Schubert's "Death and the Maiden" (arr. Mahler)

Years before there was Photoshop, there was Gustav Mahler, and his infamous "retouchings" of respected scores to bring them up to modern listening standards. Known in his day more as a conductor than a composer, Mahler would make revisions to the music he was performing—an instrument added here, a note changed there—ideas that were not always popular with listeners. However, in the case of Schubert’s Quartet in D Minor, Death and the Maiden, a theme and variations on his lieder of the same name, the work definitely remains more Schubert’s. Mahler reinforced the bass line, changed double stops into rich string textures, and brought this intimate chamber work into the large concert hall. This podcast uses a recording of the original quartet, performed by SFS musicians Sarn Oliver and Amy Hiraga, violins; Nanci Severance, viola; and Peter Wyrick, cello.

Verdi's Requiem

In mid-nineteenth century Italy, Alessandro Manzoni, a poet and humanist, was one of the central figures in Italian cultural life.  Not only was he a great writer, but he had been elected to the first Senate of the new Kingdom of Italy in 1861. Upon his death, in 1873, the country entered a period of national mourning.  Giuseppe Verdi, having not yet written much of anything other than opera, volunteered his services to compose a Requiem mass.  He offered the public not a strictly liturgical work but a concert piece, and it was greeted with applause both at its premiere in Milan’s St. Marco Cathedral and at its second performance, three days later, at La Scala.