Requiem of the Week: Verdi

I have never had the chance to perform the Requiem by my cousin Joe Green, I mean by 19th century composer Giuseppe Verdi, but I listen to it each year. The piece has an interesting history, with one segment initially written in honor of Rossini’s death, but the project was abandoned. Verdi then wrote the whole requiem in honor of another late colleague.

One can hear the whole piece HERE and I’m sure elsewhere. Probably the most famous segment is the beginning of the Dies Irae which has has been used in films and on TV, as this extensive list of Verdi on soundtracks will attest.