Quattro pezzi sacri
| Quattro pezzi sacri | |
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| by Giuseppe Verdi | |
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| English | Four Sacred Pieces |
| Genre | Sacred vocal music |
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| Composed | 1886 – 1897 |
| Performed | 7 April 1898: Paris Opera (without Ave Maria) |
| Published | 1898: Milan |
The Quattro pezzi sacri (Italian pronunciation: [ˈkwattro ˈpɛttsi ˈsaːkri], Four Sacred Pieces) are choral works by Giuseppe Verdi. Written separately during the last decades of the composer's life and with different origins and purposes, they were nevertheless published together in 1898 by Casa Ricordi. They are often performed as a cycle, not in chronological sequence of their composition, but in the sequence used in the Ricordi publication:
They were first performed together (without the Ave Maria) in a concert by the Paris Opera on April 7, 1898.
After Verdi finished his opera Aida and in 1874 the Messa da Requiem, he retired from composing for years, writing only minor sacred compositions such as a Pater Noster and an Ave Maria in 1880. The earliest of the Quattro pezzi sacri in terms of its composition date is what came to be known as Laudi alla Vergine Maria (although Verdi himself did not give it that title). It was composed between 1886 and 1888, during which time he was also working on his penultimate opera, Otello, which premiered in 1887. The second of the Pezzi to be composed was the Ave Maria, whose setting is built on an enigmatic scale. He originally composed it in 1889 and revised it for publication in 1897. The Te Deum was begun in 1895 two years after the premiere of his last opera, Falstaff. It was finished in the summer of 1896. The Stabat Mater followed, and all four pieces were sent to Verdi's publisher, Casa Ricordi, in June 1897.
At the end of his life Verdi returned to his beginnings as a church musician. He studied Bach's Mass in B minor and compositions by Palestrina, whose influence is apparent in the Laudi alla Vergine Maria.
The publisher Schott gives the total performance time as 37 minutes.
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