Requiem
A Requiem (
Musical settings of the propers of the Requiem Mass are also called Requiems, and the term has subsequently been applied to other musical compositions associated with death, dying, and mourning, even when they lack religious or liturgical relevance.
The term is also used for similar ceremonies outside the Catholic Church, especially in
The Mass and its settings draw their name from the
Liturgical rite
In earlier forms of the Roman Rite, some of which are still in use, a Requiem Mass differs in several ways from the usual Mass. Some parts that were of relatively recent origin, including some that have been excluded in the 1970 revision of the regular Mass, are omitted. Examples are the psalm Iudica at the start of Mass, the prayer said by the priest before reading the Gospel (or the blessing of the deacon, if a deacon reads it), and the first of the two prayers of the priest for himself before receiving Communion.
Roman Rite
In the liturgical reforms of the mid-20th century in the Catholic Church's
In the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, the Requiem Mass was sometimes termed a "Mass of the Resurrection"[6] or Mass of Christian Burial, although the former was never official terminology. In the official English ritual, Order of Christian Funerals, published by the Bishops of England and Wales in 1990, the title is given as "Funeral Mass". "Requiem Mass" remains a suitable title for other Masses for the dead and for the Funeral Mass itself (as the proper antiphons remain in force: Introit, "Eternal rest grant ... " / "Requiem æternam dona eis Domine"; Offertory, "Lord Jesus Christ, King of glory, deliver the souls of all the faithful departed ... " / "Domine Iesu Christe, Rex gloriæ, libera animas ..."; Communion, "Let perpetual light shine ..." / "Lux æterna luceat eis, Domine..."). In keeping with those trends of the latter 21st century, the use of white vestments was made an allowable option by the Missal, though only by an indult; black remains the normal color of all Requiem Masses, including Funeral Masses. Violet, a color of penance, was also allowed by indult, since penance and reparation for the soul, presumably in Purgatory, is encouraged by the Church. The texts used for the liturgy underwent a similar change, and some of the new options for the readings reinforce an overall theme of Jesus' promise of eternal life.[7][non-primary source needed]
Requiem in other rites and churches
Requiem is also used to describe any sacred composition that sets to music religious texts which would be appropriate at a funeral, or to describe such compositions for liturgies other than the Roman Catholic Mass. Among the earliest examples of this type are the German settings composed in the 17th century by
Such works include:
- Parastas
- Russian Orthodox Church—Panikhida
- Anglican (English) Requiem
Eastern Christian rites
In the
Because of their great length, a full Requiem is rarely served. However, at least in the Russian liturgical tradition, a Requiem will often be served on the eve before the Glorification (canonization) of a saint, in a special service known as the "Last Panikhida".
Anglicanism
The
- I am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. (John 11:25-26)
- I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another. (Job 19:25-27)
- We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the Name of the Lord. (1 Timothy 6:7 and Job 1:21)
- Man that is born of a woman hath but a short time to live, and is full of misery. He cometh up, and is cut down, like a flower; he fleeth as it were a shadow, and never continueth in one stay. (Job 14:1-2)
- In the midst of life we are in death: of whom may we seek for succour, but of thee, O Lord, who for our sins art justly displeased? Yet, O Lord God most holy, O Lord most mighty, O holy and most merciful Saviour, deliver us not into the bitter pains of eternal death. (Media vita in morte sumus)
- Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts; shut not thy merciful ears to our prayer; but spare us, Lord most holy, O God most mighty, O holy and merciful Saviour, thou most worthy judge eternal, suffer us not, at our last hour, for any pains of death, to fall from thee.
- I heard a voice from heaven, saying unto me, Write, From henceforth blessed are the dead which die in the Lord: even so saith the Spirit: for they rest from their labours. (Revelation 14:13)
Music
The Requiem Mass is notable for the large number of musical compositions that it has inspired, including settings by
, and others. Originally, such compositions were meant to be performed in liturgical service, with monophonic chant. Eventually, the dramatic character of the text began to appeal to composers to an extent that they made the requiem a genre of its own, and the compositions of composers such as Verdi are essentially concert pieces rather than liturgical works.Many of the texts in the Requiem Mass have been set to music, including:
- Introit
- Kyrie eleison
- Gradual
- Tract
- Sequence(the Dies Irae)
- Offertory
- Sanctus
- Agnus Dei
- Communion
- Pie Jesu
- Libera Me
- In paradisum
History of musical compositions
For many centuries the texts of the requiem were sung to
In the 16th century, more and more composers set the Requiem Mass. In contrast to practice in setting the Mass Ordinary, many of these settings used a
Over 2,000 Requiem compositions have been composed to the present day. Typically the Renaissance settings, especially those not written on the Iberian Peninsula, may be performed a cappella (i.e. without necessary accompanying instrumental parts), whereas beginning around 1600 composers more often preferred to use instruments to accompany a choir, and also include vocal soloists. There is great variation between compositions in how much of liturgical text is set to music.
Most composers omit sections of the liturgical prescription, most frequently the Gradual and the Tract. Fauré omits the Dies iræ, while the very same text had often been set by French composers in previous centuries as a stand-alone work.
Sometimes composers divide an item of the liturgical text into two or more movements; because of the length of its text, the Dies iræ is the most frequently divided section of the text (as with Mozart, for instance). The Introit and Kyrie, being immediately adjacent in the actual Roman Catholic liturgy, are often composed as one movement.
Musico-thematic relationships among movements within a Requiem can be found as well.
Requiem in concert
Beginning in the 18th century and continuing through the 19th, many composers wrote what are effectively concert works, which by virtue of employing forces too large, or lasting such a considerable duration, prevent them being readily used in an ordinary funeral service; the requiems of
Notable compositions
Many composers have composed Requiems. Some of the most notable include the following (in chronological order):
- Johannes Ockeghem: Requiem (1461?)
- Antoine Brumel: Requiem
- Tomás Luis de Victoria: Officium Defunctorum (1603)
- Eustache du Caurroy: Missa pro defunctis quinque vocum (1610)
- Marc-Antoine Charpentier: Messe pour les trépassée à 8, H.2, Dies irae H.12, Motet pour les trépassés à 8, H.311, Messe des morts à 4 voix H.7 & Messe des morts à 4 voix et symphonie H.10 (1670–1690)
- Jean Gilles: Requiem
- André Campra: Requiem
- Antonio Caldara: Requiem in e minor
- Francesco Durante: Requiem in g minor
- François Giroust: Requiem, Choeur à 5 voix 1775
- François-Joseph Gossec: Requiem (1760)
- Johann Adolph Hasse: Requiem in C major (1763), Requiem in E-flat major (1764)
- Michael Haydn: Missa pro Defunctis, Klafsky I:8, MH 155 (1771)
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Requiem, K. 626 (1791)
- Antonio Salieri: Requiem in C minor (1804)
- Luigi Cherubini: Requiem in C minor (1816), Requiem in D minor (1836)
- Hector Berlioz: Requiem, Op. 5 (1837)
- Anton Bruckner: Requiem, WAB 39 (1849)
- Robert Schumann: Requiem, Op. 148 (1852)
- Johannes Brahms: A German Requiem, Op. 45 (1865–68)
- Théodore Gouvy: Requiem in E-flat minor (1874)
- Giuseppe Verdi: Messa da Requiem (1874)
- Camille Saint-Saëns: Requiem, Op. 54 (1878)
- Antonín Dvořák: Requiem, Op. 89, B. 165 (1890)
- Gabriel Fauré: Requiem, Op. 48 (1887–90)
- Charles Villiers Stanford: Requiem, Op. 63 (1896)
- Frederick Delius: Requiem (1913–16)
- Herbert Howells: Requiem (1932)
- Bruno Maderna: Requiem (1946)
- Maurice Duruflé: Requiem, Op. 9 (1947)
- Benjamin Britten: War Requiem, Op. 66 (1961–62)
- György Ligeti: Requiem (1963–65)
- Igor Stravinsky: Requiem Canticles (1966)
- Bernd Alois Zimmermann: Requiem für einen jungen Dichter (1967–69)
- Krzysztof Penderecki: Polish Requiem (1980–2005)
- Andrew Lloyd Webber: Requiem (1985)
- John Rutter: Requiem (1985)
- Serban Nichifor: Requiem(1990)
- Hans Werner Henze: Requiem (1991–93)
- Olivier Greif: Requiem (1999)
- Christopher Rouse: Requiem (2002)
- Karl Jenkins: Requiem (2005)
- Dan Forrest: Requiem for the Living (2013)
Modern treatments
In the 20th century the requiem evolved in several new directions. The genre of War Requiem is perhaps the most notable, which comprise compositions dedicated to the memory of people killed in wartime. These often include extra-liturgical poems of a pacifist or non-liturgical nature; for example, the
The 20th century saw the development of the secular Requiem, written for public performance without specific religious observance, such as Max Reger's
Some composers have written purely instrumental works bearing the title of Requiem, as famously exemplified by Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem. Hans Werner Henze's Das Floß der Medusa, written in 1968 as a requiem for Che Guevara, is properly speaking an oratorio; Henze's Requiem is instrumental but retains the traditional Latin titles for the movements. Igor Stravinsky's Requiem Canticles mixes instrumental movements with segments of the "Introit", "Dies irae", "Pie Jesu" and "Libera me".
See also
Notes
- ISBN 978-0802824165. Retrieved 3 November 2012.
The possibility of a funeral Eucharist is provided in North American Lutheran, Episcopal/Anglican, and United Methodist worship books.
- ^ 2 Esdras 2:35 (4 Esdras in Vulgate).
- ^ Missale Romanum, Ritus servandus in celebratione Missae, XIII
- ^ a b General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 346e
- ^ "The Catholic Diocese of Richmond, Office of Worship "Rites of the Order of Christian Funerals"". .richmonddiocese.org. Archived from the original on 2013-03-11. Retrieved 2013-02-20.
- ^ "Mass of the Resurrection". Merriam-Webster.com. Retrieved 20 February 2013.
- ^ The Rites of Christian Burial, Catholic Publishing Company 1984
- ^ A rather exhaustive list of requiem composers can be found at Requiem Survey: requiemsurvey.org.
- ^ Tommasini, Anthony (26 November 1995). "RECORDINGS VIEW; No Reverence, No Reticence In Finishing Mozart's Requiem". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 May 2015.)
- ^ a b c Fabrice Fitch: "Requiem (2)", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (Accessed January 21, 2007)
- ^ Corleonis, Adrian. Requiem, for soprano, baritone, double chorus & orchestra, RT ii/8 All Music Guide Retrieved 2011-02-20
- ^ Flaxman, Fred. Controversial Comrade Kabalevsky Archived 2019-09-23 at the Wayback Machine Compact Discoveries with Fred Flaxman, 2007, Retrieved 2011-02-20;
External links
- Alphabetical Requiems Survey
- Online Guide to Requiem
- Writing – The Requiem Mass : A Literal Translation
- Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. .
- British Pathé News clips of the Catholic Police Guild Annual Solemn Requiem[permanent dead link]
- Fauré's "Requiem" - Spanish Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. Petri Sakari, conductor. Live concert.