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An Insider’s View of the Performance of the Requiem by Giuseppe Verdi.
Performed on April 25, 2008 at Stambaugh Auditorium by the Warren Philharmonic Orchestra, with soprano, mezzo soprano, tenor, and bass soloists, the Westminster College Choir, Seraphim Chorus, and the Stambaugh Chorus, prepared and conducted by Susan Davenny Wyner.
The soloists were Charlene Canty, Soprano, Stephanie Chigas, Mezzo Soprano, Darren T. Anderson, Tenor, and Brian Johnson, Bass-Baritone. Charlene Canty and Brian Johnson are natives of the Warren Youngstown area.
By Jerome Stephens
Baritone, Stambaugh Chorus
April 25, 2008
I was for many years one of two who were writing reviews of the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra and Warren Philharmonic Orchestra concerts. I shared those duties with Dr. Robert Rollin of the Dana School of Music, Youngstown State University. During the last year, I have, at their request, written reviews of the Warren Philharmonic Orchestra, which also have been posted on the Warren Philharmonic web site. Since, however, I am a participant in the performance of the Verdi Requiem, I am not in a position to write a review of that concert. In lieu of this, I am writing an essay about my impressions of the concert, and the background of the composition so that there is some post concert information available.
Jerome K. Stephens. Warren, Ohio.
Giuseppe Verdi had just turned 55 in 1868 when the series of events that led to the composition of the Requiem began. The opera composer, Gioacchino Rossini, died in November of that year, and Verdi had the idea of writing a memorial to him and to Italian music. To this end, he approached 12 Italian composers and suggested that they each writ a movement of a Requiem to be performed in Bologna on the first anniversary of Rossini’s death. For this project he composed the Libera Me. The project foundered, mainly because of the tight deadline, though there was little enthusiasm for the project, and his contribution, the Libera Me, was returned to him in 1873. After this, Verdi went on to the composition of one of his most successful operas – Aida. The Requiem for Rossini was eventually performed in 1988 when Helmuth Rilling premiered the complete work in Stuttgart.
In May of 1873, the Italian poet and novelist, Alessandro Manzoni, died. Alessandro Francesco Tommaso Manzoni was an Italian poet and novelist. He is famous for the novel The Betrothed, one of the major works of Italian literature. There are a number of monuments and memorials to Manzoni existing, but the noblest monument was Verdi’s Requiem, which was specially written to honor his memory.
Verdi loved and honored Manzoni to the point of hero worship, even though he had only met him once in 1868. He wanted to write the Requiem Mass as a homage to Manzoni to be performed in the Cathedral of San Marco in Milan on the first anniversary of his death, and wrote to his publisher, Ricordi, announcing his intention, and asked Ricordi to obtain from the Mayor of Milan a guarantee that the performers would be paid by the City of Milan. There was opposition because of the high cost, but Arrigo Boito, who was a member of that body, acted as intermediary to ensure that the performance could take place as scheduled.
Verdi’s technique had grown and advanced well beyond the early days. It is shown in the Requiem in the greater use of polyphony and rich dissonances of the harmony, in the spacious instrumentation, and the unity of the compositional material. He had become a master at using orchestrations that did not just accompany the singers, but created moods. He used that talent to the fullest extant in the Requiem. Verdi fostered an image as a self taught composer, but the evidence is that in private studies under Vincenzo Lavigna, he had received a thorough grounding in counterpoint and compositional techniques. He showed his mastery of that in the double fugue of the Sanctus and the final fugue in Libera Me. He also did not have the constraints that are necessarily imposed in opera composition – the tight deadlines - the Italian norm for rehearsals was 3 weeks at that time, the need for chorus parts that can be quickly rehearsed, and the limitations of the stage settings. The first performance of the Requiem with an orchestra of 100 and a chorus of 120 voices took place on May 22, 1874 in the San Marco Church in Milan, with people from many European countries coming to hear the premier. The soloists were members of La Scala, and included Teresa Stolz and Maria Waldmann, who were the Aida and Amneris in the Milan Premier of the opera, Aida. This was followed by three more at La Scala. The reception of the Requiem was overwhelmingly enthusiastic.
There were critics who claimed that the Requiem was not ecclesiastical music, but an opera to a sacred text, overlooking the fact that Verdi never intended the composition to be used as part of a church service, Verdi, from the beginning, intended the composition for performance in the concert hall. This allowed some freedom in the setting of the text, but he was much more faithful to the standard liturgical text than Berlioz was. Principle among those critics was Hans von Bülow who was in Milan at the time, but did not go to a performance. His “review” was extremely prejudicial. This prompted Johannes Brahms to send for a copy of the score, and review it himself. Brahms’ judgment was that “Bülow has blundered, since this could be done only by a genius.” (I have seen even stronger versions of what Brahms said.) Possibly influenced by Brahms’ assessment of the work, Verdi’s critics had within a year changed their opinions. Von Bülow apologized 18 years later for his “great journalistic blunder.”
What is a requiem? The Requiem Mass is a funeral Mass. The use of the word requiem comes from the opening words of the Introit: Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. (Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.) It is a liturgical service of the Roman Catholic Church, of Anglo-Catholic Anglicans, and certain Lutheran Churches in the United States. This differs from the usual Tridentine Mass in omitting certain joyful passages such as the Alleluia, and it does not include the Gloria or the Credo. In Verdi’s time, the sequence, Dies Iræ, was added and the Agnus Dei is altered, replacing "Ite missa est" with "Requiescant in pace.” The final blessing is also omitted.
A central theme of Verdi’s composition if his setting of the Sequence, the Dies Irae (Day of Wrath) that introduces what was, until 1967, the traditional sequence of the Latin funeral rite. Verdi repeats it throughout the work for a sense of unity, which allows Verdi to explore the feelings of loss and sorrow as well as the human desire for forgiveness and mercy found in the Requiem. It is a famous thirteenth century Latin hymn, the authorship of which has been most generally ascribed to Thomas of Celano, a friend, fellow-friar, and biographer of St. Francis.
The Requiem is scored for a large orchestra, consisting of three flutes (third flute doubling on piccolo), two oboes, two clarinets, four bassoons, four French horns, eight trumpets (four of which play from offstage during the Tuba mirum), three trombones, one, timpani, bass drum, and strings. There are also soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor and bass soloists and a double chorus. Due to restrictions imposed by the size of the stage at Stambaugh Auditorium and the budget, there needed to be some reductions in the numbers of instruments. From where I stood in the chorus, the results were not noticeable. Only a culture vulture could have found fault with the final result.
What goes into such a massive undertaking? For me, the process began in October of 2007 when I obtained a vocal score and a recording (specifically, the ones done by Robert Shaw and the Atlanta Symphony and the recording of the broadcast performance by Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony with the Robert Shaw Chorale which I already had) of the Requiem. I then began to work on the chorus part I would be singing, the bass – baritone part. All this was done while preparing for a concert by the Stambaugh Chorus.
Serious chorus rehearsals began in January. At first it was simply learning the notes. Since I had already been working on it, this posed no obstacle. The main object was to not only learn the notes and the proper pronunciation of the Latin words, but to learn how they fit together. This was not a simple 4 part hymn that could be learned in one rehearsal session. I had the advantage of having already grounded myself in the music, but it took work with the rest of the chorus to learn how what I had learned fit into the other vocal lines. Since I felt I needed additional work in this aspect, I also began going to rehearsals being held on Wednesdays at Westminster College. At the end of March, Maestra Susan Davenny Wyner, who was in Warren to conduct a concert by the Warren Philharmonic, held sessions to check on our progress. The Westminster contingent was in fairly good shape, but the Stambaugh/Seraphim group needed more work. This was followed by intensive combined rehearsals during April.. This included trips by several to Westminster College for additional work. By the week before the performance, it began to truly come together.
The week of the performance, beginning on Sunday, was wall to wall rehearsals. We knew the notes, and had some idea of the dynamics, but there were 3 chorus directors rehearsing 3 different groups, each with their own ideas, and now it was time to really learn what Maestra Wyner wanted. For those who have never had the privilege of working under her, she is the most demanding, yet the easiest, conductor I have ever sung for. By the time we started work with the orchestra on Wednesday, nearly everything had fallen into place. The dress rehearsal on Thursday put the finishing touches on it, but it was the excitement of the actual performance that it into the extraordinary event that it was.
How was the performance? It was hard to do the usual critical analysis from where I was in the back row of the chorus, but judging from the behavior of the audience, it was superb. The audience appeared to be too spellbound to even cough, and the applause was tumultuous. If there were any mistakes (and I didn’t hear any), who cared. Verdi would have been satisfied enough with the soloists to have used them as substitutes in the original performance. This is not an easy work to perform for the soloists in that it requires much ensemble singing, sometimes without the orchestra playing. They didn’t miss a beat. The conductor, Susan Davenny Wyner, is one who can truly conduct both chorus and orchestra at the same time. This is a rare ability.
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