The death of Gioachino Rossini, followed by that of the great Italian poet Alessandro Manzoni, prompted Giuseppe Verdi in the early 1870s to compose a requiem as a tribute to Italian art and its artists. As soon as it premiered, the work was a source of controversy.

Indeed, Verdi had not hesitated to showcase all his dramatic talent in this work, which led the Messa da Requiem to be described as an ‘opera in ecclesiastical garb’. Nevertheless, the vocal and expressive richness of this Mass makes it one of the composer’s greatest masterpieces.