One of my favorite parts of Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem is the Lux Aeterna, Movement 6. I've only sung it a few times, but I suppose that I like it so much because the voicing is unexpected.  These beautiful words of peace and comfort are usually given to the soprano to sing, giving them an ethereal presence instead of the more grounded one that comes from a trio made up of the three lower voices: the mezzo, the tenor, and the bass/baritone.  In Verdi's work, It is as if these words are less remote, that they come from our humanity rather than as a blessing from above: Let perpetual light shine upon…

One of my favorite parts of Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem is the Lux Aeterna, Movement 6. I've only sung it a few times, but I suppose that I like it so much because the voicing is unexpected.  These beautiful words of peace and comfort are usually given to the soprano to sing, giving them an ethereal presence instead of the more grounded one that comes from a trio made up of the three lower voices: the mezzo, the tenor, and the bass/baritone.  In Verdi's work, It is as if these words are less remote, that they come from our humanity rather than as a blessing from above: Let perpetual light shine upon…