This newest volume in The Works of Giuseppe Verdi series comprises his only two surviving secular choral works: "Inno popolare," or "Hymn of the People," for unaccompanied male chorus, and "Inno delle nazioni," or "Hymn of the Nations," for tenor solo, chorus, and orchestra.
Verdi wrote the brief "Inno popolare" in 1848 at the behest of the Italian philosopher and patriot Giuseppe Mazzini, intending that it become an anthem for Italy at a time when the country had just driven away its Austrian overlords. He wrote no more independent patriotic pieces untilhe was askedin 1861to represent...