PSO tries to get to the soul of Verdi's 'Requiem'
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Manfred Honeck will conduct the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in Verdi's "Requiem" this weekend. -
Giuseppe Verdi wrote his "Requiem" in 1874 and desired it not be performed as liturgical music.
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A long shot would have been a good description of the chance that an agnostic opera composer would compose one of history's most celebrated sacred works.
Yet that is the case with Guiseppe Verdi's "Requiem," the alternately harrowing and poignant setting of the Catholic Mass for the Dead he penned in 1874. It has flourished as a work of religious and artistic profundity despite conductor Hans von Bulow famously decrying it as "an opera in ecclesiastical robes," and despite Verdi's explicit desire that it be performed in concert, not as liturgical music.
With: Manfred Honeck, conductor; Mendelssohn Choir; Chatham Baroque; Angela Meade, soprano; Marina Prudenskaja, mezzo-soprano; Dimitri Pittas, tenor; Liang Li, bass.
When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
Where: Heinz Hall, Downtown.
Tickets: $20-$93; 412-392-4900 or www.pittsburghsymphony.org.
Conductor Manfred Honeck is of two minds about this discrepancy. On the one hand, Verdi's faith ultimately doesn't matter if the "Requiem" inspires music lovers and the spiritually minded alike.
"Every word has in its meaning very powerful music, even if you don't know exactly the words, you can understand what is behind [them]," says the music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, which performs the work this weekend. He adds that, "the musical language of Verdi is operatic and there is no way around it [but] he didn't want to have this performed as an opera at all."
On the other hand, the Austrian maestro questions if Verdi (1813-1901) really was a non-believer.
"Verdi called himself an agnostic, but I don't trust Verdi in this," says Mr. Honeck, a devout Catholic. "He was definitely anti-cleric because he had a terrible experience when he was an altar boy when he forgot to do something [in a Mass] and the priest hit him. At that young age already he had a [feisty disposition] and he said lightning should kill him. And he had a [good] relationship with a priest in Sant'Agata, where he lived, and he had a chapel on the grounds. It was his wish that he be blessed often. Would you do this as an agnostic?"
First Published December 2, 2010 12:00 am
