:00:07. > :00:09.When Verdi conducted his Requiem's first performance in 1874,
:00:10. > :00:13.women were not officially allowed to sing in Milan's San Marco church,
:00:14. > :00:16.so the female choristers hid behind funereal veils.
:00:17. > :00:20.Tonight at the Royal Albert Hall 140-odd years later,
:00:21. > :00:55.Verdi's Requiem is a work with heart and soul-on-sleeve sincerity that
:00:56. > :01:00.struck its first listeners immediately, and which a composer
:01:01. > :01:03.as different from Giuseppe Verdi as Johannes Brahms said "could only
:01:04. > :01:09.It is a fearless and multifaceted meditation on human mortality,
:01:10. > :01:12.an epic experience we're about to have here at the Royal Albert Hall
:01:13. > :01:16.From the desperation of grief through the violent horror
:01:17. > :01:18.of the day of judgement and the serenity of redemption
:01:19. > :01:21.to an uneasy tranquillity right at the very end.
:01:22. > :01:24.A public statement of personal mourning, religious in atmosphere
:01:25. > :01:27.yet abundantly passionate, the Requiem was written by Verdi
:01:28. > :01:32.to mark the first anniversary of the death of the Italian literary
:01:33. > :01:34.hero Alessandro Manzoni, whose work had deeply affected
:01:35. > :01:40.The result is a journey of the soul in grief that has proved to be
:01:41. > :01:43.a touchstone for audiences everywhere.
:01:44. > :01:49.It is music whose generosity of spirit reaches out to us in every
:01:50. > :01:52.bar of the seven sections traversing the human drama of death.
:01:53. > :01:54.And it was precisely this directness of emotional address that shocked
:01:55. > :02:01.But the masses of Mozart and Haydn, the oratorios of Handel,
:02:02. > :02:04.the cantatas of Bach ? these and many, many others had been
:02:05. > :02:09.using operatic music to tell religious stories for centuries.
:02:10. > :02:13.Verdi's instincts as the 19th century's greatest Italian opera
:02:14. > :02:16.composer are indeed evident in the storytelling flair he brings
:02:17. > :02:22.It's defiantly operatic in the sense that he turns
:02:23. > :02:23.each movement into a spiritual drama.
:02:24. > :02:25.But this is a vastly different conception from, say,
:02:26. > :02:36.Verdi uses all of his compositional powers as a severe, sacred
:02:37. > :02:39.technician, as well as a man of the theatre, to make the Requiem
:02:40. > :02:41.pierce our hearts ? which it does, unfailingly.
:02:42. > :02:43.Tonight the Requiem is performed on instruments of the period
:02:44. > :02:46.by The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the BBC
:02:47. > :02:50.Conductor Marin Alsop told me why the piece is such an important part
:02:51. > :02:54.I'm of the opinion ? as are so many ? that it's definitely one
:02:55. > :03:09.You don't give a deep costumes! That this way I look at it! The writing
:03:10. > :03:12.for the chorus for the soloists is complete, it explores every
:03:13. > :03:17.dimension of their voice. Every time I come to this, I think, I am so
:03:18. > :03:22.glad I'm not a singer and I wish I had thought of this! How do you
:03:23. > :03:29.think of the journey, what you have to create with his huge forces? I
:03:30. > :03:35.was speaking to the choir, we have this fabulous 300 strong choir
:03:36. > :03:39.between the ages of 14 and 21 and I was trying to explain, I said, you
:03:40. > :03:46.are on the other side of thinking about dying but this is your
:03:47. > :03:51.opportunity to really sell the idea of death as something that is
:03:52. > :03:57.appealing! Not to be glib about this, but this is a piece about the
:03:58. > :04:03.life cycle. And so it is not that it is trying to make a case for dying,
:04:04. > :04:12.but it is making a case for the enormity of life. And the vastness
:04:13. > :04:15.of experience that we can have. Working with Dukes -- with the
:04:16. > :04:20.orchestra, The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, that corresponds
:04:21. > :04:22.to the late 19th century, has that thrown up different colours as
:04:23. > :04:27.opposed to working with different orchestras? I love working with The
:04:28. > :04:30.Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, it is a different
:04:31. > :04:35.aesthetic, different experience, he signed wall is different, I think it
:04:36. > :04:41.suits the young voices we have in the choir, it is more immediate
:04:42. > :04:46.sounding, more open, it is not a hugely sustained signed. And with
:04:47. > :04:50.the young voices, that is also what we have, the brightness and
:04:51. > :04:55.lightness of being so this much is very well. It feels like a piece
:04:56. > :05:02.that is made, in terms of the scale, the other stage trumpets, it uses
:05:03. > :05:08.the space? Verdi uses four trumpet other stage, I asked if we can't
:05:09. > :05:12.have eight of them and we had eight trumpets, placing them in the
:05:13. > :05:17.different strumpets. Hopefully, if you are in the middle of the
:05:18. > :05:20.audience, you have this feeling that the trumpets, which are definitely
:05:21. > :05:25.the day of judgment, they are coming from all directions and you don't
:05:26. > :05:29.know where it is. It is extremely dramatic. We might have faced
:05:30. > :05:38.visions of death or that experience but you feel uplifted? It is both a
:05:39. > :05:43.tribute, an introspective, it is a screen for terror. But above all
:05:44. > :05:49.else, it is the incredible tenderness and fragility of life
:05:50. > :05:50.which we experience in this beautiful moments. If you are
:05:51. > :05:53.everybody think... Verdi's Requiem has
:05:54. > :06:11.a special connection It was here that the mass
:06:12. > :06:15.was unveiled to British audiences in May 1875,
:06:16. > :06:17.just a year after It was part of a mini-European tour
:06:18. > :06:30.and Verdi himself was conducting. It is still died tonight for the
:06:31. > :06:36.orchestra, The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. The Royal Albert
:06:37. > :06:46.Hall was just in its infancy, only opened since 1871.
:06:47. > :06:50.Those early performances in the rest of Europe and the New World, they
:06:51. > :06:54.were hugely successful. But some pretty off-the-wall
:06:55. > :06:56.productions outraged Verdi, including a version accompanied
:06:57. > :07:12.by four pianos and another APPLAUSE
:07:13. > :07:18.Here comes Marin Alsop, conducting The Orchestra of the Age of
:07:19. > :07:28.Enlightenment with the soloists. Dimitri Pittas and the massed ranks
:07:29. > :07:29.of the BBC Proms Youth Choir. Verdi's Requiem at the Proms...
:07:30. > :08:11.APPLAUSE # Et tibi reddetur
:08:12. > :10:06.votum in Jerusalem # Et profondo lacu;
:10:07. > :55:32.libera eas de ore leonis # Quam olim Abrahae
:55:33. > :57:43.promisisti et semini ejus # Hostias et preces tibi,
:57:44. > :59:06.Domine, laudis offerimus # Tu suscipe pro animabus illis,
:59:07. > :59:36.quarum hodie memoriam facimus # Fac eas, Domine, de
:59:37. > :00:43.morte transire ad vitam # Quam olim Abrahae
:00:44. > :01:38.promisisti et semini ejus # Libera animas omnium fidelum
:01:39. > :02:06.defunctorum de poenis inferni # Pleni sunt coeli
:02:07. > :03:39.et terra gloria tua # Benedictus qui venit
:03:40. > :04:31.in nomini Domini # Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata
:04:32. > :06:24.mundi, dona eis requiem sempiternam # Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata
:06:25. > :10:41.mundi, dona eis requiem sempiternam # Cum sanctis tuis in
:10:42. > :12:03.aeternam; quia pius es # Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine,
:12:04. > :13:01.# Cum sanctis tuis in aeternam; quia pius es
:13:02. > :14:28.# Cum sanctis tuis in aeternam; quia pius es
:14:29. > :14:51.# Cum sanctis tuis in aeternam
:14:52. > :15:25.# Cum sanctis tuis in aeternam
:15:26. > :16:58.# Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna in die illa tremenda
:16:59. > :17:26.# Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna in die illa tremenda
:17:27. > :18:03.# Dum veneris judicare saeclum per ignem
:18:04. > :18:16.# Tremens factus sum ego et timeo, dum discussio venerit atque
:18:17. > :18:37.# Ventura irae, quando coeli movendi sunt et terra
:18:38. > :19:13.# Tremens factus sum ego et timeo, dum discussio venerit atque
:19:14. > :20:00.# Dies irae, dies illa calamitatis et miseriae; dies
:20:01. > :20:28.# Dies irae, dies illa calamitatis et miseriae; dies
:20:29. > :22:57.# Requiem aeternam, dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis
:22:58. > :24:49.# Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna in die illa tremenda
:24:50. > :25:02.# Libera me, Domine, quando coeli movendi sunt et terra
:25:03. > :25:12.# Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna in die illa tremenda
:25:13. > :25:17.# Libera me, Domine, quando coeli movendi sunt et terra
:25:18. > :25:22.# Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna in die illa tremenda
:25:23. > :25:29.# Libera me, Domine, quando coeli movendi sunt et terra
:25:30. > :25:44.# Dum veneris judicare saeclum per ignem
:25:45. > :25:54.# Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna in die illa tremenda
:25:55. > :26:12.# Libera me, Domine, quando coeli movendi sunt et terra
:26:13. > :26:35.# Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna in die illa tremenda
:26:36. > :27:49.# Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna in die illa tremenda
:27:50. > :28:48.# Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna in die illa tremenda
:28:49. > :29:32.# Dum veneris judicare saeclum per ignem
:29:33. > :30:16.# Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna in die illa tremenda
:30:17. > :31:14.A whispered prayer from the soprano soloist and chorus
:31:15. > :31:29.Here BBC Proms Youth Choir. Marin Alsop conducted 96 macro Andy BBC
:31:30. > :31:38.Proms Youth Choir, Tamara Wilson, the mezzo soprano Alisa Kolosova and
:31:39. > :31:41.the tenor Dimitri Pittas Russ and Morris Robinson the bass. The
:31:42. > :31:46.Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment led by Kati
:31:47. > :31:54.Debretzeni. Wild applause for Morris Robinson. My goodness, what an easy
:31:55. > :32:08.conclusion that is to the Requiem. Fearlessly flinging that
:32:09. > :32:16.deliverance, that Libera Me, that is a resounding question that they are
:32:17. > :32:19.plodding. Marin Alsop are plodding The Orchestra of the Age of
:32:20. > :32:30.Enlightenment Andy BBC Proms Youth Choir. Marin Alsop said that is the
:32:31. > :32:36.best opera that Verdi ever wrote but surely the most honest spiritual,
:32:37. > :32:46.human experience of his career as well. It that way for me tonight.
:32:47. > :32:52.Selling the idea of how courageous those singers, between 14 and 21,
:32:53. > :32:58.gave themselves to the terrifying visions of the music of Verdi.
:32:59. > :33:04.APPLAUSE Huge applause for the BBC Proms
:33:05. > :33:08.Youth Choir, singer is being drawn from the city of Birmingham youth
:33:09. > :33:20.chorus and the Youth Choir Wales and the Aberdeenshire require. And the
:33:21. > :33:25.Birmingham voices. And singers from the BBC Ten Pieces Choir. Listen to
:33:26. > :33:37.this! Even better than the ovation that Verdi got himself in 1875.
:33:38. > :33:45.APPLAUSE Along with the soloists, the chorus
:33:46. > :33:57.master, Simon from the BBC Proms Youth Choir. Simon Halsey. Applause
:33:58. > :34:02.for all of the soloists. Alisa Kolosova, there. The mezzo soprano.
:34:03. > :34:14.Listen to that applause! APPLAUSE
:34:15. > :34:22.The wildest applause of the night for the BBC Proms Youth Choir and
:34:23. > :34:26.quite right. This is an extraordinary ovation for the steep,
:34:27. > :34:28.spiritual and uplifting experience. So that wraps it up for tonight and,
:34:29. > :34:31.indeed, for the BBC Proms It's been a sumptuous
:34:32. > :34:35.and exhilarating musical experience for us ? and hope it has been
:34:36. > :34:37.for you, too. Of course it's not the last word
:34:38. > :34:40.for the Proms on BBC television. The grand finale is tomorrow night
:34:41. > :34:43.on BBC Two from 7.15pm Be sure to join Katie Derham
:34:44. > :34:47.for The Last Night of the Proms with the BBC Symphony Orchestra
:34:48. > :34:50.and Chorus and the BBC Singers, conducted by Sakari Oramo
:34:51. > :34:52.with Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez and so,
:34:53. > :34:59.so much more. But for now, this is
:35:00. > :35:02.Tom Service at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall -
:35:03. > :35:06.after a thundering Dies Irae -