Requiem

The Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known formally (in Latin) as the Missa pro defunctis or Missa defunctorum, is a liturgical service of the Roman Catholic Church and its Eastern Rite. It is sometimes observed by other denominations of Christianity in other forms such as the Church of England and Eastern Orthodoxy.

Musical compositions

For many centuries the texts of the requiem were sung to Gregorian melodies. The first surviving polyphonic setting is believed to have been composed by Ockeghem around 1460; his requiem is believed to predate a lost setting by the elder composer Dufay. Many early requiems employ different texts that were in use in different liturgies around Europe before the Council of Trent set down the texts given above. The requiem of Brumel, circa 1500, is the first to include the Dies Iræ.

Related Topics:
Gregorian - Polyphonic - Ockeghem - Dufay - Council of Trent - Brumel - Dies Iræ

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Over 2000 requiems have been composed to the present day. Typically the Renaissance settings 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.

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Many composers omit sections of the liturgical prescription, such as the Gradual or the Tract. Fauré omitted the Dies iræ, while the very same text had often been set by French composers in previous centuries as a stand-alone work.

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Sometimes composers divide an item of the liturgical text into two or more movements; the Dies irae is most notable in this respect (as with Verdi, for instance). The Introit and Kyrie, being immediately adjacent in the actual Roman Catholic liturgy, are often composed as one movement.

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Musico-thematic relationships among movements of Requiems can be found as well.

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Added movements

Some settings contain additional texts, such as the devotional motet Pie Iesu (in the settings of Fauré, Duruflé, and Lloyd Webber – Fauré set it as a soprano solo in the center). Libera me (from the Absolution) and In paradisum (from the burial service, which in the case of a funeral follows after the mass) conclude some compositions. Other added movements have been composed as well, such as the English Psalms Out of the Deep and The Lord is My Shepherd included in John Rutter's setting.

Related Topics:
Duruflé - Lloyd Webber - Burial - John Rutter

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Libera me

::Libera me, Domine, de morte æterna, in die illa tremenda, quando coeli movendi sunt et terra. Dum veneris iudicare sæculum per ignem. Tremens factus sum ego et timeo, dum discussio venerit atque ventura ira. Dies iræ, dies illa, calamitatis et miseriæ, dies magna et amara valde. Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine: et lux perpetua luceat eis.

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:::("Free me from eternal death upon that terrible day when heaven and earth shall be moved, when thou comest to judge the world with fire. I am afraid and trembling, on account of the coming judgment and wrath. That day is a day of wrath, of disaster and misery, a great and very bitter day. Grant them eternal rest, O Lord, and may everlasting light shine upon them.")

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In paradisum

::In paradisum deducant te Angeli; in tu adventu suscipiant te martyres, et perducant te in civitatem sanctam Ierusalem. Chorus angelorum te suscipiat, et cum Lazaro quondam paupere æternam habeas requiem.

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:::("May angels lead you into Paradise; may the martyrs receive you at your coming and lead you to the holy city of Jerusalem. May a choir of angels receive you, and with Lazarus, who once was poor, may you have eternal rest.")

Related Topics:
Martyr - Lazarus

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Pie Jesu

The Pie Jesu combines paraphrases of the final verse of the Dies Iræ and the Agnus Dei. In a parody of a medieval geisslerlied, the monks in the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail chant the Pie Jesu while striking themselves with their books.

Related Topics:
Geisslerlied - Monty Python and the Holy Grail

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::Pie Iesu Domine, dona eis requiem. Dona eis requiem sempiternam.

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:::("O sweet Lord Jesus, grant them rest; grant them everlasting rest.")

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Concert requiems

Beginning in the 18th century and continuing through the 19th, many composers wrote what are effectively concert requiems, 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 Gossec, Berlioz, Verdi, and Dvořák are essentially dramatic concert oratorios. A counter-reaction to this tendency came from the Cecilian movement, which recommended restrained accompaniment for liturgical music, and frowned upon the use of operatic vocal soloists.

Related Topics:
Gossec - Berlioz - Verdi - Dvořák - Oratorios

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