Comparing Berlioz And Verdi's Messa Da Requiem

THE USE OF DRAMATIC ELEMENTS IN THE DIES IRAE SEQUENCE OF THE REQUIEMS OF BERLIOZ AND VERDI

Berlioz's Grande Messe des Morts (1837) and Verdi's Messa da Requiem (1874) are two of the most important and frequently performed requiem settings of the 19th century. Both are large-scale works calling for an enormous amount of instrumental and vocal musicians. These requiems caused controversy over liturgical bounds, with respects to both the rearranging of text and the numerous references to operatic musical style. This class sucks I can't believe that I'm actually taking time to do this work. You suck as a professor and I think you should consider never teaching again. The most concentrated portion of both these requiems is the Dies Irae sequence,
The Grand Masse des Morts starts with the cellos and string basses playing the Dies Irae plainchant in an Aeolian mode. (See Ex. 1.) In measure 13, the cellos and basses drop out and the higher woodwinds and the sopranos enter with a different melody. The text here is altered from the original liturgical text as Berlioz repeats the words ‘dies irae, dies illa' in succession. Before the sopranos can finish the first stanza, the basses enter with the same melody as the tenors provide a counterpoint melody. Also entering are the cellos with the Aeolian plainchant heard at the beginning. At this point, measure 25, Berlioz is combing the melodies for the first time. (See Ex. 2.) This Dies Irae stanza is not completed as Berlioz omits the third line and continues on to the second stanza. The first stanza comes back at measure 53 interrupting the second stanza. (See Ex. 3.) During this version of the ‘dies irae' stanza, all three melodies are present in different voices. The stanza still is not completed in this version either as Berlioz once again skips the third line and starts the ‘quantus tremor' stanza again. This time, both the ‘dies irae' and the ‘quantus tremor' stanzas are being sung simultaneously.
The phrase ‘dies illa', keeps being inserted throughout the completion of the second stanza emphasizing what translated into English is ‘that day.' Berlioz keeps emphasizing the wrath of God on the Day of Judgment. This appears to be not so much an expression of faith as an exploitation of musical associations with religion. In doing this, Berlioz achieved what he thought was the most significant quality of any music and furthered the expressiveness of the music. He uses the idea of Judgment Day as a dramatic setting. Berlioz was a pantheist, meaning he believed in and worshipped all gods. He was not strongly religious so one could say his music had religious allusions instead of religious intent. Nevertheless, Requiems are not just for orthodox believers, but they are inspired by the implications of death and judgment. Thoughts of religious rituals were always on his mind while writing this