VERDI’S REQUIEM MASS
Requiem, also called Requiem Mass, Italian in full Messa da requiem per l’anniversario della morte di Manzoni 22 maggio 1874 (“Requiem Mass for the Anniversary of the Death of Manzoni May 22, 1874”), requiem mass by Giuseppe Verdi, intended as a memorial to a departed hero—the poet, playwright, and novelist Alessandro Manzoni. Requiem premiered in Milan on May 22, 1874. It is Verdi’s largest-scale nonoperatic work.
Verdi’s only masterpiece not intended for the stage was aptly described by Hans von Bülow as ‘Verdi’s latest opera, in church vestments.’ Its elegaic, spiritual moments are combined with a heartfelt intensity and stirring theatricality setting it a long way from the masses of Bach or Mozart.
Verd’s Requiem is a masterpiece that only mature conductors are comfortable with, still it’s a very important piece in the repertoire and a distinctive feature for the emerging conductor that wants to find his/her position in the music business.
OPPORTUNITIES RESERVED TO OUR STUDENTS
Maestro Allemandi will conduct the orchestra of the Hungarian National Opera and Choir in Verdi’s Requiem at Budapest’s St. Stephen Basilica on November 2 and 4 2022.
The selected students will have the opportunity to assist the Maestro in the preparation of this masterpiece and work with him in the magnificent Opera House of Budapest and St. Stephen Basilica, an opportunity reserved only to our students.
Working day after day to the creation of Verdi’s Requiem, assisting to all the phases of the creation of the piece, from the first rehearsals with the singers and the choir to the performance, is a unique experience that only a few students can have.
Living the opera house is also the best way to meet the people with whom you will work in the future, singers, directors, musicians of the orchestra.
The organization will help the students with logistics and in organizing their trip. Free accommodation for one week (6 nights) will be also provided, everything else is up to the students.
ST. STEPHEN BASILICA
Budapest’s neoclassical cathedral is the most sacred Catholic church in all of Hungary and contains its most revered relic: the mummified right hand of the church’s patron, King St Stephen. It was built over half a century to 1905. Much of the interruption during construction had to do with a fiasco in 1868 when the dome collapsed during a storm, and the structure had to be demolished and then rebuilt from the ground up. The view from the dome is phenomenal.
The Saint Stephen Basilica has played an active role in the musical community since its consecration in 1905. The head organists of the church have always been very highly regarded musicians. In the past century, the Basilica has been home to choral music, classical music as well as contemporary musical performances.
BUDAPEST
The city of Liszt and Bartók, Budapest showcases classical concerts of the highest quality, the world’s most talented conductors, singers and musicians performing at venerable venues.
The Music Academy founded by Liszt himself along with nearby Hungarian State Opera and the new Palace of Arts represent well today’s Hungarian music scene.
Hungarian State Opera has gained a reputation as one of the finest opera houses in the world.
Budapest is also home to the Hungarian National Philharmonic, whose music director until is recent death was the legendary Zoltán Kocsis, as well as Budapest Festival Orchestra whose founder and music director is Ivan Fischer, Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra founded by Ernst von Dohnányi in 1943.