Sant’Agata, 17 November 1868
Dear Ricordi,
To honour the memory of Rossini I would like the most distinguished Italian composers (starting with Mercadante, even if it’s only for a few bars) to compose a Requiem Mass to be performed on the anniversary of his death.
I would like not only the composers, but all the performing artists to make a contribution towards the costs incurred, as well as giving their services free of charge. I do not want any foreigner, any hand alien to our art, no matter how powerful, to help us. In that case, I would withdraw at once from the association.
The Mass should be performed in San Petronio, in the city of Bologna, which was Rossini’s true musical home.
This Mass should not be an object of curiosity or of speculation; as soon as it has been performed, it should be sealed and placed in the archives of the city’s Liceo musicale and never removed again. Exception could perhaps be made for Rossini’s anniversaries, if posterity should decide to celebrate them.
If I were in the good graces of the Holy Father, I would beg him to allow women to take part in the performance of this music, at least this once, but since I am not, it would be best to nd someone more suitable than me to achieve this end.
It would be good to set up a committee of intelligent men to take charge of the arrangements for this performance, and above all to choose the composers, assign the pieces, and oversee the general format of the work.
This composition (however good the individual numbers may be) will necessarily lack musical unity; but if it is wanting in this respect, it will nevertheless demonstrate how much all of us venerate the man whose loss the whole world mourns.
Goodbye, and believe me,
Yours,
G. VERDI
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