This is exactly what I wanted! A guide that gives you some historical context to a great musical work and then takes your through the work blow by blow, movement by movement, so someone unfamiliar with the piece could appreciate the amazing things the composer was doing. I’ve subscribed and I really hope you’ll do more guides exactly like this for other great musical works in history. At some point, I hope you’ll do Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony, a piece I love listening to but know am missing a lot of understanding/context. Also a comparison of various famous Requiems would be very interesting too!
Wow - thanks! So glad you liked it. I have every intention too - am thinking of doing 'Quick Guides' too which give a blow by blow account of a piece for a listener, but very quickly and giving the essential details, not every tiny thing. As this video actually took a really long time to make, there are so many movements (things got a bit painstaking sometimes). I know Mahler 2 bar by bar - I used to sing it through to myself if I had a long journey to make or something. I'd love to do something on it, so many fascinating things you could say. Though again, it would take a fair bit of time to make a video that would do it justice, musically, historically, and philosophically(!). Do share this channel if you like it :)
The problem starts that there isn't just one Mozart Requiem but at least a dozen completions. When it comes to "Requiems" (missae pro defunctis) I prefer the Dvorak Requiem. It is a very sophisticated one.
I second that Marc! It is as beautiful and as moving today as it was when I first learned it. I was fortunate enough to belong to a national choir and studied it several times for performances over a number of years. It never fails to amaze me. I’m lucky to have had that experience.
You, my dear, are a wonderful human being. Thank you for putting so much work into these videos. There are days when I wish I stuck with music and finished my degree instead of foolishly giving into the emotional distress and ultimately leaving that world behind. Thank you for helping me find the joy and wonder in classical music that I fell in love with so long ago!
Thank you - so glad you've enjoyed it! I hope you continue on this journey. I too am going through that stress right now - the American university system is quite different from the British one - they like to cram your schedule as full as possible - sometimes quantity over quality...! And then they wear it as a badge as if that makes a good education. I sometimes wish I'd followed my siblings and taken STEM degrees then earned big bucks as a Management Consultant or something. It's sometimes hard to appreciate this wonderful world when you're worked to the bone in it, so don't feel bad. I actually found music all the more enjoyable when I wasn't working in it, back in my jobs in London over the last few years. When i wasn't trying to carve out a career in it, suddenly it became hugely enjoyable to listen for the sake of listening, rather than having subconscious fears about where the hell you're going to be in 10 years. Can't wait for the Christmas break - hopefully more videos to come once I've had some days off work with my family in the UK.
@@InsidetheScore Step back. Stop for a minute... Then, KNOW IN YOUR HEART that you will find the right path.... Success is also the journey- not only the destination.... And trust me, I too have been where you talk about (somewhat lost) but it's O.K... Take that 1 step back then march forward to 'your rhythm'... God Bless.
Have you thought of doing Brahms' Ein Deutches Requiem (A German Requiem) on an episode of The Score? When the conductor of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra Maestro Alan Balter died of lung cancer, the Chorus was asked to sing, so we chose the German Requiem, Movement VII - Selig Sind Die Toten in his memory. The Chorus was one of many performers who sang at his memorial. He was well loved by those who knew him, as well as those who were under his conductorship. I also sang this one twice under the same conductors mentioned in my comment on the Verdi Requiem.
Outstanding! Thanks for doing this! My husband did not grow up with any exposure to classical music, but enjoys attending concerts with me. Having this great Requiem broken down and explained like this is much appreciated - and it will allow my husband to enjoy it so much more! Thank you!! You are awesome!!
From the bottom of my heart sir, I thank you for this! Astonishing work! I burst into tears a few times, you are an extremely gifted musician and poet! A million likes from me!
Thing I'm most impressed by is how a late 19th Century secularist was able to get into the mind of someone in the middle ages where abject terror at the day of judgement was just part of the background noise. It's like a doom painting set to music
I literally JUST discovered this channel and the first thing I saw is a guide to one of my absolutely favourite pieces of music. I've sung it, I almost know it by hard, I shiver everytime I listen to it, from beginning to end. I watched the whole video and I completely agree with its sentiment and tone. I even realized and discovered some things that I hadn't noticed before! THANK YOU SO SO MUCH !
To start off: I really enjoyed this video as it gave me completely new insights to this work. Secondly, I would love to see more such work of analysis about other pieces. Good candidates, I think, would be Tchaikovsky's 6th symphony, Shostakovich's 8th string quartet (and by extention basically his entire output), and perhaps a bit about the lesser known 2nd symphony of Finnish composer Leevi Madetoja. Again, thanks for the video, and I can only wish for more like this one.
You can definitely expect more in future! At the moment I have the time to make longer ones, so I've got a few more in the bank to do this month. But then I have a plan, when my time is more limited due to career, to produce a series of Guides analysing classical pieces of music in an easy and digestible way - not analysing so much as providing a guide so that listeners can have an easier and more enjoyable time listening if they don't know the piece well. I don't know the Madetoja. I don't know any Madetoja. The Tchaikovsky is one of my all time favourites though, and that and the Shostakovich 4tet were two of the first pieces I really got to know well in Classical music.
Inside the Score That's absolutely great, I'm already looking forward to it. Check out Madetoja though. All three of his symphonies are delightful (2nd is my favourite) and he wrote two nice operas ('the ostrobothnians' and 'Juha'), a tone poem 'Kullervo' and a 'Symphonic Suite' (sinfoninen sarja in Finnish), known for its 4th movement: elegy (elegia), as well as a relatively large body of songs. He is largely overshadowed by his older contemporary Sibelius (who is also great), who was Madetoja's teacher for a while (Sibelius alledgedly even became jealous of his talent and succes). I think he deserves more fame than he does. Also: Tchaikovsky actually first got me into classical music with his 1812 Overture (as well as holst's planets, chopin's piano sonata no. 2, and britten's young person's guide to the orchestra) when i was 12.
What a magnifecnt work! Much as I love other Requiems, such as the Mozart, Berlioz or Fauré, this is surely the greatest of them all, and for me it is Verdi's supreme masterpiece.
I sang this piece a few years back (as an alto 2) so this gives me a great new perspective. Some notes from the trenches, so to speak: Tuba Mirum: The choral entrance is written for the basses at fortissimo. Our director wasn't satisfied with our fortissimo until he had the basses, tenors, and altos on that entrance (alto 2s in the same octave and alto 1s the octave up) with the back row of men standing on their chairs. Sanctus: We spent as much time rehearsing this and the fugue in the Libera Me as we did on the entire rest of the piece. Libera Me: Using the Dies Irae motif in the Libera Me is like, not inappropriate?, but extremely melodramatic. It's my favorite part to sing though so I forgive it. That fugue is brutal to sing without losing time but I'm pretty sure we managed it. I forget exactly where it is, but at some point the basses have a restatement of the Dies Irae theme on the text "dies illa, dies irae, calamitatis et miseriae, dies magna et amara valde" The rhythm of the text is slightly different and more difficult and our director told us that he's walked out of concert halls if the basses mess it up. Personally, I think it's a little late in the score to bother with that. I also sang this piece in the same weekend as I sang the Durufle Requiem with a different choir and those two are about as different musically as it's possible to get.
Great idea re the Tuba Mirum! I may have to steal it. Yes they're both great and utterly different pieces. If you want a sublime Requiem, try the Howells Requiem. Particularly Stephen Layton's recording with Trinity College Cambridge. Possibly *the best* choral CD I have ever listened to. Though very different from the large scale Verdi kind of sound, of course!
I also did both this and the Durufle with my university choir! I guess they must be mandatory... Also, a note from a Soprano 1: the quantity of Strepsils I got through in the process of rehearsing this was unfunny. It wasn't necessarily the height of the notes, but the sheer aggression and volume we had to put into it. Verdi uses choral sopranos as a very blunt instrument...
You had me at "Dies Irae"....and then Violetta dying of the clap!!! Some speculate that had not Manzoni died, Otello and Falstaff, brilliant, Wagnerian-influenced operas composed after the Requiem, may never have been written. Verdi could have easily ended his career as Rossini did: with the success of Aida, he didn't need any financial reason to further compose. But the idea of dressing up opera in "ecclesial garb" was too tempting to pass up, especially since Verdi never saw himself as a religious Catholic. But and so Manzoni's death becomes a vehicle for this resurgence of masterful composition. Thanks for the vid!
Violetta was dying of consumption (tuberculosis), not the clap (gonorrhea). While that was the publicized cause of death of Marie Duplessis, the courtisane on whom Marguerite Gautier, and hence Violetta, are modeled after, it is speculated that that was a euphemism for syphilis ('the pox'), a more likely disease for a prostitute, no matter how high class. Also: m.xkcd.com/386 😁
In "Libera" the first syllable is stressed not the last one. It is "LIbera me" not "LiberA me". And I wouldn't call the ending peaceful. It is more of a quiet urgency filled with uncertainty. "You just have to save me... save me...!". It lacks conviction, but it contains the hope that it will be so.
I think calling it “Verdi’s Greatest Opera” would be a massive disrespect to all the great operas he wrote, I mean come on La Traviata, Il Trovatore, Rigoletto, Otello, Aida, Un Ballo in Maschera and Don Carlo are all absolute masterpieces
For a work that’s so famous for its full throttle Dies Irae, it’s wonderful that it starts and finishes in such peace and contemplation! Brilliant! I’m really looking forward to singing this fantastic work at the end of the month at the Three Choirs Festival with Ed Gardner conducting! It’ll be a real highlight!!
1:10: Talking about Rossini: He also wrote some "sins of old age" after his retirement at the age of 38: His Petite messe solennelle and his Stabat mater. And was the maybe most famous opera composer ever. As for Verdi: many people consider his Requiem as his best opera.
This was amazing! I love the in-depth analysis and history in this! Could you consider doing the Brahms Requiem?? It changed my life when I performed it 2 years ago.
2:03: To by correct, Manzoni's death inspired Verdi to resume the work he started with the Requiem for Rossini (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messa_per_Rossini) and to complete this work alone.
This is the sort of video that I requested when I commented on your new podcast video, unknowing that you had started it. I loved this. I especially appreciate your inclusion of the lyrics (in particular when both the Latin and English translation were on screen). What's mentioned in your script without being emphasized is that Verdi was excellent at letting the Latin text direct the arrangement. Verdi didn't fall into the all-too-common trap that so many composers have of not letting the structure of the Latin get in the way of a good melody, in which random syllables get stressed/elongated/etc. without any regard to the grammar of the statement. (It's easy to get away with this when most don't understand the language at all, or at least as a spoken language.) It may end up being a lot of work... more than it would be worth, but I have a suggestion for your consideration to help your audience, who like me appreciate music but who are very weak on musical theory. (I learned music via chorus in school. Choral singers, who don't also learn an instrument, are typically poor at musical theory, and our musical reading skills focus more on intuiting the distance between notes on the staff than being able to quickly read the music and identifying notes/chords.) In the bottom, include a "Key/Chord Tracker" that lets the viewer always know the home key, the current key, the chords (both name and I, IV, V, etc. number), etc. relevant to your point and an appreciation of the work at the moment and overall. These facts are already much discussed in your script, but TH-cam is a visual teaching medium.
I am glad that you enjoyed this video. I wish I could have made many more like it, but believe it or not, this video was by far the most time consuming to make out of any of them. If you imagine that the audio part of it is similar to my podcasts... but then having to create visuals to keep the eye hooked for each bit of audio content. And somehow it just drained me and I wound up hating making these videos. But I'm loving making podcasts. So sadly I think that's the way forwards for now - because while at Yale I just don't have the time to do all these visuals, it at least quadruples the production time (I'm talking about many, many hours of work)
Berlioz' dies irae to me sounds like a barking dog that's showing its teeth, but is behind a fence. Verdi's entire dies irae section is not barking at you, but chasing you. And when that happens, you better run as fast as you can...
Getting ready to listen to tonight’s performance by the Met, in honor of those who perished on this date 20 years ago. Thank you for this wonderful guide.
Thanks Oscar! I'm going to watch this at the CBSO and it perfectly broke it down. Inside the Score is a MUST-WATCH channel for anything classical music related!
This brief little analysis is so helpful and truly deserves applause for the thorough amount of good insightsghts, that are so helpful to the listener, especially the newcomer, in such a short amount of time. This is the way to go in getting---- everyone---- to understand, appreciate, and, FALL IN LOVE with classical music. Just look at me, I'm a classical music lover, and, I---- enjoyed it---- immensely!!!!+ Please, bring us, all of us, more of these enjoyable, helpful lessons! Lastly, I'll suggestions: 1) Verdi: Rigoletto 2) Verdi: Aida 3)Verdi: Falstaff 4) Wagner: Tristan und Isolde 5) Mahler's early symphonies, at least. 6) Bruckner's Symphonies ## 6&7, at least 7) Debussy's La Mer, Three Three Nocturnes, several of his Preludes for Piano, etc. 8) Rachmaninoff's Second Symphony, Second and Third Piano Concertos, Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini, the many fine Preludes, etc.
Excited. Verdi's Requiem will be performed in Tucson, Az March 24. THANK YOU for this guide, I appreciate how you blend written score, voices, orchestra, and history. Perfect!
Thank you, so greatly , for such a, MAGNIFICENT, contribution to Art and Humanity! This Work is a " Superfavorite " of mine, and, even more so, of my Father, who is nolonger with us. Giuseppe Verdi here reveals to the Kosmos and History what an, absolutely, formidable, Technician and Artist, he is---- in all aspects of that, infinitely difficult, Creative Process! Wagner made a career out divinifying the sublime perfect melding of Word and Note. Then, along came Richard Strauss, who grapled, just as much, with this same struggle---- and---- who actually, JOKED ABOUT IT, and, LAUGHED ABOUT IT,---- twice---- DELIGHTFULLY---- in Ariadne auf Naxos, and in CAPRICCIO!!!! However, Verdi's awesome construction in the Requiem is flabbergastingly formidable!!!!!!!!!!! Its Artistic Impact on, anyone, and EVERYONE, regardless of whether they are musical or "tin-eared", is a 100% obvious manifestation of TRULY GREAT Artistic/Psychological genius with imposing Talent in the infinitely daunting, fatiguing, in the infinite universe of the never-ending Cosmic complexity of Musical Construction!!!! WOW!!!! This why the Verdi Requiem is so enjoyable and touches ALL so intensely!!!! Now, I have given you a most powerful Reason for your giving the World this "Personal Encounter" with this MASTERPIECE. Here I become a "Romantic Utopian Daydreamer" and say Masterpieces like the Verdi Requiem bring Positive Energy, more than anyone thinks, to Humanity---- discriminstion, hatred, wars, CAN, be stopped by infusing the World with such Powerful, Positive, Intensity, and, with the Powerful Energy of such Intelligence and Imposing Technical Command!!!!!!!!!!!!
I used to listen to it like Mozart's requiem. More passivly, just paying attention to music, but now I understand that I should listen to it like I'd listen to an Opera, with subtitles and paying attention to "plot" as well. Thanks a lot!
What a great guide to this monumental work..I am die hard Verdi fan and the video totally enhanced my appreciation of this breathtaking piece..hope you can do some other oratorio works like Rossini’s Stabat Mater or Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis
Traviata is not about a call girl dying of the clap. Is about a courtesan dying of TB , an older woman's relationship with a young man . After this the commentary lifts up a notch or ten!
I’ve just watched today live at the royal festival hall in London and thank you to explain it. It makes perfectly sense. Thank you. Regards from London
Ah, the fantastic old Solti version with Talvela, Sutherland, Horne and Pavarotti from my youth! A nice presentation of this musical marvel, indeed! Thank you!
Great video, thanks for making this as it gave me a really great insight into a work new to me. I am currently studying requiems and writing my own for my Doctorate in Music. Would like to see similar videos on the Mozart, Berlioz, Karl Jenkins, Faure, Durufle, Chilcott , Howells, Rutter and Goodhall Requiems! Maybe I will make them!
I sang this in my University's choir this year, 3 times - I'm done with this requiem for at least 10 years. But your video was quite insightful and re-picked my interest in the work. Shivers down the spine. Btw, Verdi composed the requiem for 2 friends, and did not for his sons?
Was still “clear” about religion (against the church) and young, alone, and broke … this happened before his first success (Nabucco). And who knows who/what really inspired this masterpiece. Manzoni? Rossini death was not enough. Manzoni or the faith of the patriotic poet and novelist Alessandro Manzoni?
What a great guide to a monumental piece of music. I am a diehard fan of Verdi and this video has definitely enhanced my appreciation of this breathtaking masterpiece. Hope you can do some other oratorio works such as Rossini‘s Stabat Mater/petite Messe solennelle or Beethoven Mossa Solemnis
Worth mentioning that the Libera Me from the 1869 (Rossini) mass isn't exactly the same as the later 1875 (Manzoni) mass. The score of the 1869 version was discovered in the1980s following much musicological speculation as to what it might contain and while most of it is virtually identical there is a big difference in that the famous "hammer blow" "Dies Irae" opening subject differs markedly as a kind of "chaos" motive instead. There are some recordings available - I have the Ricardo Chailly/ Scala Milan version but you can buy just the Libera Me/Dies Irae part as a "song" on Amazon if curious only about that.
Not the recording I would have chosen to best illustrate all the facets of Verdi's Requiem, but a wonderful video nonetheless. I would have chosen one of Toscanini's recordings.
Giovanni is pronounced Joe-VAH-nee and not Gee-oh-VAH-nee. The letter i is silent. And, I always thought that Violetta ( La Traviata ) had consumption ( tuberculosis ) not gonorrhea.
Brilliant as usual. :) I do hope you'll analyse Dvorak's New World Symphony someday. I've known and listened to this piece for more than 30 years, and would be very much interested in hearing your thoughts about it.
Great! Thank you! Have you also read Cyril Scott's book: Music its secret influence... if not it will give you even more insight, though you sure have many already! Thank you for having shared this.
let twice as much music in between commentary please, not enough for those who do not know the piece like the back of their hand... it felt like those guided tours of the Sistine chapel or Louvre LOL! A bit too fast-food like, but other than that, awesome!!
Can anyone give me some advice for writing my piece? I'm writing my own variation for solo piano on the famous song "The Lord's Prayer" where the melody develops in the style of dramatic Italian opera arias by Verdi, Mascagni and Puccini. I've been listrning to a lot of late Romantic/early 20th century music and, compared to those pieces, the original melody sounds like Schubert or Fauré's songs.
I'm not a fan of Verdi's works, to be honest. But your analysis is so beautiful, so well constructed and thought out, so imbued with musical knowledge, that it made this detailed guide to a piece of music that I've already heard, and don't enjoy, much more enjoyable than the piece itself. If that ability isn't a talent, I don't know what is. Thank you for your channel, for your effort, and for your deep commitment to music.
This is exactly what I wanted! A guide that gives you some historical context to a great musical work and then takes your through the work blow by blow, movement by movement, so someone unfamiliar with the piece could appreciate the amazing things the composer was doing. I’ve subscribed and I really hope you’ll do more guides exactly like this for other great musical works in history. At some point, I hope you’ll do Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony, a piece I love listening to but know am missing a lot of understanding/context. Also a comparison of various famous Requiems would be very interesting too!
Wow - thanks! So glad you liked it. I have every intention too - am thinking of doing 'Quick Guides' too which give a blow by blow account of a piece for a listener, but very quickly and giving the essential details, not every tiny thing. As this video actually took a really long time to make, there are so many movements (things got a bit painstaking sometimes). I know Mahler 2 bar by bar - I used to sing it through to myself if I had a long journey to make or something. I'd love to do something on it, so many fascinating things you could say. Though again, it would take a fair bit of time to make a video that would do it justice, musically, historically, and philosophically(!). Do share this channel if you like it :)
The problem starts that there isn't just one Mozart Requiem but at least a dozen completions.
When it comes to "Requiems" (missae pro defunctis) I prefer the Dvorak Requiem. It is a very sophisticated one.
VN V V V C V V vyyyyvvyyyyyyyv V V yyy
That last Libera Me climax with the soprano climbing up to the top C is breathtaking
One of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written.
Beautiful really
I second that Marc! It is as beautiful and as moving today as it was when I first learned it. I was fortunate enough to belong to a national choir and studied it several times for performances over a number of years. It never fails to amaze me. I’m lucky to have had that experience.
I agree epic,emotional, religious beautiful requiem ❤❤❤❤❤
Agreed.
That's a complete guide to Verdi's Requiem. Great job.
Haha, thanks. More to come!
Can't wait. Dude, seriously, you gave me goosebumps. Keep the good job. hmm.... can we make suggestions for future complete guides? o:-)
Please do!
Anything from Debussy, Messiaen, Schubert, and/or Arvo Pärt, my favorite composers of all times. I would be forever grateful.
You, my dear, are a wonderful human being. Thank you for putting so much work into these videos. There are days when I wish I stuck with music and finished my degree instead of foolishly giving into the emotional distress and ultimately leaving that world behind. Thank you for helping me find the joy and wonder in classical music that I fell in love with so long ago!
Thank you - so glad you've enjoyed it! I hope you continue on this journey.
I too am going through that stress right now - the American university system is quite different from the British one - they like to cram your schedule as full as possible - sometimes quantity over quality...! And then they wear it as a badge as if that makes a good education. I sometimes wish I'd followed my siblings and taken STEM degrees then earned big bucks as a Management Consultant or something. It's sometimes hard to appreciate this wonderful world when you're worked to the bone in it, so don't feel bad.
I actually found music all the more enjoyable when I wasn't working in it, back in my jobs in London over the last few years. When i wasn't trying to carve out a career in it, suddenly it became hugely enjoyable to listen for the sake of listening, rather than having subconscious fears about where the hell you're going to be in 10 years.
Can't wait for the Christmas break - hopefully more videos to come once I've had some days off work with my family in the UK.
@@InsidetheScore
Step back. Stop for a minute...
Then, KNOW IN YOUR HEART that you will find the right path....
Success is also the journey- not only the destination....
And trust me, I too have been where you talk about (somewhat lost) but it's O.K...
Take that 1 step back then march forward to 'your rhythm'...
God Bless.
Mozart never finished his requiem.
Verdi: well, better finish mine before i start it.
Words will never fully describe the impact of this towering masterpiece, but yours came very close! Well done. Thank you.
Have you thought of doing Brahms' Ein Deutches Requiem (A German Requiem) on an episode of The Score?
When the conductor of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra Maestro Alan Balter died of lung cancer, the Chorus was asked to sing, so we chose the German Requiem, Movement VII - Selig Sind Die Toten in his memory. The Chorus was one of many performers who sang at his memorial.
He was well loved by those who knew him, as well as those who were under his conductorship. I also sang this one twice under the same conductors mentioned in my comment on the Verdi Requiem.
I NEED MORE VIDEOS LIKE THIS IN MY LIFE!!!
Outstanding! Thanks for doing this! My husband did not grow up with any exposure to classical music, but enjoys attending concerts with me. Having this great Requiem broken down and explained like this is much appreciated - and it will allow my husband to enjoy it so much more!
Thank you!! You are awesome!!
It's so lovely to read this - I hope this helps him! More to come, so do subscribe if you liked it :)
From the bottom of my heart sir, I thank you for this! Astonishing work! I burst into tears a few times, you are an extremely gifted musician and poet! A million likes from me!
Thing I'm most impressed by is how a late 19th Century secularist was able to get into the mind of someone in the middle ages where abject terror at the day of judgement was just part of the background noise. It's like a doom painting set to music
I literally JUST discovered this channel and the first thing I saw is a guide to one of my absolutely favourite pieces of music. I've sung it, I almost know it by hard, I shiver everytime I listen to it, from beginning to end. I watched the whole video and I completely agree with its sentiment and tone. I even realized and discovered some things that I hadn't noticed before! THANK YOU SO SO MUCH !
To start off: I really enjoyed this video as it gave me completely new insights to this work.
Secondly, I would love to see more such work of analysis about other pieces. Good candidates, I think, would be Tchaikovsky's 6th symphony, Shostakovich's 8th string quartet (and by extention basically his entire output), and perhaps a bit about the lesser known 2nd symphony of Finnish composer Leevi Madetoja.
Again, thanks for the video, and I can only wish for more like this one.
You can definitely expect more in future! At the moment I have the time to make longer ones, so I've got a few more in the bank to do this month. But then I have a plan, when my time is more limited due to career, to produce a series of Guides analysing classical pieces of music in an easy and digestible way - not analysing so much as providing a guide so that listeners can have an easier and more enjoyable time listening if they don't know the piece well.
I don't know the Madetoja. I don't know any Madetoja. The Tchaikovsky is one of my all time favourites though, and that and the Shostakovich 4tet were two of the first pieces I really got to know well in Classical music.
Inside the Score That's absolutely great, I'm already looking forward to it. Check out Madetoja though. All three of his symphonies are delightful (2nd is my favourite) and he wrote two nice operas ('the ostrobothnians' and 'Juha'), a tone poem 'Kullervo' and a 'Symphonic Suite' (sinfoninen sarja in Finnish), known for its 4th movement: elegy (elegia), as well as a relatively large body of songs. He is largely overshadowed by his older contemporary Sibelius (who is also great), who was Madetoja's teacher for a while (Sibelius alledgedly even became jealous of his talent and succes). I think he deserves more fame than he does.
Also: Tchaikovsky actually first got me into classical music with his 1812 Overture (as well as holst's planets, chopin's piano sonata no. 2, and britten's young person's guide to the orchestra) when i was 12.
What a magnifecnt work! Much as I love other Requiems, such as the Mozart, Berlioz or Fauré, this is surely the greatest of them all, and for me it is Verdi's supreme masterpiece.
Besides Mozart's requiem Verdi is definitely one of my favorites!! So powerful!!
I sang this piece a few years back (as an alto 2) so this gives me a great new perspective.
Some notes from the trenches, so to speak:
Tuba Mirum: The choral entrance is written for the basses at fortissimo. Our director wasn't satisfied with our fortissimo until he had the basses, tenors, and altos on that entrance (alto 2s in the same octave and alto 1s the octave up) with the back row of men standing on their chairs.
Sanctus: We spent as much time rehearsing this and the fugue in the Libera Me as we did on the entire rest of the piece.
Libera Me: Using the Dies Irae motif in the Libera Me is like, not inappropriate?, but extremely melodramatic. It's my favorite part to sing though so I forgive it. That fugue is brutal to sing without losing time but I'm pretty sure we managed it.
I forget exactly where it is, but at some point the basses have a restatement of the Dies Irae theme on the text "dies illa, dies irae, calamitatis et miseriae, dies magna et amara valde" The rhythm of the text is slightly different and more difficult and our director told us that he's walked out of concert halls if the basses mess it up. Personally, I think it's a little late in the score to bother with that.
I also sang this piece in the same weekend as I sang the Durufle Requiem with a different choir and those two are about as different musically as it's possible to get.
Great idea re the Tuba Mirum! I may have to steal it.
Yes they're both great and utterly different pieces.
If you want a sublime Requiem, try the Howells Requiem. Particularly Stephen Layton's recording with Trinity College Cambridge. Possibly *the best* choral CD I have ever listened to. Though very different from the large scale Verdi kind of sound, of course!
I also did both this and the Durufle with my university choir! I guess they must be mandatory... Also, a note from a Soprano 1: the quantity of Strepsils I got through in the process of rehearsing this was unfunny. It wasn't necessarily the height of the notes, but the sheer aggression and volume we had to put into it. Verdi uses choral sopranos as a very blunt instrument...
"A grand work of flaming sincerity" (2:31). That was exquisitely stated and perhaps the best description of this most marvelous of works.
You had me at "Dies Irae"....and then Violetta dying of the clap!!! Some speculate that had not Manzoni died, Otello and Falstaff, brilliant, Wagnerian-influenced operas composed after the Requiem, may never have been written. Verdi could have easily ended his career as Rossini did: with the success of Aida, he didn't need any financial reason to further compose. But the idea of dressing up opera in "ecclesial garb" was too tempting to pass up, especially since Verdi never saw himself as a religious Catholic. But and so Manzoni's death becomes a vehicle for this resurgence of masterful composition. Thanks for the vid!
Haha great
Violetta was dying of consumption (tuberculosis), not the clap (gonorrhea). While that was the publicized cause of death of Marie Duplessis, the courtisane on whom Marguerite Gautier, and hence Violetta, are modeled after, it is speculated that that was a euphemism for syphilis ('the pox'), a more likely disease for a prostitute, no matter how high class. Also: m.xkcd.com/386 😁
I find Otello and Falstaff very much anything but Wagnerian, they are very much the summations of what Verdi has been working towards on his own.
@@yumyumwhatzohai Exactly!
Bravo! Best exposition of a musical offering I have ever encountered! . . . more, please.
In "Libera" the first syllable is stressed not the last one. It is "LIbera me" not "LiberA me".
And I wouldn't call the ending peaceful. It is more of a quiet urgency filled with uncertainty. "You just have to save me... save me...!". It lacks conviction, but it contains the hope that it will be so.
I think calling it “Verdi’s Greatest Opera” would be a massive disrespect to all the great operas he wrote, I mean come on La Traviata, Il Trovatore, Rigoletto, Otello, Aida, Un Ballo in Maschera and Don Carlo are all absolute masterpieces
For a work that’s so famous for its full throttle Dies Irae, it’s wonderful that it starts and finishes in such peace and contemplation! Brilliant!
I’m really looking forward to singing this fantastic work at the end of the month at the Three Choirs Festival with Ed Gardner conducting! It’ll be a real highlight!!
This is the best channel on TH-cam. Thank you!!!!
1:10: Talking about Rossini: He also wrote some "sins of old age" after his retirement at the age of 38: His Petite messe solennelle and his Stabat mater. And was the maybe most famous opera composer ever.
As for Verdi: many people consider his Requiem as his best opera.
Great! I sang this a couple of years ago with the choir I'm a member of. It's just great. Gives me the shivers every time.
This was amazing! I love the in-depth analysis and history in this! Could you consider doing the Brahms Requiem?? It changed my life when I performed it 2 years ago.
Glad you enjoyed! I may get to it in time - so many pieces to get through and less and less time to make these videos (hence the Quick Guide series!!)
2:03: To by correct, Manzoni's death inspired Verdi to resume the work he started with the Requiem for Rossini (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messa_per_Rossini) and to complete this work alone.
Thank you for this! More videos on the great works from the western canon would be greatly appreciated by so many.
Thanks - we'll attempt. This one's a little long, I've got some other ideas up my sleeves
This is terrific! Thank you! (A quick observation that the “Liber Scriptus” is a Mezzo Soprano solo rather than Soprano.)
when the dies irae restarts at the liber scriptus some feeling of despair and grief washes over me
This is the sort of video that I requested when I commented on your new podcast video, unknowing that you had started it. I loved this. I especially appreciate your inclusion of the lyrics (in particular when both the Latin and English translation were on screen). What's mentioned in your script without being emphasized is that Verdi was excellent at letting the Latin text direct the arrangement. Verdi didn't fall into the all-too-common trap that so many composers have of not letting the structure of the Latin get in the way of a good melody, in which random syllables get stressed/elongated/etc. without any regard to the grammar of the statement. (It's easy to get away with this when most don't understand the language at all, or at least as a spoken language.) It may end up being a lot of work... more than it would be worth, but I have a suggestion for your consideration to help your audience, who like me appreciate music but who are very weak on musical theory. (I learned music via chorus in school. Choral singers, who don't also learn an instrument, are typically poor at musical theory, and our musical reading skills focus more on intuiting the distance between notes on the staff than being able to quickly read the music and identifying notes/chords.) In the bottom, include a "Key/Chord Tracker" that lets the viewer always know the home key, the current key, the chords (both name and I, IV, V, etc. number), etc. relevant to your point and an appreciation of the work at the moment and overall. These facts are already much discussed in your script, but TH-cam is a visual teaching medium.
I am glad that you enjoyed this video. I wish I could have made many more like it, but believe it or not, this video was by far the most time consuming to make out of any of them. If you imagine that the audio part of it is similar to my podcasts... but then having to create visuals to keep the eye hooked for each bit of audio content. And somehow it just drained me and I wound up hating making these videos. But I'm loving making podcasts. So sadly I think that's the way forwards for now - because while at Yale I just don't have the time to do all these visuals, it at least quadruples the production time (I'm talking about many, many hours of work)
I think the dies irae and tuba mirum in this requirem sound grander than in Berlioz' even with its double-sized orchestra.
Berlioz' dies irae to me sounds like a barking dog that's showing its teeth, but is behind a fence. Verdi's entire dies irae section is not barking at you, but chasing you. And when that happens, you better run as fast as you can...
Great Job I loved it!!! ❤❤❤❤❤ I'll think of it next time I listen to Verdi's Requiem. 😊
Thank you! More to come :)
Thanks for this. Enjoyed it so much I played the cd with new insight. If you have not done so already, please consider Faure’s Requiem.
Getting ready to listen to tonight’s performance by the Met, in honor of those who perished on this date 20 years ago. Thank you for this wonderful guide.
Thanks Oscar! I'm going to watch this at the CBSO and it perfectly broke it down. Inside the Score is a MUST-WATCH channel for anything classical music related!
This brief little analysis is so helpful and truly deserves applause for the thorough amount of good insightsghts, that are so helpful to the listener, especially the newcomer, in such a short amount of time.
This is the way to go in getting---- everyone---- to understand, appreciate, and, FALL IN LOVE with classical music. Just look at me, I'm a classical music lover, and, I---- enjoyed it---- immensely!!!!+
Please, bring us, all of us, more of these enjoyable, helpful lessons!
Lastly, I'll suggestions:
1) Verdi: Rigoletto
2) Verdi: Aida
3)Verdi: Falstaff
4) Wagner: Tristan und Isolde
5) Mahler's early symphonies, at
least.
6) Bruckner's Symphonies ## 6&7,
at least
7) Debussy's La Mer, Three
Three Nocturnes, several of his
Preludes for Piano, etc.
8) Rachmaninoff's Second
Symphony, Second and
Third Piano Concertos,
Rhapsody on a Theme by
Paganini, the many fine
Preludes, etc.
I really enjoyed this! Looking forward to exploring more of your uploads. Very nice, very helpful.
Very well done. This is my favorite piece of music and you helped my understanding.
Excited. Verdi's Requiem will be performed in Tucson, Az March 24.
THANK YOU for this guide, I appreciate how you blend written score, voices, orchestra, and history. Perfect!
This is NO COMMENT ... This is JUST AMAZING AND GENIAL!
Thank you, so greatly , for such a, MAGNIFICENT, contribution to Art and Humanity!
This Work is a " Superfavorite " of mine, and, even more so, of my Father, who is nolonger with us.
Giuseppe Verdi here reveals to the Kosmos and History what an, absolutely, formidable, Technician and Artist, he is---- in all aspects of that, infinitely difficult, Creative Process!
Wagner made a career out divinifying the sublime perfect melding of Word and Note. Then, along came Richard Strauss, who grapled, just as much, with this same struggle---- and---- who actually, JOKED ABOUT IT, and, LAUGHED ABOUT IT,---- twice---- DELIGHTFULLY---- in Ariadne auf Naxos, and in CAPRICCIO!!!!
However, Verdi's awesome construction in the Requiem is flabbergastingly formidable!!!!!!!!!!!
Its Artistic Impact on, anyone, and EVERYONE, regardless of whether they are musical or "tin-eared", is a 100% obvious manifestation of TRULY GREAT Artistic/Psychological genius with imposing Talent in the infinitely daunting, fatiguing, in the infinite universe of the never-ending Cosmic complexity of Musical Construction!!!!
WOW!!!!
This why the Verdi Requiem is so enjoyable and touches ALL so intensely!!!!
Now, I have given you a most powerful Reason for your giving the World this "Personal Encounter" with this MASTERPIECE.
Here I become a "Romantic Utopian Daydreamer" and say Masterpieces like the Verdi Requiem bring Positive Energy, more than anyone thinks, to Humanity---- discriminstion, hatred, wars, CAN, be stopped by infusing the World with such Powerful, Positive, Intensity, and, with the Powerful Energy of such Intelligence and Imposing Technical Command!!!!!!!!!!!!
wow this just became my favorite channel!
I used to listen to it like Mozart's requiem. More passivly, just paying attention to music, but now I understand that I should listen to it like I'd listen to an Opera, with subtitles and paying attention to "plot" as well. Thanks a lot!
What a great guide to this monumental work..I am die hard Verdi fan and the video totally enhanced my appreciation of this breathtaking piece..hope you can do some other oratorio works like Rossini’s Stabat Mater or Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis
Traviata is not about a call girl dying of the clap.
Is about a courtesan dying of TB , an older woman's relationship with a young man .
After this the commentary lifts up a notch or ten!
I’ve just watched today live at the royal festival hall in London and thank you to explain it. It makes perfectly sense. Thank you. Regards from London
Ah, the fantastic old Solti version with Talvela, Sutherland, Horne and Pavarotti from my youth! A nice presentation of this musical marvel, indeed! Thank you!
Very interesting, concise and packed with great insights. Thank you.
I love how long the Dies Irae section is in this video. Great job!
Are you going to do Dvorak’s Requiem? His is sooo underrated.
Brilliantly presented! You've taken pains with this magnificent requiem mass, thank you.💐
Thank you! This will enhance my experience of the piece all the more!
I just came across your channel via the Harry Potter soundtrack videos. And you make really excellent content. I really love it.
@
Inside the Score
how can we learn how to study and learn these wonderful discoveries for ourselves?
This was brilliant. Thanks!
Could you do the same with Mozart's Requiem?
And Brahms‘ Reqiuem. And Berlioz‘. I just love requiems.
0:26 Violetta doesn't die from 'the Clap' - she dies from TB.
Great video, thanks for making this as it gave me a really great insight into a work new to me. I am currently studying requiems and writing my own for my Doctorate in Music. Would like to see similar videos on the Mozart, Berlioz, Karl Jenkins, Faure, Durufle, Chilcott , Howells, Rutter and Goodhall Requiems! Maybe I will make them!
Karl Jenkins?
Have you done a video like this on Mozart’s requiem? If not, would love to see it!
Greatly appreciated.
Thanks - Glad you enjoyed!
I would love for more opera analysis. Great job!
Such great content! Thank you for putting so much effort in this quality videos. Really helps create a foundation of musical theory.
Very interesting guide fantastic music !!❤
Awesome preview. Thanks!
(Tho, isn't Liber scriptus assigned to the mezzo rather than the soprano?)
I really love your explanations and comments. Keep up the amazing videos! Cheers 🥂 🎉
I've been waiting for a similar video for Mozart's Requiem for more than a year now.
I sang this in my University's choir this year, 3 times - I'm done with this requiem for at least 10 years.
But your video was quite insightful and re-picked my interest in the work. Shivers down the spine.
Btw, Verdi composed the requiem for 2 friends, and did not for his sons?
Was still “clear” about religion (against the church) and young, alone, and broke … this happened before his first success (Nabucco). And who knows who/what really inspired this masterpiece. Manzoni? Rossini death was not enough. Manzoni or the faith of the patriotic poet and novelist Alessandro Manzoni?
You selected a masterful recording with the masters themselves. Excellent work!
What a great guide to a monumental piece of music. I am a diehard fan of Verdi and this video has definitely enhanced my appreciation of this breathtaking masterpiece. Hope you can do some other oratorio works such as Rossini‘s Stabat Mater/petite Messe solennelle or Beethoven Mossa Solemnis
Please Excuse my typo Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis
Worth mentioning that the Libera Me from the 1869 (Rossini) mass isn't exactly the same as the later 1875 (Manzoni) mass. The score of the 1869 version was discovered in the1980s following much musicological speculation as to what it might contain and while most of it is virtually identical there is a big difference in that the famous "hammer blow" "Dies Irae" opening subject differs markedly as a kind of "chaos" motive instead. There are some recordings available - I have the Ricardo Chailly/ Scala Milan version but you can buy just the Libera Me/Dies Irae part as a "song" on Amazon if curious only about that.
Such a marvelous medley of haunting melodies. His most inspired work?
I thought I was going insane when I noticed the jazzy bits!!!
Just curious as to why you say that Violetta in La Traviata is dying from Gonorrhea (the clap)? She is dying from consumption or tuberculosis, no?
A joke
Inside the Score ....people have no idea that it was a joke. They hear that, then go off misinformed.
Not the recording I would have chosen to best illustrate all the facets of Verdi's Requiem, but a wonderful video nonetheless. I would have chosen one of Toscanini's recordings.
Giovanni is pronounced Joe-VAH-nee and not Gee-oh-VAH-nee. The letter i is silent.
And, I always thought that Violetta ( La Traviata ) had consumption ( tuberculosis ) not gonorrhea.
I had no choice but to subscribe!
Outstanding video!
Amazing video!
At last I've found you! ❤
I do Love this guide. Personally i would love a guide of Pergolesis Stabat Mater 🤗
Brilliant as usual. :) I do hope you'll analyse Dvorak's New World Symphony someday. I've known and listened to this piece for more than 30 years, and would be very much interested in hearing your thoughts about it.
Great! Thank you! Have you also read Cyril Scott's book: Music its secret influence... if not it will give you even more insight, though you sure have many already! Thank you for having shared this.
any recommended recordings? Your extracts were from Solti’s recording with Sutherland, were they not?
i loved this guide
thank you, great job
What a great video!
Rex Tremendae is the most underrated part of the Requiem.
Thank you.
Can you also do Borodin's In the Steppes of Central Asia???
Does anyone else think that Verdi liked that Dies irae theme?
We all do
let twice as much music in between commentary please, not enough for those who do not know the piece like the back of their hand... it felt like those guided tours of the Sistine chapel or Louvre LOL! A bit too fast-food like, but other than that, awesome!!
Can anyone give me some advice for writing my piece? I'm writing my own variation for solo piano on the famous song "The Lord's Prayer" where the melody develops in the style of dramatic Italian opera arias by Verdi, Mascagni and Puccini. I've been listrning to a lot of late Romantic/early 20th century music and, compared to those pieces, the original melody sounds like Schubert or Fauré's songs.
Verdis requiem is a great masterpiece a true religious work it,s beautiful great epic and emotional kyrie,dies irae,tuba mirum libera me ❤❤❤❤
What recording is this?
I'm not a fan of Verdi's works, to be honest. But your analysis is so beautiful, so well constructed and thought out, so imbued with musical knowledge, that it made this detailed guide to a piece of music that I've already heard, and don't enjoy, much more enjoyable than the piece itself. If that ability isn't a talent, I don't know what is. Thank you for your channel, for your effort, and for your deep commitment to music.
Please do a second version but with the commentary presented silently through the written text only. It will be that much more powerful and enjoyable.
Marilyn Horne!
In La Traviata, Violetta dies of tuberculosis, not the clap!
It's some kind of clap.