Verdi - Trying Something New

This week's composer was Giuseppe Verdi, known for his contributions to opera.  We enjoyed reading about Verdi in A Young Scholar's Guide to the Composers, and then I dropped the bomb on the kids...  wait for it....

I had borrowed a DVD of Il Trovatore from the library! We're going to watch an opera! With English subtitles, of course!  We're watching it this afternoon, and I will let you all know how it's received!

Yesterday we watched a few YouTube clips and they didn't admit it, but I could tell they liked what they saw and heard.  We all recognized the piece from Rigoletto, were amused by the drinking song from La Traviata, and were awed by the excerpt from the Requiem.  Spencer even came in to see what we were listening to and pointed out that the Dies Irae from the Requiem is included on Trans-Siberian Orchestra's "A Night Enchanted."  I checked it out, and he is right.  Good ear, Spencer!

Here is the Dies Irae that we found so compelling:

This post is linked at ~a teaching heart~ where we are keeping each other accountable for making time for music in our homeschooling!