Verdi's Four Sacred Pieces are something I've been meaning to listen to since 1993, or so. This 365 idea is the perfect excuse to finally check them out.

The four pieces were written separately but published together. The texts aren't connected and have traditionally been set to music in and of themselves.

The texts are Ave Maria, Laudi alla Virgine, Stabat Mater, and Te Deum. These were the final pieces of music Verdi composed and they came five years after his finale opera, Falstaff.

Verdi was 85-years-old when he wrote the Four Sacred Pieces and we can only wonder if he was feeling the reality of his mortality.

The music is not as theatrical as his Requiem. The Ave Maria could almost be considered reverent.

In the Stabat Mater he can’t resist giving it more of the Verdi treatment with a sweeping melodic line that sounds something like the va pensiero chorus from his first opera Nabucco.

Both the Ave Maria and the Laudi alla Virgine are for a cappella chorus. The Laudi takes it’s text from Dante.

Of the four I’d say the Te Deum is the most immediately appealing. It opens with chanting which is soon consumed by Verdi’s Italian fire.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3EU7AQOD4k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8RyuiVvO8g