Giuseppe Verdi composed his famous "Requiem" in 1874 on the occasion of the first anniversary of the death of the great writer Alessandro Manzoni, author of the famous novel I promessi sposi (The Betrothed). The colors of the score and the operatic treatment of the Requiem text, then caused a stir - and does so even today. Despite - or perhaps because of this - it is one of the opera composer’s most popular works. Verdi’s setting is indiputably one of greatest settings of the Latin funeral Mass. The singers on this production are - as always with Helmuth Rilling - handpicked. The SWR Symphony Orchestra joins as orchestral support for this interpretation by one of the 20th century’s greatest choral conductors.