CHAPTER VII

_REQUIEM_ MASS AND OTHER COMPOSITIONS

Verdi as a sacred music composer--Share in the "Rossini" mass--Failure of a patch-work effort--_Missa de Requiem_ produced--Splendid reception--Performed at the Royal Albert Hall--Structure of the work--Von Bülow's opinion--Divided opinions on its style and merit--Its character--Modern Italian Church style--Northern _versus_ Southern Church music--Verdi's early compositions--E minor Quartet for strings--_L'Inno delle Nazioni_--Its performance at Her Majesty's Theatre--Verdi's slender share in orchestral music--National temperament involved--Thematic method inconsistent with Italian national life 150