The Musical Style Analysis Of Virdi's Oratorio Requiem

The birth and development of western music has been closely related to religon, and the religious music in churches once played a dominant role in western music world. Mass is one of the important forms of church music. As one of the most essential component of Mass, Requiem Mass (Requiem for short) was initially sung in the western religious sacrifice ceremony and since then, it became one of the most indispensable musical subjects of the western musical world. With the development of society and rapid economic growth, people gradually had the sense that the function of music was not just confined to the communication bewteen human beings and God, but was extended to enrich the secular life of the ordinary people. The appearance of secular music for ordinary people weakened the predominant role of the religious music in the musical world, but it did not replace the status of the religious music in the spriritual world of human beings. Secular music and religious music were seperated completely at the very beginning, however, with the passage of time, they gradually influenced and took in merits of each other. Some music subjects, which could only be seen on the stage of church, were becoming secular and the integral part of human life. Requiem is one of the most important representation of such kind of music.Requiem has been changing its content and style from its birth till now. Firstly, it converted from the religious ceremony music into non religious ceremony music. The original religious subject of requiem was mixed with secular matters. Secondly, singers could use their native languages to sing instead of Latin. Thirdly, chorus without accompaniment faded away chorus, ensemble and solo with the accompaniment began to spring up. In the process of requiem becoming secularized, the most well-known and important opera composer of romantic ear in 19th century—Verdi, played a key part. Not only did Verdi's Requiem inherit the conventional creative pattern and sanctity of the religious subjects, but also it integrated creative ideas of Realism and dramatic creative style in the course of opera creation. Music is commonly used to create a sort of mysterious phenomenon and significance in Requiem. What is more, Requiem is full of all sorts of musical materials and styles with different music elements, such as whisper of religious ceremony, dramatic and dynamic melody, use of fugue and lyrical tactics. All of the aboved mentioned elements mix together and turn out to be dramatic and sacred. Because of all these unique features, the Requiem composed by Virdi is quite different from the other requiems and become the outstanding masterpiece comparing with the other compositions.This thesis can be divided into four chapters: Chapter one is about the origin,progress and development of requiem. Chapter two concentrates on Virdi's profile,his musical compositions and style. Moreover, the author makes a brief analysis and exploration of the cause of Virdi's creative style. Chapter three focuses on the musical style analysis of Virdi's requiem, incorporating background information and creative process. Furthermore, the author sets the second portion Dies irae of the Requiem as an example to make a profound analysis from the perspectives of musical form, singing mode, melodious characteristics, rhythm and tempo as well as theme. By meas of doing analysis, the author has a clear picture of how Virdi inherited and innovated compositions on the basis of traditions. It was Virdi who brought requiem into secular life of human beings. Chapter four makes a solid conclusion of Virdi's creative features and states the author's opinion toward Virdi's musical style. So far as the author is concerned, Virdi's Requiem is created on the basis of inheriting traditions and meanwhile employing his own unique musical language and style. Thus, Virdi's compositions are characterized by dynamism and humanity, which make his works become the most outstanding masterpiece comparing with the other compositions in the same age.