Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901): Messa da Requiem. Dimitra Theodossiou (soprano), Sonia Ganassi (mezzo-soprano), Francesco Meli (tenor), Riccardo Zanellato (bass), Chorus & Orchestra of the Teatro Regio di Parma; conductor: Yuri Temirkanov. Recorded at the Teatro Farnese di Parma that was opened in 1618. Verdi's Requiem counts next to Ludwig van Beethoven's Missa Solemnis and Brahms's German Requiem among the greatest masterpieces of sacred music of the 19th Century. Verdi wrote the Requiem in memory of the great Italian author and patriot Alessandro Manzoni, who had passed away in 1873. The work was first performed in 1874 at church of San Marco, very close to La Scala, where it was given its triumphant "secular" premiere only three days later. Today the Requiem is so frequently performed in concert halls that it is said to have one foot in the church, and the other in the theater.