 french horns, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum (laid on it’s
side with two players) and strings. There are seven movements in the
Requiem. The Dies Irae is the second movement. It is divided into 10 parts.
The part we are studying is the first in this movement. The words are
written in Latin. This was because that was the language of the Catholic
Church at that time, and the Requiem was the Catholic Church’s Mass of the
Dead.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
THE LYRICS
DIES IRAE (LATIN)
Dies irae, dies illa
solvet saeclum in favilla
teste David cum Sybilla
Dies irae, dies illa
Quantus tremor est futurus
Quando judex est venturus
Cuncta stricte discussurus
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Dies Irae from Requiem/Verdi
DAY OF WRATH (ENGLISH)
Day of wrath and doom impending
Heaven and earth in ashes ending
David’s word with Sibyl’s blending
Day of wrath and doom impending
Oh, what fear man’s bosom rendith
When from heaven the judge descendeth
On whose sentence all dependeth
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
TEACHING IDEAS
***Have students listen to the piece and jot down 3 things that they hear.
Ask them to pass the paper to their neighbor, and see if they can hear the
same things plus add 2 more. Play the music again. Continue to trade and
listen until there are many ideas on each page. Ask students to share their
answers. Put them on the board and see how long of a list you can make.
***Talk about the bass drum and show a picture. Explain that for this piece
the bass drum is placed on its side and hit very hard by two players. Ask the
class why they think Verdi chose this instrument for this song. Have
students count how many times the bass drum plays in the opening part of
the song.
***Before telling the students the title or details of the piece, ask them to
make up a title for it. Then ask them to write the story they think the piece is
telling based on their title. Have students share with the class while the
music plays quietly in the background.
***Give students the Latin words and have them follow the lyrics with the
recording. Ask the students to sing with the music in Latin.
***Ask students to move with the music. You may want to give them
scarves or streamers to use for a follow-up activity.
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Dies Irae from Requiem/Verdi
***Ask students to describe the music using lines. Discuss how you can
show high and low, loud and soft, and fast and slow using visual signs.
Have students put their marker on their paper and move it with the music.
***Play the music and ask students to draw a picture of what they think the
music is describing.
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