Requiem
Encyclopedia
A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead (Latin: Missa pro defunctis) or Mass of the dead (Latin: Missa defunctorum), is a Mass
celebrated for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, using a particular form of the Roman Missal
. It is frequently, but not necessarily, celebrated in the context of a funeral
.
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 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 Anglo-Catholic branch of Anglicanism
and in certain Lutheran churches. A comparable service, with a wholly different ritual form and texts, exists in the Eastern Orthodox
and Eastern Catholic Churches.
The Mass and its settings draw their name from the introit
of the liturgy, which begins with the words "Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine" – "Grant them eternal rest, O Lord". ("Requiem" is the accusative
singular form of the Latin noun requies, "rest, repose".) The Roman Missal as revised in 1970 employs this phrase as the first entrance antiphon
among the formulas for Masses for the dead, and it remains in use to this day.
at the Introit and the Gospel, the kiss of peace, lit candles held by acolytes when a deacon chants the Gospel, and blessings. There is no Gloria in excelsis Deo
and no recitation of the Creed
; the Alleluia
chant before the Gospel is replaced by a Tract
, as in Lent
; and the Agnus Dei is altered. Ite missa est
is replaced with Requiescant in pace (May they rest in peace); the "Deo gratias" response is replaced with "Amen". Black is the obligatory liturgical colour
of the vestment
s in the earlier forms, while the later form allows a choice between black and violet, and in some countries, such as England and Wales, white. The sequence
Dies Iræ
, recited or sung between the Tract
and the Gospel, is an obligatory part of the Requiem Mass in the earlier forms. As its opening words, Dies irae (Day of wrath), indicate, this poetic composition speaks of the Day of Judgment in fearsome terms; it then appeals to Jesus for mercy.
Celebrations of the Requiem Mass were sometimes referred to as "black Masses", from the colour of the vestment
s worn by the priest. This term has no connection with the Satanist
ritual of the same name
.
, there was a significant shift in the funeral rites used by the Church. The emphasis on sorrow and grief was to be replaced by a stance of hope and joy, based on trust in the salvific
value of the Passion
, Death and Resurrection
of Jesus Christ.
The term "Requiem Mass" was replaced by the title Mass of the Resurrection. In line with this shift, the use of black vestments was made optional (and has all but disappeared by the 21st century), with the new preference being for white, the color of joy associated with Easter
, or purple
for a muted version of mourning. The texts used for the service made a similar change, with the overall theme of the service to be a proclamation of the promise of eternal life made by Jesus.
, Verdi
, Dvořák
, Duruflé
and Fauré
. 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.
The following are the texts that have been set to music.
in the Ordinary of the Mass
:
This is Greek
(Κύριε ἐλέησον, Χριστὲ ἐλέησον, Κύριε ἐλέησον). Traditionally, each utterance is sung three times.
is a liturgical poem sung, when used, after the Tract (or Alleluia, if present). The sequence employed in the Requiem, Dies Irae, attributed to Thomas of Celano
(c. 1200 – c. 1260–1270), has been called "the greatest of hymns", worthy of "supreme admiration". The Latin text below is taken from the Requiem Mass in the 1962 Roman Missal
. The first English version below, translated by William Josiah Irons
in 1849, replicates the rhyme and metre of the original. The second English version is a more formal equivalence
.
prayer in the Ordinary of the Mass
:
, but with the petitions miserere nobis changed to dona eis requiem, and dona nobis pacem to dona eis requiem sempiternam:
As mentioned above, there is no Gloria, Alleluia or Credo in these musical settings.
, Fauré
, Duruflé
and John Rutter
.
The Pie Jesu consists of the final words of the Dies Irae followed by the final words of the Agnus Dei.
Musical Requiem settings sometimes include passages from the "Absolution at the bier" (Absolutio ad feretrum) or "Commendation of the dead person" (referred to also as the Absolution of the dead
), which in the case of a funeral, follows the conclusion of the Mass.
melodies. The Requiem
by Johannes Ockeghem
, written sometime in the latter half of the 15th century, is the earliest surviving polyphonic
setting. There was a setting by the elder composer Dufay
, possibly earlier, which is now lost: Ockeghem's may have been modelled on it. Many early compositions 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
. In the early polyphonic settings of the Requiem, there is considerable textural contrast within the compositions themselves: simple chordal or fauxbourdon
-like passages are contrasted with other sections of contrapuntal complexity, such as in the Offertory of Ockeghem's Requiem.
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 cantus-firmus technique, something which had become quite archaic by mid-century. In addition, these settings used less textural contrast than the early settings by Ockeghem and Brumel, although the vocal scoring was often richer, for example in the six-voice Requiem by Jean Richafort
which he wrote for the death of Josquin des Prez
. Other composers before 1550 include Pedro de Escobar
, Antoine de Févin
, Cristóbal Morales, and Pierre de La Rue
; that by La Rue is probably the second oldest, after Ockeghem's.
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.
, Verdi
, and Dvořák
are essentially dramatic concert oratorio
s. 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.
and Michael Praetorius
, whose works are Lutheran adaptations of the Roman Catholic requiem, and which provided inspiration for the mighty German Requiem
by Brahms
.
Such works include:
and Greek-Catholic Churches, the requiem is the fullest form of memorial service
. The normal memorial service is a greatly abbreviated form of Matins
, but the Requiem contains all of the psalms, readings, and hymns normally found in the All-Night Vigil
(which combines the Canonical Hours
of Vespers
, Matins
and First Hour
), providing a complete set of propers
for the departed. The full requiem will last around three and a half hours. In this format it more clearly represents the original concept of parastas, which means literally, "standing throughout (the night)." Often, there will be a Divine Liturgy
celebrated the next morning with further propers for the departed.
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."
Book of Common Prayer
contains seven texts which are collectively known as "funeral sentences"; several composers have written settings of these seven texts, which are generally known collectively as a "burial service". Composers who have set the Anglican burial service to music include William Croft
, Thomas Morley
, Orlando Gibbons
, and Henry Purcell
. The text of these seven sentences, from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, is:
of Benjamin Britten
juxtaposes the Latin text with the poetry of Wilfred Owen
, Krzysztof Penderecki
's Polish Requiem
includes a traditional Polish hymn within the sequence, and Robert Steadman
's Mass in Black intersperses environmental
poetry
and prophecies of Nostradamus
. Holocaust
Requiem may be regarded as a specific subset of this type. The World Requiem
of John Foulds
was written in the aftermath of the First World War and initiated the Royal British Legion's annual festival of remembrance. Recent requiem works by Taiwan
ese composers Tyzen Hsiao
and Fan-Long Ko follow in this tradition, honouring victims of the 2-28 Incident and subsequent White Terror
. Another recent requiem composed by Hong Kong composer Man-Ching Donald Yu
, in remembrance of the victims of the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake.
Lastly, the 20th century saw the development of the secular Requiem, written for public performance without specific religious observance, such as Frederick Delius
's Requiem, completed in 1916 and dedicated to "the memory of all young Artists fallen in the war", and Dmitry Kabalevsky's War Requiem, a setting of a poem written by Robert Rozhdestvensky
especially for the composition. Herbert Howells
's unaccompanied Requiem uses Psalm 23
("The Lord is my shepherd"), Psalm 121 ("I will lift up mine eyes"), "Salvator mundi" ("O Saviour of the world," in English), "Requiem aeternam" (two different settings), and "I heard a voice from heaven." 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."
Estonian
German
French, Greek, with Latin
French, English, German with Latin
Japanese and Latin
Polish and Latin
Russian
Taiwanese
Nonlinguistic
in October every year. It is celebrated in Westminster Cathedral
, London
to commemorate:
This memorial has been taking place since 1914. In the early years it was covered every year by British Pathé News
.
Mass (liturgy)
"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...
celebrated for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, using a particular form of the Roman Missal
Roman Missal
The Roman Missal is the liturgical book that contains the texts and rubrics for the celebration of the Mass in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church.-Situation before the Council of Trent:...
. It is frequently, but not necessarily, celebrated in the context of a funeral
Funeral
A funeral is a ceremony for celebrating, sanctifying, or remembering the life of a person who has died. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember the dead, from interment itself, to various monuments, prayers, and rituals undertaken in their honor...
.
Musical settings of the propers
Proper (liturgy)
The Proper is a part of the Christian liturgy that varies according to the date, either representing an observance within the Liturgical Year, or of a particular saint or significant event...
of the Requiem Mass are also called Requiems, and the term has subsequently been applied to other musical compositions associated with death 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 Anglo-Catholic branch of Anglicanism
Anglicanism
Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...
and in certain Lutheran churches. A comparable service, with a wholly different ritual form and texts, exists in the Eastern Orthodox
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
and Eastern Catholic Churches.
The Mass and its settings draw their name from the introit
Introit
The Introit is part of the opening of the liturgical celebration of the Eucharist for many Christian denominations. In its most complete version, it consists of an antiphon, psalm verse and Gloria Patri that is spoken or sung at the beginning of the celebration...
of the liturgy, which begins with the words "Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine" – "Grant them eternal rest, O Lord". ("Requiem" is the accusative
Accusative case
The accusative case of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb. The same case is used in many languages for the objects of prepositions...
singular form of the Latin noun requies, "rest, repose".) The Roman Missal as revised in 1970 employs this phrase as the first entrance antiphon
Antiphon
An antiphon in Christian music and ritual, is a "responsory" by a choir or congregation, usually in Gregorian chant, to a psalm or other text in a religious service or musical work....
among the formulas for Masses for the dead, and it remains in use to this day.
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 in that form. Some parts that were of relatively recent origin, including some that have been excluded in the 1970 revision, 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. Other omissions include the use of incenseIncense
Incense is composed of aromatic biotic materials, which release fragrant smoke when burned. The term "incense" refers to the substance itself, rather than to the odor that it produces. It is used in religious ceremonies, ritual purification, aromatherapy, meditation, for creating a mood, and for...
at the Introit and the Gospel, the kiss of peace, lit candles held by acolytes when a deacon chants the Gospel, and blessings. There is no Gloria in excelsis Deo
Gloria in Excelsis Deo
"Gloria in excelsis Deo" is the title and beginning of a hymn known also as the Greater Doxology and the Angelic Hymn. The name is often abbreviated to Gloria in Excelsis or simply Gloria.It is an example of the psalmi idiotici "Gloria in excelsis Deo" (Latin for "Glory to God in the highest")...
and no recitation of the Creed
Creed
A creed is a statement of belief—usually a statement of faith that describes the beliefs shared by a religious community—and is often recited as part of a religious service. When the statement of faith is longer and polemical, as well as didactic, it is not called a creed but a Confession of faith...
; the Alleluia
Alleluia
The word "Alleluia" or "Hallelujah" , which at its most literal means "Praise Yah", is used in different ways in Christian liturgies....
chant before the Gospel is replaced by a Tract
Tract (liturgy)
The tract is part of the proper of the liturgical celebration of the Eucharist for many Christian denominations, which is used instead of the Alleluia during Lenten or pre-Lenten seasons, in a Requiem Mass, and on a few other penitential occasions, when the joyousness of an Alleluia is deemed...
, as in Lent
Lent
In the Christian tradition, Lent is the period of the liturgical year from Ash Wednesday to Easter. The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer – through prayer, repentance, almsgiving and self-denial – for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and...
; and the Agnus Dei is altered. Ite missa est
Ite missa est
Ite, missa est are the concluding words addressed to the people in the Mass of the Roman Rite, as well as the Lutheran Divine Service. The exact meaning of the words is disputed, it has the effect of "Go", or "It is Sent", but the term "Mass" derives from this phrase...
is replaced with Requiescant in pace (May they rest in peace); the "Deo gratias" response is replaced with "Amen". Black is the obligatory liturgical colour
Liturgical colours
Liturgical colours are those specific colours which are used for vestments and hangings within the context of Christian liturgy. The symbolism of violet, white, green, red, gold, black, rose, and other colours may serve to underline moods appropriate to a season of the liturgical year or may...
of the vestment
Vestment
Vestments are liturgical garments and articles associated primarily with the Christian religion, especially among Latin Rite and other Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Anglicans, and Lutherans...
s in the earlier forms, while the later form allows a choice between black and violet, and in some countries, such as England and Wales, white. The sequence
Sequence (poetry)
A sequence is a chant or hymn sung or recited during the liturgical celebration of the Eucharist for many Christian denominations, before the proclamation of the Gospel. By the time of the Council of Trent there were sequences for many feasts in the Church's year.The sequence has always been sung...
Dies Iræ
Dies Irae
Dies Irae is a thirteenth century Latin hymn thought to be written by Thomas of Celano . It is a medieval Latin poem characterized by its accentual stress and its rhymed lines. The metre is trochaic...
, recited or sung between the Tract
Tract
Tract may refer to:* Land lot, a section of land* Census tract, a geographic region defined for the purpose of taking a census* Tract , a short written work, usually of a political or religious nature...
and the Gospel, is an obligatory part of the Requiem Mass in the earlier forms. As its opening words, Dies irae (Day of wrath), indicate, this poetic composition speaks of the Day of Judgment in fearsome terms; it then appeals to Jesus for mercy.
Celebrations of the Requiem Mass were sometimes referred to as "black Masses", from the colour of the vestment
Vestment
Vestments are liturgical garments and articles associated primarily with the Christian religion, especially among Latin Rite and other Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Anglicans, and Lutherans...
s worn by the priest. This term has no connection with the Satanist
Satanism
Satanism is a group of religions that is composed of a diverse number of ideological and philosophical beliefs and social phenomena. Their shared feature include symbolic association with, admiration for the character of, and even veneration of Satan or similar rebellious, promethean, and...
ritual of the same name
Black Mass
A Black Mass is a ceremony supposedly celebrated during the Witches' Sabbath, which was a sacrilegious parody of the Catholic Mass. Its main objective was the profanation of the host, although there is no agreement among authors on how hosts were obtained or profaned; the most common idea is that...
.
Post Vatican II
In the liturgical reforms of the mid-20th century in the Roman Catholic Church resulting from the Second Vatican CouncilSecond Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...
, there was a significant shift in the funeral rites used by the Church. The emphasis on sorrow and grief was to be replaced by a stance of hope and joy, based on trust in the salvific
Salvation
Within religion salvation is the phenomenon of being saved from the undesirable condition of bondage or suffering experienced by the psyche or soul that has arisen as a result of unskillful or immoral actions generically referred to as sins. Salvation may also be called "deliverance" or...
value of the Passion
Passion
-Emotion:* Passion * Passions , emotional states as used in philosophical discussions* Stoic Passions, various forms of emotional suffering in Stoicism-Crucifixion of Jesus Christ:...
, Death and Resurrection
Resurrection
Resurrection refers to the literal coming back to life of the biologically dead. It is used both with respect to particular individuals or the belief in a General Resurrection of the dead at the end of the world. The General Resurrection is featured prominently in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim...
of Jesus Christ.
The term "Requiem Mass" was replaced by the title Mass of the Resurrection. In line with this shift, the use of black vestments was made optional (and has all but disappeared by the 21st century), with the new preference being for white, the color of joy associated with Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
, or purple
Purple
Purple is a range of hues of color occurring between red and blue, and is classified as a secondary color as the colors are required to create the shade....
for a muted version of mourning. The texts used for the service made a similar change, with the overall theme of the service to be a proclamation of the promise of eternal life made by Jesus.
Music
The Requiem Mass is notable for the large number of musical compositions that it has inspired, including settings by MozartRequiem (Mozart)
The Requiem Mass in D minor by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was composed in Vienna in 1791 and left unfinished at the composer's death. A completion by Franz Xaver Süssmayr was delivered to Count Franz von Walsegg, who had anonymously commissioned the piece for a requiem Mass to commemorate the...
, Verdi
Requiem (Verdi)
The Messa da Requiem by Giuseppe Verdi is a musical setting of the Roman Catholic funeral mass for four soloists, double choir and orchestra. It was composed in memory of Alessandro Manzoni, an Italian poet and novelist much admired by Verdi. The first performance in San Marco in Milan on 22 May...
, Dvořák
Requiem (Dvorák)
Antonín Dvořák's Requiem in B-flat minor, Op. 89, B. 165, is a funeral mass for soloists, choir and orchestra, composed in 1890.- Background :...
, Duruflé
Requiem (Duruflé)
The Requiem, op. 9, by Maurice Duruflé was commissioned in 1947 by the French music publisher Durand and is written in memory of the composer's father. The work is for SATB choir with mezzo-soprano and baritone soloists...
and Fauré
Requiem (Fauré)
Gabriel Fauré composed his Requiem in D minor, Op. 48 between 1887 and 1890. This choral–orchestral setting of the Roman Catholic Mass for the Dead is the best known of his large works. The most famous movement is the soprano aria Pie Jesu...
. 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.
The following are the texts that have been set to music.
Introit
-
- Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine,
- et lux perpetua luceat eis.
- Te decet hymnus Deus, in Sion,
- et tibi reddetur votum in Ierusalem.
- Exaudi orationem meam;
- ad te omnis caro veniet.
- Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine,
- et lux perpetua luceat eis.
-
-
- Grant them eternal rest, O Lord,
- and let perpetual light shine upon them.
- A hymn becomes you, O God, in ZionZionZion is a place name often used as a synonym for Jerusalem. The word is first found in Samuel II, 5:7 dating to c.630-540 BCE...
, - and to you shall a vow be repaid in Jerusalem.
- Hear my prayer;
- to you shall all flesh come.
- Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,
- and let perpetual light shine upon them.
-
Kyrie eleison
This is as the KyrieKyrie
Kyrie, a transliteration of Greek κύριε , vocative case of κύριος , meaning "Lord", is the common name of an important prayer of Christian liturgy, which is also called the Kýrie, eléison ....
in the Ordinary of the Mass
Mass (music)
The Mass, a form of sacred musical composition, is a choral composition that sets the invariable portions of the Eucharistic liturgy to music...
:
-
- Kyrie eleison;
- Christe eleison;
- Kyrie eleison
-
-
- Lord have mercy;
- Christ have mercy;
- Lord have mercy.
-
This is Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
(Κύριε ἐλέησον, Χριστὲ ἐλέησον, Κύριε ἐλέησον). Traditionally, each utterance is sung three times.
Gradual
-
- Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine :
- et lux perpetua luceat eis.
- In memoria æterna erit iustus,
- ab auditione mala non timebit.
-
-
- Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord :
- and let perpetual light shine upon them.
- He shall be justified in everlasting memory,
- and shall not fear evil reports.
-
Tract
-
- Absolve, Domine,
- animas omnium fidelium defunctorum
- ab omni vinculo delictorum
- et gratia tua illis succurente
- mereantur evadere iudicium ultionis,
- et lucis æternae beatitudine perfrui.
-
-
- Forgive, O Lord,
- the souls of all the faithful departed
- from all the chains of their sins
- and by the aid to them of your grace
- may they deserve to avoid the judgment of revenge,
- and enjoy the blessedness of everlasting light.
-
Sequence
A sequenceSequence (poetry)
A sequence is a chant or hymn sung or recited during the liturgical celebration of the Eucharist for many Christian denominations, before the proclamation of the Gospel. By the time of the Council of Trent there were sequences for many feasts in the Church's year.The sequence has always been sung...
is a liturgical poem sung, when used, after the Tract (or Alleluia, if present). The sequence employed in the Requiem, Dies Irae, attributed to Thomas of Celano
Thomas of Celano
Thomas of Celano was an Italian friar of the Franciscans , a poet, and the author of three hagiographies about Saint Francis of Assisi.Thomas was from Celano in Abruzzo...
(c. 1200 – c. 1260–1270), has been called "the greatest of hymns", worthy of "supreme admiration". The Latin text below is taken from the Requiem Mass in the 1962 Roman Missal
Tridentine Mass
The Tridentine Mass is the form of the Roman Rite Mass contained in the typical editions of the Roman Missal that were published from 1570 to 1962. It was the most widely celebrated Mass liturgy in the world until the introduction of the Mass of Paul VI in December 1969...
. The first English version below, translated by William Josiah Irons
William Josiah Irons
William Josiah Irons was a priest in the Church of England and a theological writer.-Life:Irons, born at Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, September 12, 1812, was second son of the Rev. Joseph Irons , by his first wife, Mary Ann, daughter of William Broderick. His mother died in 1828...
in 1849, replicates the rhyme and metre of the original. The second English version is a more formal equivalence
Dynamic and formal equivalence
In Bible translation dynamic equivalence and formal equivalence are two approaches to translation. The terms are not found in general linguistics or translation theory but were coined by Eugene Nida...
.
| 1 | Dies iræ! dies illa Solvet sæclum in favilla: Teste David cum Sibylla! |
Day of wrath! O day of mourning! See fulfilled the prophets' warning, Heaven and earth in ashes burning! |
The day of wrath, that day Will dissolve the world in ashes As foretold by David and the sibyl! |
| 2 | Quantus tremor est futurus, Quando iudex est venturus, Cuncta stricte discussurus! |
Oh, what fear man's bosom rendeth, when from heaven the Judge descendeth, on whose sentence all dependeth. |
How much tremor there will be, when the judge will come, investigating everything strictly! |
| 3 | Tuba, mirum spargens sonum Per sepulchra regionum, Coget omnes ante thronum. |
Wondrous sound the trumpet flingeth; through earth's sepulchers it ringeth; all before the throne it bringeth. |
The trumpet, scattering a wondrous sound through the sepulchres of the regions, will summon all before the throne. |
| 4 | Mors stupebit, et natura, Cum resurget creatura, Iudicanti responsura. |
Death is struck, and nature quaking, all creation is awaking, to its Judge an answer making. |
Death and nature will marvel, when the creature arises, to respond to the Judge. |
| 5 | Liber scriptus proferetur, In quo totum continetur, Unde mundus iudicetur. |
Lo! the book, exactly worded, wherein all hath been recorded: thence shall judgment be awarded. |
The written book will be brought forth, in which all is contained, from which the world shall be judged. |
| 6 | Iudex ergo cum sedebit, Quidquid latet, apparebit: Nil inultum remanebit. |
When the Judge his seat attaineth, and each hidden deed arraigneth, nothing unavenged remaineth. |
When therefore the judge will sit, whatever hides will appear: nothing will remain unpunished. |
| 7 | Quid sum miser tunc dicturus? Quem patronum rogaturus, Cum vix iustus sit securus? |
What shall I, frail man, be pleading? Who for me be interceding, when the just are mercy needing? |
What am I, miserable, then to say? Which patron to ask, when [even] the just may [only] hardly be sure? |
| 8 | Rex tremendæ maiestatis, Qui salvandos salvas gratis, Salva me, fons pietatis. |
King of Majesty tremendous, who dost free salvation send us, Fount of pity, then befriend us! |
King of tremendous majesty, who freely savest those that have to be saved, save me, source of mercy. |
| 9 | Recordare, Iesu pie, Quod sum causa tuæ viæ: Ne me perdas illa die. |
Think, good Jesus, my salvation cost thy wondrous Incarnation; leave me not to reprobation! |
Remember, merciful Jesus, that I am the cause of thy way: lest thou lose me in that day. |
| 10 | Quærens me, sedisti lassus: Redemisti Crucem passus: Tantus labor non sit cassus. |
Faint and weary, thou hast sought me, on the cross of suffering bought me. shall such grace be vainly brought me? |
Seeking me, thou sat tired: thou redeemed [me] having suffered the Cross: let not so much hardship be lost. |
| 11 | Iuste iudex ultionis, Donum fac remissionis Ante diem rationis. |
Righteous Judge! for sin's pollution grant thy gift of absolution, ere the day of retribution. |
Just judge of revenge, give the gift of remission before the day of reckoning. |
| 12 | Ingemisco, tamquam reus: Culpa rubet vultus meus: Supplicanti parce, Deus. |
Guilty, now I pour my moaning, all my shame with anguish owning; spare, O God, thy suppliant groaning! |
I sigh, like the guilty one: my face reddens in guilt: Spare the supplicating one, God. |
| 13 | Qui Mariam absolvisti, Et latronem exaudisti, Mihi quoque spem dedisti. |
Thou the sinful woman savedst; thou the dying thief forgavest; and to me a hope vouchsafest. |
Thou who absolved Mary, and heardest the robber, gavest hope to me, too. |
| 14 | Preces meæ non sunt dignæ: Sed tu bonus fac benigne, Ne perenni cremer igne. |
Worthless are my prayers and sighing, yet, good Lord, in grace complying, rescue me from fires undying! |
My prayers are not worthy: however, thou, Good [Lord], do good, lest I am burned up by eternal fire. |
| 15 | Inter oves locum præsta, Et ab hædis me sequestra, Statuens in parte dextra. |
With thy favored sheep O place me; nor among the goats abase me; but to thy right hand upraise me. |
Grant me a place among the sheep, and take me out from among the goats, setting me on the right side. |
| 16 | Confutatis maledictis, Flammis acribus addictis: Voca me cum benedictis. |
While the wicked are confounded, doomed to flames of woe unbounded call me with thy saints surrounded. |
Once the cursed have been rebuked, sentenced to acrid flames: Call thou me with the blessed. |
| 17 | Oro supplex et acclinis, Cor contritum quasi cinis: Gere curam mei finis. |
Low I kneel, with heart submission, see, like ashes, my contrition; help me in my last condition. |
I meekly and humbly pray, [my] heart is as crushed as the ashes: perform the healing of mine end. |
| 18 | Lacrimosa dies illa, Qua resurget ex favilla Judicandus homo reus. Huic ergo parce, Deus: |
Ah! that day of tears and mourning! From the dust of earth returning man for judgment must prepare him; Spare, O God, in mercy spare him! |
Tearful will be that day, on which from the ashes arises the guilty man who is to be judged. Spare him therefore, God. |
| 19 | Pie Jesu Domine, Dona eis requiem. Amen. |
Lord, all pitying, Jesus blest, grant them thine eternal rest. Amen. |
Merciful Lord Jesus, grant them rest. Amen. |
Offertory
-
- Domine Iesu Christe, Rex gloriæ,
- libera animas omnium fidelium defunctorum
- de pœnis inferni et de profundo lacu.
- Libera eas de ore leonis,
- ne absorbeat eas tartarus,
- ne cadant in obscurum;
- sed signifer sanctus Michael
- repræsentet eas in lucem sanctam,
- quam olim Abrahæ promisisti et semini eius.
-
-
- Lord Jesus Christ, King of glory,
- free the souls of all the faithful departed
- from infernal punishment and the deep pit.
- Free them from the mouth of the lion;
- do not let TartarusTartarus (disambiguation)Tartarus refers to a deity and place in Greek mythology.Tartarus may also refer to:*Tartarus, a Greek New Testament word used for Hell , derived from the pagan Greek use....
swallow them, - nor let them fall into darkness;
- but may the standard-bearer Saint MichaelMichael (archangel)Michael , Micha'el or Mîkhā'ēl; , Mikhaḗl; or Míchaël; , Mīkhā'īl) is an archangel in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic teachings. Roman Catholics, Anglicans, and Lutherans refer to him as Saint Michael the Archangel and also simply as Saint Michael...
, - lead them into the holy light
- which you once promised to AbrahamAbrahamAbraham , whose birth name was Abram, is the eponym of the Abrahamic religions, among which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam...
and his seed.
-
-
- Hostias et preces tibi, Domine,
- laudis offerimus;
- tu suscipe pro animabus illis,
- quarum hodie memoriam facimus.
- Fac eas, Domine, de morte transire ad vitam.
- Quam olim Abrahæ promisisti et semini eius.
-
-
- O Lord, we offer You
- sacrifices and prayers of praise;
- accept them on behalf of those souls
- whom we remember today.
- Let them, O Lord, pass over from death to life,
- as you once promised to Abraham and his seed.
-
Sanctus
This is as the SanctusSanctus
The Sanctus is a hymn from Christian liturgy, forming part of the Order of Mass. In Western Christianity, the Sanctus is sung as the final words of the Preface of the Eucharistic Prayer, the prayer of consecration of the bread and wine...
prayer in the Ordinary of the Mass
Mass (music)
The Mass, a form of sacred musical composition, is a choral composition that sets the invariable portions of the Eucharistic liturgy to music...
:
-
- Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus,
- Dominus Deus Sabaoth;
- pleni sunt caeli et terra gloria tua.
- Hosanna in excelsis.
-
- Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini.
- Hosanna in excelsis. (reprise)
-
-
- Holy, Holy, Holy,
- Lord God of Hosts;
- Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
- Hosanna in the highest.
-
-
-
- Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
- Hosanna in the highest. (reprise)
-
Agnus Dei
This is as the Agnus Dei in the Ordinary of the MassMass (music)
The Mass, a form of sacred musical composition, is a choral composition that sets the invariable portions of the Eucharistic liturgy to music...
, but with the petitions miserere nobis changed to dona eis requiem, and dona nobis pacem to dona eis requiem sempiternam:
-
- Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona eis requiem,
- Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona eis requiem,
- Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona eis requiem sempiternam.
-
-
- Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world, grant them rest,
- Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world, grant them rest,
- Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world, grant them eternal rest.
-
Communion
-
- Lux æterna luceat eis, Domine,
- cum sanctis tuis in æternum,
- quia pius es.
- Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine;
- et lux perpetua luceat eis ;
- cum Sanctis tuis in æternum,
- quia pius es.
-
-
- May everlasting light shine upon them, O Lord,
- with your SaintSaintA saint is a holy person. In various religions, saints are people who are believed to have exceptional holiness.In Christian usage, "saint" refers to any believer who is "in Christ", and in whom Christ dwells, whether in heaven or in earth...
s forever, - for you are kind.
- Grant them eternal rest, O Lord,
- and may everlasting light shine upon them.
- with your SaintSaintA saint is a holy person. In various religions, saints are people who are believed to have exceptional holiness.In Christian usage, "saint" refers to any believer who is "in Christ", and in whom Christ dwells, whether in heaven or in earth...
s forever, - for you are merciful.
-
As mentioned above, there is no Gloria, Alleluia or Credo in these musical settings.
Pie Jesu
Some extracts too have been set independently to music, such as Pie Iesu in the settings of DvořákAntonín Dvorák
Antonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...
, Fauré
Faure
Faure or Fauré is a French family name and may refer to:People:* Edgar Faure, French politician* Élie Faure, French art historian and essayist* Émile Alphonse Faure, lead battery pioneer* Cédric Fauré, French football striker...
, Duruflé
Maurice Duruflé
Maurice Duruflé was a French composer, organist, and pedagogue.Duruflé was born in Louviers, Eure. In 1912, he became chorister at the Rouen Cathedral Choir School, where he studied piano and organ with Jules Haelling...
and John Rutter
John Rutter
John Milford Rutter CBE is a British composer, conductor, editor, arranger and record producer, mainly of choral music.-Biography:Born in London, Rutter was educated at Highgate School, where a fellow pupil was John Tavener. He read music at Clare College, Cambridge, where he was a member of the...
.
The Pie Jesu consists of the final words of the Dies Irae followed by the final words of the Agnus Dei.
-
- Pie Jesu Domine, dona eis requiem.
- Dona eis requiem sempiternam.
-
-
- Merciful Lord Jesus, grant them rest;
- grant them eternal rest.
-
Musical Requiem settings sometimes include passages from the "Absolution at the bier" (Absolutio ad feretrum) or "Commendation of the dead person" (referred to also as the Absolution of the dead
Absolution of the dead
The Absolution of the dead is a series of prayers for pardon and remission of sins that are said in some Christian churches over the body of a deceased believer before burial.-Roman Catholic practice:...
), which in the case of a funeral, follows the conclusion of the Mass.
Libera Me
-
- Libera me, Domine, de morte æterna, in die illa tremenda:
- Quando cœli movendi sunt et terra.
- Dum veneris iudicare sæculum per ignem.
- Tremens factus sum ego, et timeo, dum discussio venerit, atque ventura ira.
- Quando cœli movendi sunt et terra.
- Dies illa, dies iræ, calamitatis et miseriæ, dies magna et amara valde.
- Dum veneris iudicare sæculum per ignem.
- Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine: et lux perpetua luceat eis.
-
-
- Deliver me, O Lord, from death eternal on that fearful day,
- when the heavens and the earth shall be moved,
- when thou shalt come to judge the world by fire.
- I am made to tremble, and I fear, till the judgment be upon us, and the coming wrath,
- when the heavens and the earth shall be moved.
- That day, day of wrath, calamity, and misery, day of great and exceeding bitterness,
- when thou shalt come to judge the world by fire.
- Rest eternal grant unto them, O Lord: and let light perpetual shine upon them.
-
In paradisum
-
- In paradisum deducant te Angeli:
- in tuo adventu suscipiant te Martyres,
- et perducant te in civitatem sanctam Ierusalem.
- Chorus Angelorum te suscipiat,
- et cum Lazaro quondam paupere æternam habeas requiem.
-
-
- 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 LazarusLazarus and DivesThe Parable of the rich man and Lazarus is a well known parable of Jesus which appears in one of the Four Gospels of the New Testament....
, who once was poor, may you have eternal rest.
-
History of musical compositions
For many centuries the texts of the requiem were sung to GregorianGregorian chant
Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic liturgical music within Western Christianity that accompanied the celebration of Mass and other ritual services...
melodies. The Requiem
Requiem (Ockeghem)
The Requiem, by Johannes Ockeghem , is a polyphonic setting of the Roman Catholic Requiem Mass, the Missa pro defunctis, the Mass for the dead. It is the earliest polyphonic setting of the Requiem Mass to have survived, and remains one of Ockeghem's most famous and often-performed compositions...
by Johannes Ockeghem
Johannes Ockeghem
Johannes Ockeghem was the most famous composer of the Franco-Flemish School in the last half of the 15th century, and is often considered the most...
, written sometime in the latter half of the 15th century, is the earliest surviving polyphonic
Polyphony
In music, polyphony is a texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords ....
setting. There was a setting by the elder composer Dufay
Guillaume Dufay
Guillaume Dufay was a Franco-Flemish composer of the early Renaissance. As the central figure in the Burgundian School, he was the most famous and influential composer in Europe in the mid-15th century.-Early life:From the evidence of his will, he was probably born in Beersel, in the vicinity of...
, possibly earlier, which is now lost: Ockeghem's may have been modelled on it. Many early compositions employ different texts that were in use in different liturgies around Europe before the Council of Trent
Council of Trent
The Council of Trent was the 16th-century Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. It is considered to be one of the Church's most important councils. It convened in Trent between December 13, 1545, and December 4, 1563 in twenty-five sessions for three periods...
set down the texts given above. The requiem of Brumel
Antoine Brumel
Antoine Brumel was a French composer. He was one of the first renowned French members of the Franco-Flemish school of the Renaissance, and, after Josquin des Prez, was one of the most influential composers of his generation....
, circa 1500, is the first to include the Dies Iræ
Dies Irae
Dies Irae is a thirteenth century Latin hymn thought to be written by Thomas of Celano . It is a medieval Latin poem characterized by its accentual stress and its rhymed lines. The metre is trochaic...
. In the early polyphonic settings of the Requiem, there is considerable textural contrast within the compositions themselves: simple chordal or fauxbourdon
Fauxbourdon
Fauxbourdon – French for false bass – is a technique of musical harmonisation used in the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance, particularly by composers of the Burgundian School. Guillaume Dufay was a prominent practitioner of the form, and may have been its inventor...
-like passages are contrasted with other sections of contrapuntal complexity, such as in the Offertory of Ockeghem's Requiem.
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 cantus-firmus technique, something which had become quite archaic by mid-century. In addition, these settings used less textural contrast than the early settings by Ockeghem and Brumel, although the vocal scoring was often richer, for example in the six-voice Requiem by Jean Richafort
Jean Richafort
Jean Richafort was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance.He was probably born in Hainaut, and his native language appears to have been French. He may have studied with Josquin des Prez, though the evidence for this is circumstantial. Richafort served as choir master at St. Rombold...
which he wrote for the death of Josquin des Prez
Josquin Des Prez
Josquin des Prez [Josquin Lebloitte dit Desprez] , often referred to simply as Josquin, was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance...
. Other composers before 1550 include Pedro de Escobar
Pedro de Escobar
Pedro de Escobar , a.k.a. Pedro do Porto, was a Portuguese composer of the Renaissance, mostly active in Spain. He was one of the earliest and most skilled composers of polyphony in the Iberian Peninsula, whose music has survived.-Life:He was born at Oporto, Portugal, but nothing is known of his...
, Antoine de Févin
Antoine de Févin
Antoine de Févin was a French composer of the Renaissance. He was active at the same time as Josquin des Prez, and shares many traits with his more famous contemporary.-Life:...
, Cristóbal Morales, and Pierre de La Rue
Pierre de La Rue
Pierre de la Rue , called Piersson, was a Franco-Flemish composer and singer of the Renaissance. A member of the same generation as Josquin des Prez, and a long associate of the Habsburg-Burgundian musical chapel, he ranks with Agricola, Brumel, Compère, Isaac, Obrecht, and Weerbeke as one of the...
; that by La Rue is probably the second oldest, after Ockeghem's.
Over 2,000 Requiem compositions have been composed to the present day. Typically the Renaissance settings, especially those not written on the Iberian Peninsula
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
, may be performed a cappella
A cappella
A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
(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
Gabriel Fauré
Gabriel Urbain Fauré was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th century composers...
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 Gossec, BerliozHector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts . Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works; as a...
, Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
, and Dvořák
Antonín Dvorák
Antonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...
are essentially dramatic concert oratorio
Oratorio
An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...
s. 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.
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 Heinrich SchützHeinrich Schütz
Heinrich Schütz was a German composer and organist, generally regarded as the most important German composer before Johann Sebastian Bach and often considered to be one of the most important composers of the 17th century along with Claudio Monteverdi...
and Michael Praetorius
Michael Praetorius
Michael Praetorius was a German composer, organist, and music theorist. He was one of the most versatile composers of his age, being particularly significant in the development of musical forms based on Protestant hymns, many of which reflect an effort to make better the relationship between...
, whose works are Lutheran adaptations of the Roman Catholic requiem, and which provided inspiration for the mighty German Requiem
Ein deutsches Requiem
A German Requiem, To Words of the Holy Scriptures, Op. 45 by Johannes Brahms, is a large-scale work for chorus, orchestra, and a soprano and a baritone soloist, composed between 1865 and 1868. It comprises seven movements, which together last 65 to 80 minutes, making this work Brahms's longest...
by Brahms
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
.
Such works include:
- Greek Orthodox ChurchGreek Orthodox ChurchThe Greek Orthodox Church is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity sharing a common cultural tradition whose liturgy is also traditionally conducted in Koine Greek, the original language of the New Testament...
—Parastas - Russian Orthodox ChurchRussian Orthodox ChurchThe Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
—Panikhida - Anglican (English) Requiem
Eastern Christian rites
In the Eastern OrthodoxEastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
and Greek-Catholic Churches, the requiem is the fullest form of memorial service
Memorial service (Orthodox)
A memorial service is a liturgical observance in honor of the departed which is served in the Eastern Orthodox and Greek-Catholic Churches.-The service:In the Eastern Church, the various prayers for the departed have as their purpose: to pray for the repose...
. The normal memorial service is a greatly abbreviated form of Matins
Matins
Matins is the early morning or night prayer service in the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran and Eastern Orthodox liturgies of the canonical hours. The term is also used in some Protestant denominations to describe morning services.The name "Matins" originally referred to the morning office also...
, but the Requiem contains all of the psalms, readings, and hymns normally found in the All-Night Vigil
All-Night Vigil
The All-Night Vigil , Opus 37, is an a cappella choral composition by Sergei Rachmaninoff,written and premiered in 1915. It consists of settings of texts taken from the Russian Orthodox All-night vigil ceremony. It has been praised as Rachmaninoff's finest achievement and "the greatest musical...
(which combines the Canonical Hours
Canonical hours
Canonical hours are divisions of time which serve as increments between the prescribed prayers of the daily round. A Book of Hours contains such a set of prayers....
of Vespers
Vespers
Vespers is the evening prayer service in the Western Catholic, Eastern Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran liturgies of the canonical hours...
, Matins
Matins
Matins is the early morning or night prayer service in the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran and Eastern Orthodox liturgies of the canonical hours. The term is also used in some Protestant denominations to describe morning services.The name "Matins" originally referred to the morning office also...
and First Hour
Prime (liturgy)
Prime, or the First Hour, is a fixed time of prayer of the traditional Divine Office , said at the first hour of daylight , between the morning Hour of Lauds and the 9 a.m. Hour of Terce. It is part of the Christian liturgies of Eastern Christianity, but in the Latin Rite it was suppressed by the...
), providing a complete set of propers
Proper (liturgy)
The Proper is a part of the Christian liturgy that varies according to the date, either representing an observance within the Liturgical Year, or of a particular saint or significant event...
for the departed. The full requiem will last around three and a half hours. In this format it more clearly represents the original concept of parastas, which means literally, "standing throughout (the night)." Often, there will be a Divine Liturgy
Divine Liturgy
Divine Liturgy is the common term for the Eucharistic service of the Byzantine tradition of Christian liturgy. As such, it is used in the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches. Armenian Christians, both of the Armenian Apostolic Church and of the Armenian Catholic Church, use the same term...
celebrated the next morning with further propers for the departed.
Because of their great length, a full Requiem is rarely served. However, at least in the Russian
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
liturgical tradition, a Requiem will often be served on the eve before the Glorification (canonization) of a saint
Saint
A saint is a holy person. In various religions, saints are people who are believed to have exceptional holiness.In Christian usage, "saint" refers to any believer who is "in Christ", and in whom Christ dwells, whether in heaven or in earth...
, in a special service known as the "Last Panikhida."
Anglicanism
The AnglicanAnglicanism
Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...
Book of Common Prayer
Book of Common Prayer
The Book of Common Prayer is the short title of a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion, as well as by the Continuing Anglican, "Anglican realignment" and other Anglican churches. The original book, published in 1549 , in the reign of Edward VI, was a product of the English...
contains seven texts which are collectively known as "funeral sentences"; several composers have written settings of these seven texts, which are generally known collectively as a "burial service". Composers who have set the Anglican burial service to music include William Croft
William Croft
William Croft was an English composer and organist.Croft was born at the Manor House, Nether Ettington, Warwickshire. He was educated at the Chapel Royal, under the instruction of John Blow, and remained there until 1698. Two years after this departure, he became organist of St. Anne's Church, Soho...
, Thomas Morley
Thomas Morley
Thomas Morley was an English composer, theorist, editor and organist of the Renaissance, and the foremost member of the English Madrigal School. He was the most famous composer of secular music in Elizabethan England and an organist at St Paul's Cathedral...
, Orlando Gibbons
Orlando Gibbons
Orlando Gibbons was an English composer, virginalist and organist of the late Tudor and early Jacobean periods...
, and Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell – 21 November 1695), was an English organist and Baroque composer of secular and sacred music. Although Purcell incorporated Italian and French stylistic elements into his compositions, his legacy was a uniquely English form of Baroque music...
. The text of these seven sentences, from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, is:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
20th and 21st century treatments
In the 20th century the requiem evolved in several new directions. The genre of War Requiem is perhaps the most notable, which comprise of 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 War RequiemWar Requiem
The War Requiem, Op. 66 is a large-scale, non-liturgical setting of the Requiem Mass composed by Benjamin Britten mostly in 1961 and completed January 1962. Interspersed with the traditional Latin texts, in telling juxtaposition, are settings of Wilfred Owen poems...
of Benjamin Britten
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
juxtaposes the Latin text with the poetry of Wilfred Owen
Wilfred Owen
Wilfred Edward Salter Owen MC was an English poet and soldier, one of the leading poets of the First World War...
, Krzysztof Penderecki
Krzysztof Penderecki
Krzysztof Penderecki , born November 23, 1933 in Dębica) is a Polish composer and conductor. His 1960 avant-garde Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima for string orchestra brought him to international attention, and this success was followed by acclaim for his choral St. Luke Passion. Both these...
's Polish Requiem
Polish Requiem
Polish Requiem is a large scale Requiem Mass for soloists, mixed choir and orchestra by Krzysztof Penderecki, originally composed between 1980 and 1984, revised and expanded in 1993, and expanded again in 2005 with the additional movement, Ciaccona...
includes a traditional Polish hymn within the sequence, and Robert Steadman
Robert Steadman
Robert Steadman is a British composerof classical music who mostly works in a post-minimalist style but also writes lighter music, including musicals, and compositions for educational purposes...
's Mass in Black intersperses environmental
Natural environment
The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
and prophecies of Nostradamus
Nostradamus
Michel de Nostredame , usually Latinised to Nostradamus, was a French apothecary and reputed seer who published collections of prophecies that have since become famous worldwide. He is best known for his book Les Propheties , the first edition of which appeared in 1555...
. Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
Requiem may be regarded as a specific subset of this type. The World Requiem
World Requiem
A World Requiem, Op. 60 is a large-scale symphonic work with soloists and choirs by the British composer John Foulds. Written as a requiem and using forces similar in scale to Gustav Mahler's Eighth Symphony, the work calls for a full symphony orchestra, soloists, massed choirs including children's...
of John Foulds
John Foulds
John Herbert Foulds was a British composer of classical music. Largely self-taught as a composer, he was one of the most remarkable and unjustly forgotten figures of the "British Musical Renaissance"....
was written in the aftermath of the First World War and initiated the Royal British Legion's annual festival of remembrance. Recent requiem works by Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
ese composers Tyzen Hsiao
Tyzen Hsiao
Tyzen Hsiao is a Taiwanese composer of the neo-Romantic school. Many of his vocal works set poems written in Taiwanese, the mother tongue of the majority of the island's residents. His compositions stand as a musical manifestation of the Taiwanese literature movement that revitalized the island's...
and Fan-Long Ko follow in this tradition, honouring victims of the 2-28 Incident and subsequent White Terror
White Terror
White Terror is the violence carried out by reactionary groups as part of a counter-revolution. In particular, during the 20th century, in several countries the term White Terror was applied to acts of violence against real or suspected socialists and communists.-Historical origin: the French...
. Another recent requiem composed by Hong Kong composer Man-Ching Donald Yu
Man-Ching Donald Yu
Yu Man Ching is a contemporary classical music composer and pianist. He is one of the few living composers who frequently premiere own works as a pianist in public. Being one of the most prolific composers in Hong Kong, since early age he has composed over hundreds original works...
, in remembrance of the victims of the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake.
Lastly, the 20th century saw the development of the secular Requiem, written for public performance without specific religious observance, such as Frederick Delius
Frederick Delius
Frederick Theodore Albert Delius, CH was an English composer. Born in the north of England to a prosperous mercantile family of German extraction, he resisted attempts to recruit him to commerce...
's Requiem, completed in 1916 and dedicated to "the memory of all young Artists fallen in the war", and Dmitry Kabalevsky's War Requiem, a setting of a poem written by Robert Rozhdestvensky
Robert Rozhdestvensky
Robert Ivanovich Rozhdestvensky was a Soviet poet who in the broke with the Social Realism in 1950s–1960s and, along with such poets as Andrey Voznesensky, Yevgeny Yevtushenko, and Bella Akhmadulina, pioneered a newer, fresher, and freer poetry in the Soviet Union.-Life:Robert Rozhdestvensky...
especially for the composition. Herbert Howells
Herbert Howells
Herbert Norman Howells CH was an English composer, organist, and teacher, most famous for his large output of Anglican church music.-Life:...
's unaccompanied Requiem uses Psalm 23
Psalm 23
In the 23rd Psalm in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, the writer describes God as his Shepherd. The text, beloved by Jews and Christians alike, is often alluded to in popular media and has been set to music....
("The Lord is my shepherd"), Psalm 121 ("I will lift up mine eyes"), "Salvator mundi" ("O Saviour of the world," in English), "Requiem aeternam" (two different settings), and "I heard a voice from heaven." Some composers have written purely instrumental works bearing the title of requiem, as famously exemplified by Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem. Hans Werner Henze
Hans Werner Henze
Hans Werner Henze is a German composer of prodigious output best known for "his consistent cultivation of music for the theatre throughout his life"...
's Das Floß der Medusa
Das Floß der Medusa
Das Floß der Medusa is an oratorio by the German composer Hans Werner Henze. It is regarded as a seminal work in the composer's political alignment with left-wing politics....
, written in 1968 as a requiem for Che Guevara
Che Guevara
Ernesto "Che" Guevara , commonly known as el Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist...
, is properly speaking an oratorio
Oratorio
An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...
; Henze's Requiem
Requiem (Henze)
Hans Werner Henze composed the nine Sacred Concertos that comprise his Requiem over the course of three years from 1991 to 1993 on commissions from the London Sinfonietta, Suntory Corporation for the NHK Philharmonic, and Westdeutschen Rundfunks Köln...
is instrumental but retains the traditional Latin titles for the movements. Igor Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
's Requiem canticles mixes instrumental movements with segments of the "Introit," "Dies irae," "Pie Jesu," and "Libera me."
Notable compositions
Many composers have composed a Requiem. Some of the most notable include the following (in chronological order):- OckeghemJohannes OckeghemJohannes Ockeghem was the most famous composer of the Franco-Flemish School in the last half of the 15th century, and is often considered the most...
's RequiemRequiem (Ockeghem)The Requiem, by Johannes Ockeghem , is a polyphonic setting of the Roman Catholic Requiem Mass, the Missa pro defunctis, the Mass for the dead. It is the earliest polyphonic setting of the Requiem Mass to have survived, and remains one of Ockeghem's most famous and often-performed compositions...
, the earliest to survive, written sometime in the mid-to-late 15th century - VictoriaTomás Luis de VictoriaTomás Luis de Victoria, sometimes Italianised as da Vittoria , was the most famous composer of the 16th century in Spain, and one of the most important composers of the Counter-Reformation, along with Giovanni da Palestrina and Orlando di Lasso. Victoria was not only a composer, but also an...
's Requiem of 1603, (part of a longer Office for the Dead) - MozartWolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
's Requiem in D minorRequiem (Mozart)The Requiem Mass in D minor by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was composed in Vienna in 1791 and left unfinished at the composer's death. A completion by Franz Xaver Süssmayr was delivered to Count Franz von Walsegg, who had anonymously commissioned the piece for a requiem Mass to commemorate the...
(Mozart died before its completion) - CherubiniLuigi CherubiniLuigi Cherubini was an Italian composer who spent most of his working life in France. His most significant compositions are operas and sacred music. Beethoven regarded Cherubini as the greatest of his contemporaries....
's Requiem in C minorRequiem (Cherubini)The Requiem in C minor for mixed chorus was written by Luigi Cherubini in 1815 and premiered 21 January 1816 at a commemoration service for Louis XVI of France... - BerliozHector BerliozHector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts . Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works; as a...
's Grande Messe des MortsRequiem (Berlioz)The Grande Messe des morts, Op. 5 by Hector Berlioz was composed in 1837. The Grande Messe des Morts is one of Berlioz's best-known works, with a tremendous orchestration of woodwind and brass instruments, including four antiphonal offstage brass ensembles placed at the corners of the concert stage... - VerdiGiuseppe VerdiGiuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
's RequiemRequiem (Verdi)The Messa da Requiem by Giuseppe Verdi is a musical setting of the Roman Catholic funeral mass for four soloists, double choir and orchestra. It was composed in memory of Alessandro Manzoni, an Italian poet and novelist much admired by Verdi. The first performance in San Marco in Milan on 22 May... - BrahmsJohannes BrahmsJohannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
' Ein deutsches RequiemEin deutsches RequiemA German Requiem, To Words of the Holy Scriptures, Op. 45 by Johannes Brahms, is a large-scale work for chorus, orchestra, and a soprano and a baritone soloist, composed between 1865 and 1868. It comprises seven movements, which together last 65 to 80 minutes, making this work Brahms's longest...
, based on passages from Luther'sMartin LutherMartin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...
Bible. - FauréGabriel FauréGabriel Urbain Fauré was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th century composers...
's Requiem in D minorRequiem (Fauré)Gabriel Fauré composed his Requiem in D minor, Op. 48 between 1887 and 1890. This choral–orchestral setting of the Roman Catholic Mass for the Dead is the best known of his large works. The most famous movement is the soprano aria Pie Jesu... - DvořákAntonín DvorákAntonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...
's Requiem, Op. 89Requiem (Dvorák)Antonín Dvořák's Requiem in B-flat minor, Op. 89, B. 165, is a funeral mass for soloists, choir and orchestra, composed in 1890.- Background :... - DurufléMaurice DurufléMaurice Duruflé was a French composer, organist, and pedagogue.Duruflé was born in Louviers, Eure. In 1912, he became chorister at the Rouen Cathedral Choir School, where he studied piano and organ with Jules Haelling...
's RequiemRequiem (Duruflé)The Requiem, op. 9, by Maurice Duruflé was commissioned in 1947 by the French music publisher Durand and is written in memory of the composer's father. The work is for SATB choir with mezzo-soprano and baritone soloists...
, based almost exclusively on the chants from the Graduale Romanum. - BrittenBenjamin BrittenEdward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
's War RequiemWar RequiemThe War Requiem, Op. 66 is a large-scale, non-liturgical setting of the Requiem Mass composed by Benjamin Britten mostly in 1961 and completed January 1962. Interspersed with the traditional Latin texts, in telling juxtaposition, are settings of Wilfred Owen poems...
, which incorporated poems by Wilfred OwenWilfred OwenWilfred Edward Salter Owen MC was an English poet and soldier, one of the leading poets of the First World War... - PendereckiKrzysztof PendereckiKrzysztof Penderecki , born November 23, 1933 in Dębica) is a Polish composer and conductor. His 1960 avant-garde Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima for string orchestra brought him to international attention, and this success was followed by acclaim for his choral St. Luke Passion. Both these...
's Polish RequiemPolish RequiemPolish Requiem is a large scale Requiem Mass for soloists, mixed choir and orchestra by Krzysztof Penderecki, originally composed between 1980 and 1984, revised and expanded in 1993, and expanded again in 2005 with the additional movement, Ciaccona... - John RutterJohn RutterJohn Milford Rutter CBE is a British composer, conductor, editor, arranger and record producer, mainly of choral music.-Biography:Born in London, Rutter was educated at Highgate School, where a fellow pupil was John Tavener. He read music at Clare College, Cambridge, where he was a member of the...
RequiemRequiem (Rutter)The Requiem by John Rutter is a musical setting of an adaptation of the Roman Catholic Requiem Mass, completed in 1985. The setting utilises a choir with an orchestral accompaniment, along with a soprano soloist. The Requiem was first performed on 13 October 1985 at Lovers' Lane United Methodist...
, includes Psalm 130Psalm 130Psalm 130 , traditionally De profundis from its Latin incipit, is one of the Penitential psalms.-Commentary:...
, Psalm 23Psalm 23In the 23rd Psalm in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, the writer describes God as his Shepherd. The text, beloved by Jews and Christians alike, is often alluded to in popular media and has been set to music....
and words from the Book of Common PrayerBook of Common PrayerThe Book of Common Prayer is the short title of a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion, as well as by the Continuing Anglican, "Anglican realignment" and other Anglican churches. The original book, published in 1549 , in the reign of Edward VI, was a product of the English... - Lloyd WebberAndrew Lloyd WebberAndrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...
's RequiemRequiem (Webber)Andrew Lloyd Webber's Requiem is a requiem mass written in memory of the composer's father, William Lloyd Webber, who died in 1982. Many thought it a surprising turn for such a populist composer as Lloyd Webber to produce a piece of "serious" music, being his first and to date only full-blown...
- See also: :Category:Requiems
Renaissance
- Giovanni Francesco AnerioGiovanni Francesco AnerioGiovanni Francesco Anerio was an Italian composer of the Roman School, of the very late Renaissance and early Baroque eras. He was the younger brother of Felice Anerio...
- Gianmatteo Asola
- Giulio BelliGiulio BelliGiulio Belli was an Italian composer of the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras. He was a prolific composer during the transitional time between the two musical eras, and worked in many cities in northern Italy.-Life:...
- Antoine BrumelAntoine BrumelAntoine Brumel was a French composer. He was one of the first renowned French members of the Franco-Flemish school of the Renaissance, and, after Josquin des Prez, was one of the most influential composers of his generation....
- Manuel CardosoManuel CardosoManuel Cardoso was a Portuguese composer and organist. With Duarte Lobo and John IV of Portugal, he represented the "golden age" of Portuguese polyphony....
- Joan CererolsJoan CererolsJoan Cererols was a Catalan musician and Benedictine monk. His musical production includes a Requiem composed in the mid-seventeenth century during the great plague which ravaged Barcelona, and a Missa de Batalla which celebrates the conquest of the Kingdom of Naples.Cererols was born in...
- Pierre CertonPierre CertonPierre Certon was a French composer of the Renaissance. He was a representative of the generation after Josquin and Mouton, and was influential in the late development of the French chanson.-Life:...
- Clemens non Papa
- Guillaume DufayGuillaume DufayGuillaume Dufay was a Franco-Flemish composer of the early Renaissance. As the central figure in the Burgundian School, he was the most famous and influential composer in Europe in the mid-15th century.-Early life:From the evidence of his will, he was probably born in Beersel, in the vicinity of...
(lost) - Pedro de EscobarPedro de EscobarPedro de Escobar , a.k.a. Pedro do Porto, was a Portuguese composer of the Renaissance, mostly active in Spain. He was one of the earliest and most skilled composers of polyphony in the Iberian Peninsula, whose music has survived.-Life:He was born at Oporto, Portugal, but nothing is known of his...
- Antoine de FévinAntoine de FévinAntoine de Févin was a French composer of the Renaissance. He was active at the same time as Josquin des Prez, and shares many traits with his more famous contemporary.-Life:...
- Francisco Guerrero
- Jacobus de KerleJacobus de KerleJacobus de Kerle was a Flemish composer and organist of the late Renaissance.-Life:Kerle was trained at the monastery of St. Martin in Ypres, and held positions as a singer in Cambrai and choirmaster in Orvieto, where he also became organist and carillonneur...
- Orlande de LassusOrlande de LassusOrlande de Lassus was a Franco-Flemish composer of the late Renaissance...
- Duarte LoboDuarte LoboDuarte Lobo was a Portuguese composer of the late Renaissance and early Baroque. He was one of the most famous Portuguese composers of the time, together with Filipe de Magalhães, Manuel Cardoso, composers who all began their academic studies as students of Manuel Mendes...
- Jean MaillardJean MaillardJean Maillard was a French composer of the Renaissance.While little is known with certainty about his life, he may have been associated with the French royal court, since he wrote at least one motet for them. Most likely he lived and worked in Paris, based on evidence of his print editions, which...
- Jacques MauduitJacques MauduitJacques Mauduit was a French composer of the late Renaissance. He was one of the most innovative French composers of the late 16th century, combining voices and instruments in new ways, and importing some of the grand polychoral style of the Venetian School from Italy; he also composed a famous...
- Manuel MendesManuel MendesManuel Mendes was a Portuguese composer and teacher of the Renaissance. While his music remains obscure, he was important as the teacher of several of the composers of the golden age of Portuguese polyphony, including Duarte Lobo and Manuel Cardoso.He was born in Lisbon, and studied music with...
- Cristóbal de MoralesCristóbal de MoralesCristóbal de Morales was a Spanish composer of the Renaissance. He is generally considered to be the most influential Spanish composer before Victoria.- Life :...
- Johannes OckeghemJohannes OckeghemJohannes Ockeghem was the most famous composer of the Franco-Flemish School in the last half of the 15th century, and is often considered the most...
(the earliest to survive) - Giovanni Pierluigi da PalestrinaGiovanni Pierluigi da PalestrinaGiovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was an Italian Renaissance composer of sacred music and the best-known 16th-century representative of the Roman School of musical composition...
- Costanzo PortaCostanzo PortaCostanzo Porta was an Italian composer of the Renaissance, and a representative of what is known today as the Venetian School. He was highly praised throughout his life both as a composer and a teacher, and had a reputation especially as an expert contrapuntist.-Biography:Porta was born in Cremona...
- Johannes PriorisJohannes PriorisJohannes Prioris was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance. He was one of the first composers to write a polyphonic setting of the Requiem mass....
- Jean RichafortJean RichafortJean Richafort was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance.He was probably born in Hainaut, and his native language appears to have been French. He may have studied with Josquin des Prez, though the evidence for this is circumstantial. Richafort served as choir master at St. Rombold...
- Pedro Rimonte
- Pierre de la RuePierre de La RuePierre de la Rue , called Piersson, was a Franco-Flemish composer and singer of the Renaissance. A member of the same generation as Josquin des Prez, and a long associate of the Habsburg-Burgundian musical chapel, he ranks with Agricola, Brumel, Compère, Isaac, Obrecht, and Weerbeke as one of the...
- Claudin de SermisyClaudin de SermisyClaudin de Sermisy was a French composer of the Renaissance. Along with Clément Janequin he was one of the most renowned composers of French chansons in the early 16th century; in addition he was a significant composer of sacred music...
- Jacobus VaetJacobus VaetJacobus Vaet was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance. He was a representative of the generation between Josquin and Palestrina, writing smooth polyphony with pervasive imitation, and he was a friend both of Clemens non Papa and Lassus.-Life:...
- Tomás Luis de VictoriaTomás Luis de VictoriaTomás Luis de Victoria, sometimes Italianised as da Vittoria , was the most famous composer of the 16th century in Spain, and one of the most important composers of the Counter-Reformation, along with Giovanni da Palestrina and Orlando di Lasso. Victoria was not only a composer, but also an...
Baroque
- Giovanni Francesco AnerioGiovanni Francesco AnerioGiovanni Francesco Anerio was an Italian composer of the Roman School, of the very late Renaissance and early Baroque eras. He was the younger brother of Felice Anerio...
- Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber
- André CampraAndré CampraAndré Campra was a French composer and conductor.Campra was one of the leading French opera composers in the period between Jean-Baptiste Lully and Jean-Philippe Rameau. He wrote several tragédies en musique, but his chief claim to fame is as the creator of a new genre, opéra-ballet...
- Marc-Antoine CharpentierMarc-Antoine CharpentierMarc-Antoine Charpentier, , was a French composer of the Baroque era.Exceptionally prolific and versatile, he produced compositions of the highest quality in several genres...
- Johann Joseph Fux
- Jean GillesJean Gilles (Composer)Jean Gilles was a French composer, born at Tarascon.-Biography:After receiving his musical training as a choirboy at the Cathedral of Saint-Sauveur at Aix-en-Provence, he succeeded his teacher Guillaume Poitevin as music master there...
- Antonio LottiAntonio LottiAntonio Lotti was an Italian composer of classical music.Lotti was born in Venice, although his father Matteo was Kapellmeister at Hanover at the time. In 1682, Lotti began studying with Lodovico Fuga and Giovanni Legrenzi, both of whom were employed at St Mark's Basilica, Venice's principal church...
(Requiem in F Major) - Claudio MonteverdiClaudio MonteverdiClaudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, gambist, and singer.Monteverdi's work, often regarded as revolutionary, marked the transition from the Renaissance style of music to that of the Baroque period. He developed two individual styles of composition – the...
(lost) - Michael PraetoriusMichael PraetoriusMichael Praetorius was a German composer, organist, and music theorist. He was one of the most versatile composers of his age, being particularly significant in the development of musical forms based on Protestant hymns, many of which reflect an effort to make better the relationship between...
- Heinrich SchützHeinrich SchützHeinrich Schütz was a German composer and organist, generally regarded as the most important German composer before Johann Sebastian Bach and often considered to be one of the most important composers of the 17th century along with Claudio Monteverdi...
- Jan Dismas ZelenkaJan Dismas ZelenkaJan Dismas Zelenka , baptised Jan Lukáš Zelenka and previously also known as Johann Dismas Zelenka, was the most important Czech Baroque composer, whose music was notably daring with outstanding harmonic invention and mastery of counterpoint.- Life :Zelenka was born in Louňovice pod Blaníkem, a small...
Classical period
- Johann Christian BachJohann Christian BachJohann Christian Bach was a composer of the Classical era, the eleventh and youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bach. He is sometimes referred to as 'the London Bach' or 'the English Bach', due to his time spent living in the British capital...
- Luigi CherubiniLuigi CherubiniLuigi Cherubini was an Italian composer who spent most of his working life in France. His most significant compositions are operas and sacred music. Beethoven regarded Cherubini as the greatest of his contemporaries....
- Domenico CimarosaDomenico CimarosaDomenico Cimarosa was an Italian opera composer of the Neapolitan school...
- Carl Ditters von DittersdorfCarl Ditters von Dittersdorf----August Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf was an Austrian composer, violinist and silvologist.-1739-1764:...
- Joseph Leopold EyblerJoseph Leopold EyblerJoseph Leopold Eybler was an Austrian composer known today perhaps more for his friendship with Mozart than for his own music.-Life:...
- Florian Leopold GassmannFlorian Leopold GassmannFlorian Leopold Gassmann was a German-speaking Bohemian opera composer of the transitional period between the baroque and classical eras. He was one of the principal composers of dramma giocoso immediately before Mozart....
- François-Joseph Gossec
- Johann Adolf HasseJohann Adolph HasseJohann Adolph Hasse was an 18th-century German composer, singer and teacher of music. Immensely popular in his time, Hasse was best known for his prolific operatic output, though he also composed a considerable quantity of sacred music...
- Joseph Martin KrausJoseph Martin KrausJoseph Martin Kraus , was a composer in the classical era who was born in Miltenberg am Main, Germany. He moved to Sweden at age 21, and died at the age of 36 in Stockholm...
- Michael HaydnMichael HaydnJohann Michael Haydn was an Austrian composer of the classical period, the younger brother of Joseph Haydn.-Life:...
- Andrea Lucchesi
- Giovanni Battista MartiniGiovanni Battista MartiniGiovanni Battista Martini , also known as Padre Martini, was an Italian musician.-Biography:Martini was born at Bologna....
- José Maurício Nunes GarciaJosé Maurício Nunes GarciaJosé Maurício Nunes Garcia was a Brazilian classical composer, one of the greatest exponents of Classicism in the Americas....
- Ignaz PleyelIgnaz PleyelIgnace Joseph Pleyel , ; was an Austrian-born French composer and piano builder of the Classical period.-Early years:...
- Antonio SalieriAntonio SalieriAntonio Salieri was a Venetian classical composer, conductor and teacher born in Legnago, south of Verona, in the Republic of Venice, but who spent his adult life and career as a faithful subject of the Habsburg monarchy....
Romantic era
- Hector BerliozHector BerliozHector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts . Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works; as a...
- João Domingos BomtempoJoão Domingos BomtempoJoão Domingos Bomtempo was a Portuguese classical pianist, composer and pedagogue.-Biography:Bomtempo was the son of an Italian musician in the Portuguese court orchestra, and studied at the Music Seminary of the Patriarchal See in Lisbon...
- Johannes BrahmsJohannes BrahmsJohannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
- Anton BrucknerAnton BrucknerAnton Bruckner was an Austrian composer known for his symphonies, masses, and motets. The first are considered emblematic of the final stage of Austro-German Romanticism because of their rich harmonic language, complex polyphony, and considerable length...
, Requiem in D minorRequiem (Bruckner)The Requiem in D minor WAB 39 by Anton Bruckner is a setting of the Missa pro defunctis for vocal soloists, trombones, one horn, strings and organ with figured bass, written to memorialize Franz Sailer, the notary of the St. Florian monastery, who bequeathed Bruckner a Bösendorfer piano... - Ferruccio BusoniFerruccio BusoniFerruccio Busoni was an Italian composer, pianist, editor, writer, piano and composition teacher, and conductor.-Biography:...
- Carl CzernyCarl CzernyCarl Czerny was an Austrian pianist, composer and teacher. He is best remembered today for his books of études for the piano. Czerny's music was profoundly influenced by his teachers, Muzio Clementi, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Antonio Salieri and Ludwig van Beethoven.-Early life:Carl Czerny was born...
- Gaetano DonizettiGaetano DonizettiDomenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti was an Italian composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. His best-known works are the operas L'elisir d'amore , Lucia di Lammermoor , and Don Pasquale , all in Italian, and the French operas La favorite and La fille du régiment...
- Antonín DvořákAntonín DvorákAntonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...
- Gabriel FauréGabriel FauréGabriel Urbain Fauré was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th century composers...
- Charles GounodCharles GounodCharles-François Gounod was a French composer, known for his Ave Maria as well as his operas Faust and Roméo et Juliette.-Biography:...
- Franz LisztFranz LisztFranz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
- Giacomo PucciniGiacomo PucciniGiacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italian composer whose operas, including La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire...
[Introit only] - Max RegerMax RegerJohann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger was a German composer, conductor, pianist, organist, and academic teacher.-Life:...
Hebbel RequiemRequiem (Reger)The Requiem, Op. 144b, is a late Romantic composition of Max Reger, also called Hebbel Requiem, a setting of Friedrich Hebbel's poem Requiem. Reger wrote it in 1915 for alto solo, chorus and orchestra...
, Lateinisches Requiem (fragment) - Antonín RejchaAnton ReichaAnton Reicha was a Czech-born, later naturalized French composer. A contemporary and lifelong friend of Beethoven, Reicha is now best remembered for his substantial early contribution to the wind quintet literature and his role as a teacher – his pupils included Franz Liszt and Hector Berlioz...
- Camille Saint-SaënsCamille Saint-SaënsCharles-Camille Saint-Saëns was a French Late-Romantic composer, organist, conductor, and pianist. He is known especially for The Carnival of the Animals, Danse macabre, Samson and Delilah, Piano Concerto No. 2, Cello Concerto No. 1, Havanaise, Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, and his Symphony...
- Robert SchumannRobert SchumannRobert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
- Franz von SuppéFranz von SuppéFranz von Suppé or Francesco Suppé Demelli was an Austrian composer of light operas who was born in what is now Croatia during the time his father was working in this outpost of the Austro-Hungarian Empire...
- Charles Villiers StanfordCharles Villiers StanfordSir Charles Villiers Stanford was an Irish composer who was particularly notable for his choral music. He was professor at the Royal College of Music and University of Cambridge.- Life :...
- Giuseppe VerdiGiuseppe VerdiGiuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
- Richard WetzRichard WetzRichard Wetz was a German late Romantic composer best known for his three symphonies. In these works, he "seems to have aimed to be an immediate continuation of Bruckner, as a result of which he actually ended up on the margin of music history".-1875-1906: Youth:Richard Wetz was born to a merchant...
- See also: Messa per RossiniMessa per RossiniThe Messa per Rossini is a Requiem Mass composed to commemorate the first anniversary of Gioachino Rossini's death. It was a collaboration between 13 Italian composers, initiated by Giuseppe Verdi...
20th century
- Malcolm ArcherMalcolm ArcherMalcolm Archer is an English organist, conductor and composer. He combines this work with a recital career. Archer was formerly Organist and Director of Music at St Paul's Cathedral, and is now Director of Chapel Music at Winchester College....
- Vyacheslav ArtyomovVyacheslav ArtyomovVyacheslav Petrovich Artyomov also Artemov is a Russian and Soviet composer.-Biography:Artyomov first studied physics at the Moscow University, then later studied music. He graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 1968 where studied composition with Nikolai Sidelnikov. He became a member of the...
- Osvaldas BalakauskasOsvaldas BalakauskasOsvaldas Balakauskas is a Lithuanian composer of classical music.- Career :Balakauskas graduated from Vilnius Pedagogical University in 1961. After his mandatory service in the Soviet Army between 1961 and 1964, he studied composition with Boris Lyatoshinsky and M. M. Skorik at Kiev Conservatory...
- Benjamin BrittenBenjamin BrittenEdward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
- Sylvano BussottiSylvano BussottiSylvano Bussotti is an Italian composer of contemporary music whose work is unusually notated and often creates special problems of interpretation.Born in Florence, Bussotti learned to play the violin as a child, becoming a prodigy...
's "Rara Requiem" - Michel ChionMichel ChionMichel Chion born in 1947 in Creil, France, is a composer of experimental music. He teaches at several institutions within France and currently holds the post of Associate Professor at the University of Paris III: Sorbonne Nouvelle where he is a theoretician and teacher of audio-visual...
- Vladimir DashkevichVladimir DashkevichVladimir Sergeevich Dashkevich is a Russian composer, known mainly for his film music. Originally he studied chemical technology but later studied music under Aram Khachaturian. He achieved prominence in Russia for his music for the series of films "Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson", as well as...
- James DeMars: An American Requiem
- Edison DenisovEdison DenisovEdison Vasilievich Denisov was a Russian composer of so called "Underground" — "Anti-Collectivist", "alternative" or "nonconformist" division in the Soviet music.-Biography:...
- Alfred DesenclosAlfred DésenclosAlfred Desenclos was a French composer of classical music. Desenclos was a self-described "romantic" whose music is highly expressive and atmospheric and rooted in rigorous compositional technique....
- Ralph DunstanRalph DunstanRalph Dunstan Mus. Doc. Cantab was born at Carnon Downs in the parish of Feock, Cornwall and is buried at Perranzabuloe. He is honoured now as one of the greatest song collectors in the Cornish musical tradition....
- Maurice Duruflé
- Lorenzo FerreroLorenzo FerreroLorenzo Ferrero is a contemporary Italian composer with a predilection for opera, a librettist, author, and book editor. He started composing at an early age and wrote over a hundred compositions thus far, including twelve operas, three ballets, and numerous orchestral, chamber music, solo...
's Introito, part of the Requiem per le vittime della mafia - Gerald FinziGerald FinziGerald Raphael Finzi was a British composer. Finzi is best known as a song-writer, but also wrote in other genres...
's Requiem da camera - John FouldsJohn FouldsJohn Herbert Foulds was a British composer of classical music. Largely self-taught as a composer, he was one of the most remarkable and unjustly forgotten figures of the "British Musical Renaissance"....
"A World Requiem" - Howard GoodallHoward Goodall210px|thumb|Howard Goodall at St. John the Baptist Church in Devon, United Kingdom, May 2009Howard Lindsay Goodall CBE is a British composer of musicals, choral music and music for television...
's "Eternal Light: A Requiem" - Hans Werner HenzeHans Werner HenzeHans Werner Henze is a German composer of prodigious output best known for "his consistent cultivation of music for the theatre throughout his life"...
- Frigyes HidasFrigyes HidasFrigyes Hidas was a Hungarian composer.Hidas studied composition at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest with János Visky...
- Herbert HowellsHerbert HowellsHerbert Norman Howells CH was an English composer, organist, and teacher, most famous for his large output of Anglican church music.-Life:...
- Sigurd IslandsmoenSigurd IslandsmoenSigurd Islandsmoen was a Norwegian composer. Sigurd Islandsmoen made significant contributions to the music of the Church of Norway. In all he wrote some 70 opus, among these five feature-length works for orchestra, choir and soloists. He is perhaps best known for his composition Requiem written...
- Karl JenkinsKarl Jenkins-Other works:*Adiemus: Live — live versions of Adiemus music*Palladio *Eloise *Imagined Oceans *The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace...
- Volker David KirchnerVolker David KirchnerVolker David Kirchner is a German composer and violist.-Biography:Kirchner studied at the Peter Cornelius Conservatory in Mainz from 1956 to 1969 under Günter Kehr and Günter Raphael...
- Ståle KleibergStåle KleibergStåle Kleiberg is a contemporary classical composer and musicologist from Norway. -Biography:Kleiberg was born in Stavanger in 1958. He graduated from the University of Oslo with a degree in musicology and later from the Norwegian Academy of Music with a diploma degree in composition. In addition...
- Joonas KokkonenJoonas KokkonenJoonas Kokkonen was a Finnish composer. He was one of the most internationally famous Finnish composers of the 20th century after Sibelius; his opera The Last Temptations has received over 500 performances worldwide, and is considered by many to be Finland's most distinguished national opera.-...
- Cyrillus KreekCyrillus KreekCyrillus Kreek was an Estonian composer.Kreek studied trombone and composition at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory from 1908 to 1916 in the years immediately prior to the Russian Revolution, then worked as music teacher first in his native Haapsalu , at the Tartu Music College and later...
- Huub de Lange
- Morten LauridsenMorten LauridsenMorten Johannes Lauridsen is an American composer. He was composer-in-residence of the Los Angeles Master Chorale and has been a professor of composition at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music for more than 30 years.-Biography:Lauridsen was born February 27, 1943, in...
"Lux Aeternam" - Philip LedgerPhilip LedgerSir Philip Ledger CBE is a British classical musician and academic. He is best-known for his tenure as director of the Choir of King's College, Cambridge between 1973 and 1982 and as director of Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama from 1982 until his retirement in 2001...
- Kamilló LendvayKamilló LendvayKamilló Lendvay is a Hungarian composer.Born in Budapest, he studied at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music with János Viski. After graduation, in 1957 he undertook a conducting post with the Szeged Opera....
- György LigetiGyörgy LigetiGyörgy Sándor Ligeti was a composer of contemporary classical music. Born in a Hungarian Jewish family in Transylvania, Romania, he briefly lived in Hungary before becoming an Austrian citizen.-Early life:...
- Andrew Lloyd WebberAndrew Lloyd WebberAndrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...
- Fernando Lopes-GraçaFernando Lopes-GraçaFernando Lopes-Graça, GOSE, GCIH was a Portuguese composer and conductor of the 20th century...
- Roman MaciejewskiRoman MaciejewskiRoman Maciejewski , Polish composer.Studied in Julius Stern Conservatorium in Berlin, later with Stanisław Wiechowicz and Kazimierz Sikorski in Poznań Conservatory, then continued with Kazimierz Sikorski in Warsaw Conservatory. In his early years highly acclaimed by Karol Szymanowski...
- Frank MartinFrank Martin (composer)Frank Martin was a Swiss composer, who lived a large part of his life in the Netherlands.-Childhood and youth:...
- Ildebrando PizzettiIldebrando PizzettiIldebrando Pizzetti was an Italian composer of classical music.- Biography :Pizzetti was born in Parma in 1880. He was part of the "Generation of 1880" along with Ottorino Respighi and Gian Francesco Malipiero. They were among the first Italian composers in some time whose primary contributions...
- Jocelyn PookJocelyn PookJocelyn Pook is a British composer, pianist and viola player.- Biography :Jocelyn Pook’s distinctive style is a product of her diverse experiences in classical, commercial, and so-called world music...
- Zbigniew PreisnerZbigniew PreisnerZbigniew Preisner is a Polish film score composer, best known for his work with film director Krzysztof Kieślowski.-Life:Zbigniew Preisner studied history and philosophy in Kraków. Never having received formal music lessons, he taught himself music by listening and transcribing parts from records....
- Robert RønnesRobert RønnesRobert Rønnes is a Norwegian classical bassoonist.-Bassoonist:He studied with Knut Bjærke and Torleif Nedberg at the Norwegian State Academy of Music and with Roger Birnstingl at the Geneva Conservatory...
- John RutterJohn RutterJohn Milford Rutter CBE is a British composer, conductor, editor, arranger and record producer, mainly of choral music.-Biography:Born in London, Rutter was educated at Highgate School, where a fellow pupil was John Tavener. He read music at Clare College, Cambridge, where he was a member of the...
- Joseph RyelandtJoseph RyelandtJoseph Ryelandt was a Belgian classical composer.-Life:Joseph Victor Marie Ryelandt was born in Bruges, into a wealthy bourgeois family, for whom culture, tradition, and the Roman Catholic religion mattered. So did music, which the family practiced a lot...
- Shigeaki Saegusa
- Alfred SchnittkeAlfred SchnittkeAlfred Schnittke ; November 24, 1934 – August 3, 1998) was a Russian and Soviet composer. Schnittke's early music shows the strong influence of Dmitri Shostakovich. He developed a polystylistic technique in works such as the epic First Symphony and First Concerto Grosso...
- Valentin SilvestrovValentin SilvestrovValentyn Vasylyovych Sylvestrov is a Ukrainian pianist and composer of contemporary classical music.-Education:Sylvestrov began private music lessons at age 15...
- Robert SteadmanRobert SteadmanRobert Steadman is a British composerof classical music who mostly works in a post-minimalist style but also writes lighter music, including musicals, and compositions for educational purposes...
- Igor StravinskyIgor StravinskyIgor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
- Toru TakemitsuToru Takemitsuwas a Japanese composer and writer on aesthetics and music theory. Largely self-taught, Takemitsu possessed consummate skill in the subtle manipulation of instrumental and orchestral timbre...
- John TavenerJohn TavenerSir John Tavener is a British composer, best known for such religious, minimal works as "The Whale", and "Funeral Ikos"...
- Virgil ThomsonVirgil ThomsonVirgil Thomson was an American composer and critic. He was instrumental in the development of the "American Sound" in classical music...
- Erkki-Sven TüürErkki-Sven TüürErkki-Sven Tüür is an Estonian composer.Tüür was born in Kärdla on the Estonian island of Hiiumaa. He studied flute and percussion at the Tallinn Music School from 1976 to 1980 and composition with Jaan Rääts at the Tallinn Academy of Music and privately with Lepo Sumera from 1980 to 1984...
- Malcolm WilliamsonMalcolm WilliamsonMalcolm Benjamin Graham Christopher Williamson AO , CBE was an Australian composer. He was the Master of the Queen's Music from 1975 until his death.-Biography:...
21st century
- Lera AuerbachLera AuerbachLera Auerbach is a Russian-born American composer and pianist.-Early life & education:Auerbach was born in Chelyabinsk, a city in the Urals bordering Siberia. She holds degrees in piano and composition from The Juilliard School, where she studied piano with Joseph Kalichstein and composition...
"Russian Requiem" - Leonardo BaladaLeonardo BaladaLeonardo Balada , is a Catalan American composer, now teaching and composing in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.-Life:...
- Troy BanarziTroy BanarziTroy Banarzi is a British-born composer and artist of Indian/Irish descent. He is considered “an experimental music maker with a more art-orientated approach”, creating music with a "folk influence and a fairy-tale quality". He has collaborated with, amongst others, the Rambert Dance Company,...
- Virgin BlackVirgin BlackVirgin Black is an Australian band that combines gothic-doom and symphonic metal influences. Signed to The End Records and Germany's Massacre Records , the band has released 4 albums and 1 EP...
- Paul CarrPaul CarrPaul Carr is a British writer, journalist and commentator, based in San Francisco. He has also - as Carr writes on his official website - "edited various publications and founded numerous businesses with varying degrees of abysmal failure."-Memoirs:Carr's first autobiographical book Bringing...
"Requiem for an Angel" - Richard Danielpour: "An American Requiem"Richard DanielpourRichard Danielpour is an American composer.-Biography:Danielpour is born of Persian/Jewish descent. He studied at Oberlin College and the New England Conservatory of Music, and later at the Juilliard School of Music, where he received a DMA in composition in 1986...
- Mohammed FairouzMohammed FairouzMohammed Fairouz is an Arab American composer.Having fulfilling many commissions and created a substantial body of frequently performed works, he is considered one of the most sought after composers of the young generation. Fairouz began composing at an early age and studied at the New England...
"Requiem Mass" - Carlo ForlivesiCarlo ForlivesiCarlo Forlivesi is an Italian composer, performer and researcher.Forlivesi was born in Faenza, Emilia-Romagna. He studied at Bologna Conservatory, Milan Conservatory and the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia of Rome...
- Steve Gray "Requiem For Choir and Big Band"Steve Gray (musician)Steve Gray was a pianist, composer, and arranger.Gray was born in Middlesbrough, England. At ten, he began teaching himself to play the piano. He joined the Middlesbrough Junior Orchestra, at first playing the bassoon, but later switching to the saxophone...
- Tyzen HsiaoTyzen HsiaoTyzen Hsiao is a Taiwanese composer of the neo-Romantic school. Many of his vocal works set poems written in Taiwanese, the mother tongue of the majority of the island's residents. His compositions stand as a musical manifestation of the Taiwanese literature movement that revitalized the island's...
- Karl JenkinsKarl Jenkins-Other works:*Adiemus: Live — live versions of Adiemus music*Palladio *Eloise *Imagined Oceans *The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace...
- Iver KleiveIver KleiveIver Kleive is a Norwegian composer and organist. He is known for his composing style which is a fusion of traditional church music with other musical idioms such as blues, jazz, and Norwegian folk music. He has appeared in nearly 200 recordings as a studio musician, composer and...
- Fan-Long Ko
- Thierry LancinoThierry LancinoThierry Lancino is a French composer." The determination to lead his own freedom has driven Thierry Lancino to reveal himself as a multifaceted composer of imaginative experiments and invention...
- Clint MansellClint MansellClinton Darryl "Clint" Mansell, is an English musician, composer, and former lead singer and guitarist of the band Pop Will Eat Itself....
, (Theme from Requiem For A Dream aka 'Lux AeternaLux AeternaLux Aeterna is an album by Dave Fitzgerald. Released in 1997.This is the second solo album from flute and saxophone player Dave Fitzgerald who was a founding member of Iona. Recorded partly in the studio, and partly in the St...
') - Christopher Rouse
- Kentaro SatoKentaro SatoFor the manga character see Kentaro Osada., aka Ken-P, is a Los Angeles-based award-winning composer/conductor/orchestrator/clinician of media music and concert music . His works have been broadcast, performed, and recorded in North and South America, Asia, and Europe by well-known groups...
- Somtow Sucharitkul
- John TavenerJohn TavenerSir John Tavener is a British composer, best known for such religious, minimal works as "The Whale", and "Funeral Ikos"...
(Heartbeat, aka 'Prayer of the Heart' written for BjörkBjörkBjörk Guðmundsdóttir , known as Björk , is an Icelandic singer-songwriter. Her eclectic musical style has achieved popular acknowledgement and popularity within many musical genres, such as rock, jazz, electronic dance music, classical and folk...
) - Chris Williams "Tsunami Requiem"
- Mack WilbergMack WilbergMack Wilberg is a composer, arranger, conductor, and Choral clinician, as well as the music director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir...
- Man-Ching Donald YuMan-Ching Donald YuYu Man Ching is a contemporary classical music composer and pianist. He is one of the few living composers who frequently premiere own works as a pianist in public. Being one of the most prolific composers in Hong Kong, since early age he has composed over hundreds original works...
- Carl RüttiCarl RüttiCarl Rütti is a notable Swiss composer, who has written much choral music.In 2005, Rütti was commissioned by the Bach Choir to write a Requiem. This was completed in 2007.-See also:****...
- David Crowder BandDavid Crowder BandThe David Crowder Band is a six-piece Christian Modern Worship band from Waco, Texas.-Band history:The band began when David Crowder, from Texarkana, Texas, realized that almost half of the students at Baylor University were not attending church...
"Give Us Rest (A Requiem Mass in C [The Happiest of All Keys])"
Requiem by language (other than Latin)
English with Latin- Benjamin BrittenBenjamin BrittenEdward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
: War RequiemWar RequiemThe War Requiem, Op. 66 is a large-scale, non-liturgical setting of the Requiem Mass composed by Benjamin Britten mostly in 1961 and completed January 1962. Interspersed with the traditional Latin texts, in telling juxtaposition, are settings of Wilfred Owen poems... - Richard Danielpour: An American RequiemRichard DanielpourRichard Danielpour is an American composer.-Biography:Danielpour is born of Persian/Jewish descent. He studied at Oberlin College and the New England Conservatory of Music, and later at the Juilliard School of Music, where he received a DMA in composition in 1986...
- Herbert HowellsHerbert HowellsHerbert Norman Howells CH was an English composer, organist, and teacher, most famous for his large output of Anglican church music.-Life:...
- John RutterJohn RutterJohn Milford Rutter CBE is a British composer, conductor, editor, arranger and record producer, mainly of choral music.-Biography:Born in London, Rutter was educated at Highgate School, where a fellow pupil was John Tavener. He read music at Clare College, Cambridge, where he was a member of the...
: RequiemRequiem (Rutter)The Requiem by John Rutter is a musical setting of an adaptation of the Roman Catholic Requiem Mass, completed in 1985. The setting utilises a choir with an orchestral accompaniment, along with a soprano soloist. The Requiem was first performed on 13 October 1985 at Lovers' Lane United Methodist... - Mack WilbergMack WilbergMack Wilberg is a composer, arranger, conductor, and Choral clinician, as well as the music director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir...
- Somtow Sucharitkul
Estonian
- Cyrillus KreekCyrillus KreekCyrillus Kreek was an Estonian composer.Kreek studied trombone and composition at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory from 1908 to 1916 in the years immediately prior to the Russian Revolution, then worked as music teacher first in his native Haapsalu , at the Tartu Music College and later...
: Estonian Requiem
German
- Michael PraetoriusMichael PraetoriusMichael Praetorius was a German composer, organist, and music theorist. He was one of the most versatile composers of his age, being particularly significant in the development of musical forms based on Protestant hymns, many of which reflect an effort to make better the relationship between...
- Heinrich SchützHeinrich SchützHeinrich Schütz was a German composer and organist, generally regarded as the most important German composer before Johann Sebastian Bach and often considered to be one of the most important composers of the 17th century along with Claudio Monteverdi...
- Franz SchubertFranz SchubertFranz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
- Johannes BrahmsJohannes BrahmsJohannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
: Ein deutsches Requiem - Max RegerMax RegerJohann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger was a German composer, conductor, pianist, organist, and academic teacher.-Life:...
Hebbel RequiemRequiem (Reger)The Requiem, Op. 144b, is a late Romantic composition of Max Reger, also called Hebbel Requiem, a setting of Friedrich Hebbel's poem Requiem. Reger wrote it in 1915 for alto solo, chorus and orchestra...
French, Greek, with Latin
- Thierry LancinoThierry LancinoThierry Lancino is a French composer." The determination to lead his own freedom has driven Thierry Lancino to reveal himself as a multifaceted composer of imaginative experiments and invention...
French, English, German with Latin
- Edison DenisovEdison DenisovEdison Vasilievich Denisov was a Russian composer of so called "Underground" — "Anti-Collectivist", "alternative" or "nonconformist" division in the Soviet music.-Biography:...
Japanese and Latin
- Karl JenkinsKarl Jenkins-Other works:*Adiemus: Live — live versions of Adiemus music*Palladio *Eloise *Imagined Oceans *The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace...
Polish and Latin
- Krzysztof PendereckiKrzysztof PendereckiKrzysztof Penderecki , born November 23, 1933 in Dębica) is a Polish composer and conductor. His 1960 avant-garde Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima for string orchestra brought him to international attention, and this success was followed by acclaim for his choral St. Luke Passion. Both these...
: Polish RequiemPolish RequiemPolish Requiem is a large scale Requiem Mass for soloists, mixed choir and orchestra by Krzysztof Penderecki, originally composed between 1980 and 1984, revised and expanded in 1993, and expanded again in 2005 with the additional movement, Ciaccona... - Zbigniew PreisnerZbigniew PreisnerZbigniew Preisner is a Polish film score composer, best known for his work with film director Krzysztof Kieślowski.-Life:Zbigniew Preisner studied history and philosophy in Kraków. Never having received formal music lessons, he taught himself music by listening and transcribing parts from records....
Russian
- Lera AuerbachLera AuerbachLera Auerbach is a Russian-born American composer and pianist.-Early life & education:Auerbach was born in Chelyabinsk, a city in the Urals bordering Siberia. She holds degrees in piano and composition from The Juilliard School, where she studied piano with Joseph Kalichstein and composition...
– Russian Requiem, on Russian Orthodox sacred text and poetry - Vladimir DashkevichVladimir DashkevichVladimir Sergeevich Dashkevich is a Russian composer, known mainly for his film music. Originally he studied chemical technology but later studied music under Aram Khachaturian. He achieved prominence in Russia for his music for the series of films "Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson", as well as...
– Requiem (Text by Anna AkhmatovaAnna AkhmatovaAnna Andreyevna Gorenko , better known by the pen name Anna Akhmatova , was a Russian and Soviet modernist poet, one of the most acclaimed writers in the Russian canon.Harrington p11...
) - Elena FirsovaElena FirsovaElena Olegovna Firsova is a Russian composer.-Life:She was born in Leningrad into the family of physicists Oleg Firsov and Viktoria Lichko. She studied music in Moscow with Alexander Pirumov, Yuri Kholopov, Edison Denisov and Philip Herschkowitz...
– Requiem, Op.100 (Text by Anna AkhmatovaAnna AkhmatovaAnna Andreyevna Gorenko , better known by the pen name Anna Akhmatova , was a Russian and Soviet modernist poet, one of the most acclaimed writers in the Russian canon.Harrington p11...
) - Dmitri KabalevskyDmitri KabalevskyDmitry Borisovich Kabalevsky was a Russian composer.He helped to set up the Union of Soviet Composers in Moscow and remained one of its leading figures. He was a prolific composer of piano music and chamber music; many of his piano works have been performed by Vladimir Horowitz. He is probably...
– War Requiem (Text by Robert RozhdestvenskyRobert RozhdestvenskyRobert Ivanovich Rozhdestvensky was a Soviet poet who in the broke with the Social Realism in 1950s–1960s and, along with such poets as Andrey Voznesensky, Yevgeny Yevtushenko, and Bella Akhmadulina, pioneered a newer, fresher, and freer poetry in the Soviet Union.-Life:Robert Rozhdestvensky...
) - Sergei TaneyevSergei TaneyevSergei Ivanovich Taneyev , was a Russian composer, pianist, teacher of composition, music theorist and author.-Life:...
– Cantata John of Damascus, Op.1 (Text by Alexey TolstoyAleksey Konstantinovich TolstoyCount Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, often referred to as A. K. Tolstoy , was a Russian poet, novelist and playwright, considered to be the most important nineteenth-century Russian historical dramatist...
)
Taiwanese
- Tyzen HsiaoTyzen HsiaoTyzen Hsiao is a Taiwanese composer of the neo-Romantic school. Many of his vocal works set poems written in Taiwanese, the mother tongue of the majority of the island's residents. His compositions stand as a musical manifestation of the Taiwanese literature movement that revitalized the island's...
– Ilha Formosa: Requiem for Formosa's MartyrsIlha Formosa: Requiem for Formosa's MartyrsIlha Formosa: Requiem for Formosa's Martyrs ' is a composition for solo soprano, solo baritone, chorus and orchestra composed by Taiwanese composer Tyzen Hsiao...
, 2001 (Text by Min-yung Lee, 1994) - Fan-Long Ko – 2-28 Requiem, 2008. (Text by Li Kuei-Hsien)
Nonlinguistic
- Benjamin BrittenBenjamin BrittenEdward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
's Sinfonia da RequiemSinfonia da RequiemSinfonia da Requiem, Op. 20, for orchestra is a symphony written by Benjamin Britten in 1940 at the age of 26. It was one of several works commissioned from different composers by the Japanese Government to mark the 2,600th anniversary of the founding of the Japanese Empire...
and Arthur HoneggerArthur HoneggerArthur Honegger was a Swiss composer, who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. He was a member of Les six. His most frequently performed work is probably the orchestral work Pacific 231, which is interpreted as imitating the sound of a steam locomotive.-Biography:Born...
's Symphonie LiturgiqueSymphonie LiturgiqueSymphonie Liturgique is the Third Symphony by the Swiss composer Arthur Honegger.Composed in the aftermath of World War II, it is one of Honegger's best-known works. It is in three movements, each of which is named after part of the Requiem Mass...
use titles from the traditional Requiem as subtitles of movements. - Carlo ForlivesiCarlo ForlivesiCarlo Forlivesi is an Italian composer, performer and researcher.Forlivesi was born in Faenza, Emilia-Romagna. He studied at Bologna Conservatory, Milan Conservatory and the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia of Rome...
– Requiem, for 8-channel tape - Wojciech Kilar "Requiem Father Kolbe"Wojciech KilarWojciech Kilar ; b. 17 July 1932 in Lwów, Poland) is a Polish classical and film music composer.-Biography:Wojciech Kilar is one of Poland’s esteemed composers. Born in 1932 in Lwów . His father was a gynecologist and his mother was a theater actress...
- Hans Werner HenzeHans Werner HenzeHans Werner Henze is a German composer of prodigious output best known for "his consistent cultivation of music for the theatre throughout his life"...
– Requiem (instrumental)
Annual requiems
A Solemn Requiem Mass is held by the Catholic Police GuildCatholic Police Guild
The Catholic Police Guild of England & Wales was founded in 1914 as the Metropolitan and City Catholic Police Guild. This was an association for Catholic Police men and women, and approved by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Westminster, in response to representations made by Catholics serving in...
in October every year. It is celebrated in Westminster Cathedral
Westminster Cathedral
Westminster Cathedral in London is the mother church of the Catholic community in England and Wales and the Metropolitan Church and Cathedral of the Archbishop of Westminster...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to commemorate:
- Members of the Catholic Police GuildCatholic Police GuildThe Catholic Police Guild of England & Wales was founded in 1914 as the Metropolitan and City Catholic Police Guild. This was an association for Catholic Police men and women, and approved by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Westminster, in response to representations made by Catholics serving in...
who have recently died - Serving policePoliceThe police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
officers and staff who have died or lost their lives in the course of their duty in the last year - All deceased colleagues and friends in the police service.
This memorial has been taking place since 1914. In the early years it was covered every year by British Pathé News
Pathe News
Pathé Newsreels were produced from 1910 until the 1970s, when production of newsreels was in general stopped. Pathé News today is known as British Pathé and its archive of over 90,000 reels is fully digitised and online.-History:...
.
See also
- Church musicChurch musicChurch music may be defined as music written for performance in church, or any musical setting of ecclestiacal liturgy, or music set to words expressing propositions of a sacred nature, such as a hymn. This article covers music in the Judaeo-Christian tradition. For sacred music outside this...
- Mass (music)Mass (music)The Mass, a form of sacred musical composition, is a choral composition that sets the invariable portions of the Eucharistic liturgy to music...
- MemorialMemorialA memorial is an object which serves as a focus for memory of something, usually a person or an event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or art objects such as sculptures, statues or fountains, and even entire parks....
- Month's MindMonth's MindA Month's Mind is a requiem mass celebrated about one month after a person's death, in memory of the deceased. In medieval and later England, it was a service and feast held one month after the death of anyone in his or her memory. Bede speaks of the day as commemorationis dies...
- OratorioOratorioAn oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...
- Vocal musicVocal musicVocal music is a genre of music performed by one or more singers, with or without instrumental accompaniment, in which singing provides the main focus of the piece. Music which employs singing but does not feature it prominently is generally considered instrumental music Vocal music is a genre of...