Verdi’s setting of the Requiem Mass for the Dead has been heard in many unusual environments, none more tragically than in Theresienstadt concentration camp during World War II. Verdi’s masterpiece was presented by mostly Jewish prisoners for an audience of Nazi officers from Berlin and an International Red Cross delegation. Most of those taking part in the performance were later murdered.

Verdi’s Requiem made a huge impression on audiences hearing it for the first time. Its premiere in Milan was such an immense success that three further performances had to be given at La Scala to cope with demand. As well, in London, it had to be sung three times at a packed Albert Hall. The demand for tickets was seemingly insatiable. The choir consisted of over a thousand singers, reminiscent of those colossal choral musterings that had become standard for performances of Handel’s Messiah. And in Vienna, such was the demand for seats, that Verdi’s Requiem had to be presented four times, always to full houses. Years later, extracts from the Requiem were sung at the funeral service for Princess Diana.

It was even offered in a version for four pianos (I kid thee not) – and, later, in a...