Final concert: Verdi's Requiem

In this season's final concert, Giuseppe Verdi wrote the requiem mass for his favourite Italian writer, Alessandro Manzoni, whom he had loved since the age of 16. On hearing of Manzoni's death, Verdi was inconsolable and unable to attend the funeral. Three days later he visited the grave in Milan. On the anniversary of Manzoni's death a year later, Verdi conducted the first performance of his Requiem at San Marco in Milan. Due to its enormous success, it was repeated at La Scala in Milan and Verdi toured Europe with his Requiem. It is now one of the absolute religious top pieces, alongside Bach's Hohe Messe, Mozart's Requiem and Beethoven's Missa solemnis.