Quattro pezzi sacri

Quattro pezzis sacri ( Four Sacred Pieces ) are a cycle of church music vocal works by the Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi. The fourth part, the 1895-1896 resulting Te Deum, is considered, apart from the Stabat Mater from the same cycle as last major composition Verdi.

The cycle consists of the following parts:

Formation

After the completion of the opera Aida and in 1874 completed Messa da Requiem Verdi made ​​a compositional break. Nevertheless, Verdi created the meantime, various minor religious works, such as 1880, Pater Noster and an Ave Maria. After completion of the composition of Otello (1887 ) was 1889 Ave Maria sulla scala enigmatica, revised in 1897, the inclusion in the Quattro pezzis sacri found, and in 1894, a year after the completion of Falstaff a Pietà Signor for voice and piano.

Towards the end of his life Verdi returned with the Quattro pezzis sacri finally to its origins as a church musician back. In 1871, Verdi had expressed in a letter the thesis: Tornate All'Antico, sarà un progresso! ( Returns to Old back, there will be a progress ) Consequently, dealt Verdi in his final creative period with Johann Sebastian Bach's B Minor Mass and especially with the compositions of Palestrina, whom he described in 1895 as "true princes of the church music." Despite this appreciation, the Quattro are pezzis sacri except laudi alla Vergine Maria largely influences of Palestrina's free.

Verdi was initially reluctant to publish the Quattro pezzis sacri, but decided in October 1897 after a prolonged insistence of his publisher Ricordi, the individual parts of the cycle after re- examination to give to pressure.

Items

Ave Maria

Verdi in 1889 for the composition of Ave Maria by a chromatic scale ( scala enigmatica, enigmatic scale), c- of -e- f # - G # - ais -h -c excited with the sequence that Adolfo Crescentini ( 1854-1921 ) in Music Ricordi newspaper Gazzetta musicale di Milano had published and should be harmonized by interested readers. Verdi was processing the sequence of notes in an Ave Maria for four solo voices a cappella. The original melody is first intoned the bass, then of alto, tenor and soprano, with the other voices forming a harmonious braid it. Before the final premiere of the entire cycle Verdi revised the work in June 1897. The performance lasts about 6 minutes.

Stabat Mater

In contrast to the solo Ave Maria, which is a cappella argued occupied Verdi 's Stabat Mater with a mixed choir (soprano, alto, tenor and bass), and a large orchestra with 3 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets. 4 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 4 trombones, percussion ( timpani and bass drum ), harp and strings.

The work is rigorously structured, without word and text repetition, with a rich chromaticism present. Characteristic of the work is the change of aria -like melody, a cappella passages and dramatic outbursts. At the end, a hymn-like upturn at Paradisi gloria "before the pain in the lower strings dies away ."

The game lasts about 12 minutes.

Laudi alla Vergine Maria

Laudi alla Vergine Maria is again an a cappella work for four solo female voices, soprano I, soprano II, alto I, II Old Games will last approximately 6 minutes.

The work is based on a short prayer from the final song of Dante's Paradiso from the Divina Commedia. Musically, Verdi works partly with the counterpoint of the Renaissance music. The almost unadorned composition was at the former audience as so catchy that they achieved the most success at the premiere and had to be repeated.

Te Deum

The concluding Te Deum is a large-scale choral work with double choir (soprano, alto, tenor and bass), short soprano solo and a large orchestra with 3 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, four bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, 4 trombones, percussion ( timpani, bass drum ), and strings. The work is based on a single cantus firmus -like motivic cell. The game lasts about 15 minutes. Verdi himself suggested 12 minutes.

The work begins with a Gregorian presented by the Te Deum Laudamus Male Choir, te Dominum confitemur, the unison is a cappalla responsorisch further out by the whole male chorus. With the onset of the mixed chorus and sometimes violently propelled the orchestra follow three dramatic scenes, with the resumption of the musical language of the Messa da Requiem notice. As a result, Gregorian chant and Tutti alternate. When in te speravi towards the end of the piece there is a short soprano solo, after Verdi's instructions from a choir singer as " [ voice of ] mankind" to be carried forward and repeated by the chorus. The piece ends contemplative as the Libera me in the Messa da Requiem in a short orchestral postlude.

Reception and aftermath

The premiere of the cycle, but without the Ave Maria, took place on 7 / 8 April in the Paris Opera House as part of the concerts of the Société des Concerts du Conservatoire under the direction of Paul Taffanel (1844-1908) in 1898. Verdi, who had yet to recover from a mild stroke himself, sent representative and the librettist composer Arrigo Boito, which he gave several verbal and written instructions about its performance requirements. The Italian premiere of the cycle, just without the Ave Maria was on 26 May 1898 in Turin, conducted by Arturo Toscanini, who had previously consulted with Verdi. In the first performance in Vienna on 13 November 1898 by Richard Perger the Ave Maria was included. In the same concert, the soloists in Ave Maria and the laudi were replaced by a female choir.

Despite Toscanini's commitment to the Quattro pezzis sacri cycle remained undervalued for long. Still Ildebrando Pizzetti (1880-1968) wrote in the Enciclopedia della musica that the Quattro pezzis sacri " have little value ". Meanwhile, however, Hans Gál's rating has prevailed: " You are the most personal statement and so turned inward, that a concentrated empathy is one of them to receive their message. "

Verdi himself considered the final Te Deum for his best work and was supposed to take even the score with the grave.

Today is especially brought the Te Deum in concerts, while the overall cycle is rarely heard. Contrary Verdi's instructions Ave Maria alla Vergine Maria and the laudi are often sung by a female choir, instead of soloists.

Adaptations

• The enigmatic scale of Ave Maria was established in 1979 by Luigi Nono as the basis of his String Quartet Fragments - picked up and processed Stille, An Diotima.