"Day of . . . WHAT?": Toward a Viable Translation of Verdi's "Requiem"

Abstract

Sigmund Freud claimed to be afraid of music. He conceded to a personal “resistance to the enigmatic power of music.” Freud was not afraid of other artistic forms: he could stand in front of a sculpture and reflect upon what he saw. Freud was moved by literature. But with music it was different. In Freud’s mind music is abstract. Freud could not comprehend its meaning nor understand how music could have such an emotional impact on him.

So what happens when a text is added to music? Now the music is put into a context which is no longer abstract. The music suddenly becomes related to the meaning of the words, the message of the text, and the intellectual and imaginative depths of the poetry. The words provide a concrete context for the music to relate to. Music can illustrate and even animate the words. Tone-painting and wordpainting are cases of illustration