On September 16, 17, and 18, the Symphony presents Verdi’s Requiem, a program featuring Verdi’s largest nonoperatic work. In this post, discover how two people influenced Verdi’s writing of this piece after their death. Described as bleak and foreboding, musicologist David Rosen says Verdi’s Requiem is “probably the most frequently performed major choral work composed … Continued
On February 2, 1865, Johannes Brahms received an urgent telegram from his brother Fritz: “If you want to see our mother once again, come immediately.” At age 76 their mother, Christiane Brahms, had had a stroke. Brahms hastened to her from Vienna, but she had already passed away by the time he arrived in Hamburg. … Continued
On September 29 and October 1 & 2, 2016, the Houston Symphony performs Haydn’s masterpiece, The Creation. Learn more about the concert here. When it comes to grand choral works from the classical era, most symphony fans will immediately think of Mozart’s Requiem. Full of darkness, terror and passages of transcendent beauty, this is one … Continued
“As to my Requiem, perhaps I have also instinctively sought to escape from what is thought right and proper, after all the years of accompanying burial services on the organ! I know it all by heart. I wanted to write something different.” —Gabriel Fauré Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem is one of the treasures of the choral … Continued
Here’s a riddle for you: Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem, one of the most beloved of all choral works, came from a composer who wanted nothing to do with God or organized religion. Why would he write a massive sacred work? How could the result be so eloquent? Let’s let Verdi and those near him tell the … Continued
There is always something special about bringing the music of my own country abroad. It is wonderful to meet musicians and music lovers who are sincerely interested in the traditions of distant countries. For me, the United States is indeed an extraordinary case. There is nothing really foreign to America, because all nations and cultures … Continued