Requiem

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 of the Catholic Church offered for the
repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, using
a particular form of the Roman Missal. It is usually celebrated in the
context of a funeral (where in some countries it is often called a
Funeral Mass).

Musical settings of the propers of the Requiem Mass are also called
Requiems, and the term has subsequently been applied to other Requiem for Cirilo Almario, the
musical compositions associated with death, dying, and mourning, second Bishop of Malolos, 2016
even when they lack religious or liturgical relevance.

The term is also used for similar ceremonies outside the Roman
Catholic Church, especially in Western Rite Orthodox Christianity,
the Anglo-Catholic tradition 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 as well as some Methodist churches.[1]

The Mass and its settings draw their name from the introit of the
liturgy, which begins with the words Requiem aeternam dona eis, The Requiem celebrated annually for
Domine (Latin for "Eternal rest grant them, O Lord"), which is Louis XVI and victims of the French
cited from 2 Esdras—requiem is the accusative singular form of the Revolution, in the crypt of Strasbourg
Latin noun requies, "rest, repose".[2] The Roman Missal as revised Cathedral, 2013
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.

Liturgical rite
In earlier forms of the Roman Rite, some of which are still
in use, a Requiem Mass differs in several ways from the
usual Mass. Some parts that were of relatively recent origin,
including some that have been excluded in the 1970
revision of the regular Mass, are omitted. Examples are the
psalm Iudica at the start of Mass, the prayer said by the
priest before reading the Gospel (or the blessing of the Requiem Mass for Archduke Franz Ferdinand
deacon, if a deacon reads it), and the first of the two prayers of Austria at St. Catherine's Cathedral, St.
of the priest for himself before receiving Communion. [3] Petersburg, published in a Russian
newspaper, 1914
Other omissions include the use of incense 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 was the
obligatory liturgical colour of the vestments in the earlier forms,
while in the renewed liturgy "besides violet, white or black
vestments may be worn at funeral services and at other Offices and
Masses for the Dead",[4] The sequence Dies irae, recited or sung
between the Tract and the Gospel, was an obligatory part of the
Requiem Mass before the changes as a result of the liturgical
reform of the Second Vatican Council. As its opening words Dies Extraordinary Form Requiem Mass
irae ("Day of wrath") indicate, this poetic composition speaks of at Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini
the Day of Judgment in fearsome terms; it then appeals to Jesus for (Most Holy Trinity of Pilgrims) church
mercy. In the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite, in Rome
commemorations (i.e. collect, secret, and postcommunion of either
lower-ranking liturgical feasts that occur on the same day or
votive/seasonal commemorations) are absent from the liturgy; as a result, it is standard practice for a
separate, smaller Requiem Missal containing only the rubrics and various Mass formularies for Masses for
the dead to be used, rather than the full Missal containing texts that will never be used at Requiems.

Roman Rite

In the liturgical reforms of the mid-20th century in the Roman Catholic

Church, there was a significant shift in the funeral rites used by the Church.
The theme of sorrow and grief was also made to emphasize the whole
community's worship of God in which the deceased is entrusted to God's
mercy, based on trust in the salvific value of the Passion, Death and
Resurrection of Jesus Christ.[5]

In the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, term "Requiem Mass" was sometimes
termed a "Mass of the Resurrection"[6] or Mass of Christian Burial,
although the former was never official terminology. In the official English
ritual, Order of Christian Funerals, published by the Roman Catholic
Bishops of England and Wales in 1990, the title is given as "Funeral Mass".
Requiem Mass remains a suitable title for other Masses for the dead and for
the Funeral Mass itself, (as the proper antiphons remain in force, Introit:
Black vestments used in "Eternal rest grant ... " / "Requiem æternam dona eis Domine"; Offertory:
Requiem Masses "Lord Jesus Christ, King of glory, deliver the souls of all the faithful
departed ... " / "Domine Iesu Christe, Rex gloriæ, libera animas ...",
Communion: "Let perpetual light shine ..." / "Lux æterna luceat eis,
Domine..."). In line with those trend of the latter 21st century, the use of white vestments was made an
allowable option by the Missal, though only by an indult; black remains the normal color of all Requiem
Masses, including Funeral Masses. Violet, a color of penance, was also allowed by indult, since penance
and reparation for the soul, presumably in Purgatory, is encouraged by the Church. The texts used for the
liturgy experienced a similar change, with more options for the readings, some of which reinforce an
overall theme of the promise of eternal life made by Jesus.[7]

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
Schütz and Michael Praetorius, whose works are Lutheran adaptations of the Roman Catholic requiem, and
which provided inspiration for the German Requiem by Brahms.[8]

Such works include:

Greek Orthodox Church—Parastas

Russian Orthodox Church—Panikhida
Anglican (English) Requiem

Eastern Christian rites

In the Eastern Orthodox and Greek-Catholic Churches, the requiem is the fullest form of memorial service
(Greek: μνημόσυνο, Slavonic: Оpеlо). 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".

Anglicanism

The Book of Common Prayer contained no Requiem Mass, but instead a service named "The Order for the
Burial of the Dead". Since the liturgical reform movement, provision has been made for a Eucharist to be
celebrated at a funeral in various BCPs used in the various Provinces of the Anglican Communion. Prior to
these additions, Anglo-Catholics or High Church Anglicans often incorporated parts of the Roman Catholic
Requiem Mass as part of a funeral service — typically passages from the Ordinary of the Mass. Within this
service are several texts with rubrics stating that they should be said or sung by the priest or clerks. The first
few of these texts are found at the beginning of the service, while the rest are prescribed for the burial itself.
These texts are typically divided into seven, and collectively known as "funeral sentences". Composers
who have set the Anglican burial service to music include William Croft, Thomas Morley, Thomas
Tomkins, Orlando Gibbons and Henry Purcell. The text of these seven sentences, from the 1662 Book of
Common Prayer, is as follows:

I am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord: he that believeth in me, though he were
dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. (John
11:25-26)
I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And
though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall
see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another. (Job 19:25-27)
We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. The Lord gave,
and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the Name of the Lord. (1 Timothy 6:7 and Job
1:21)
 Man that is born of a woman hath but a short time to live, and is full of misery. He cometh up,
and is cut down, like a flower; he fleeth as it were a shadow, and never continueth in one
stay. (Job 14:1-2)
In the midst of life we are in death: of whom may we seek for succour, but of thee, O Lord,
who for our sins art justly displeased? Yet, O Lord God most holy, O Lord most mighty, O
holy and most merciful Saviour, deliver us not into the bitter pains of eternal death. (Media
vita in morte sumus)
Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts; shut not thy merciful ears to our prayer; but
spare us, Lord most holy, O God most mighty, O holy and merciful Saviour, thou most worthy
judge eternal, suffer us not, at our last hour, for any pains of death, to fall from thee.
I heard a voice from heaven, saying unto me, Write, From henceforth blessed are the dead
which die in the Lord: even so saith the Spirit: for they rest from their labours. (Revelation
14:13)

Music
The Requiem Mass is notable for the large number of musical compositions that it has inspired, including
settings by Mozart (though uncompleted),[9] Verdi, Berlioz, Saint-Saëns, Brahms (from the vernacular
German Lutheran Bible), Dvořák, Fauré, Duruflé, and others. Originally, such compositions were meant to
be performed in liturgical service, with monophonic chant. Eventually, the dramatic character of the text
began to appeal to composers to an extent that they made the requiem a genre of its own, and the
compositions of composers such as Verdi are essentially concert pieces rather than liturgical works.

Many of the texts in the Requiem Mass have been set to music, including:

Introit Sanctus
Kyrie eleison Agnus Dei
Gradual Communion
Tract Pie Jesu
Sequence (the Dies Irae) Libera Me
Offertory In paradisum

History of musical compositions

For many centuries the texts of the

requiem were sung to Gregorian
melodies. The Requiem by Johannes
Ockeghem, written sometime in the Incipit of the Gregorian chant introit for a Requiem Mass, from the
latter half of the 15th century, is the Liber Usualis
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.[10] Many
early compositions reflect the varied texts that were in use in different liturgies around Europe before the
Council of Trent standardised texts used in liturgies. 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.[10]
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.[10] 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.

A portion of the manuscript of Most composers omit sections of the liturgical prescription, most
Mozart's Requiem, K 626 (1791), frequently the Gradual and the Tract. Fauré omits the Dies iræ,
showing his heading for the first while the very same text had often been set by French composers in
movement 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, Berlioz, Verdi, and
Dvořák are essentially dramatic concert oratorios. A counter-reaction to this tendency came from the
Cecilian movement, which recommended restrained accompaniment for liturgical music, and frowned upon
the use of operatic vocal soloists.

Notable compositions

Many composers have composed Requiems. Some of the most notable include the following (in
chronological order):

Johannes Ockeghem: Requiem (1461?)

Antoine Brumel: Requiem
Tomás Luis de Victoria: Officium Defunctorum (1603)
Eustache du Caurroy: Missa pro defunctis quinque vocum (1610)
Marc-Antoine Charpentier: Messe pour les trépassée à 8, H.2, Dies irae H.12, Motet pour les
trépassés à 8, H.311, Messe des morts à 4 voix H.7 & Messe des morts à 4 voix et
symphonie H.10 (1670–1690)
 Jean Gilles: Requiem
André Campra: Requiem
François-Joseph Gossec: Requiem (1760)
Michael Haydn: Missa pro Defunctis, Klafsky I:8, MH 155 (1771)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Requiem, K. 626 (1791)
Antonio Salieri: Requiem in C minor (1804)
Luigi Cherubini: Requiem in C minor (1816), Requiem in D minor (1836)
Hector Berlioz: Requiem, Op. 5 (1837)
Anton Bruckner: Requiem, WAB 39 (1849)
Johannes Brahms: A German Requiem, Op. 45 (1865–68)
Théodore Gouvy: Requiem in E-flat minor (1874)
Giuseppe Verdi: Messa da Requiem (1874)
Camille Saint-Saëns: Requiem, Op. 54 (1878)
Antonín Dvořák: Requiem, Op. 89, B. 165 (1890)
Gabriel Fauré: Requiem, Op. 48 (1887–90)
Frederick Delius: Requiem (1913–16)
Herbert Howells: Requiem (1932)
Bruno Maderna: Requiem (1946)
Maurice Duruflé: Requiem, Op. 9 (1947)
Benjamin Britten: War Requiem, Op. 66 (1961–62)
György Ligeti: Requiem (1963–65)
Igor Stravinsky: Requiem Canticles (1966)
Bernd Alois Zimmermann: Requiem für einen jungen Dichter (1967–69)
Krzysztof Penderecki: A Polish Requiem (1980–2005)
Andrew Lloyd Webber: Requiem (1985)
John Rutter: Requiem (1985)
Serban Nichifor: Requiem (1990)
Hans Werner Henze: Requiem (1991–93)
Olivier Greif: Requiem (1999)
Christopher Rouse: Requiem (2002)
Karl Jenkins: Requiem (2005)
Dan Forrest: Requiem for the Living (2013)

Modern treatments

In the 20th century the requiem evolved in several new directions. The genre of War Requiem is perhaps
the most notable, which comprise compositions dedicated to the memory of people killed in wartime. These
often include extra-liturgical poems of a pacifist or non-liturgical nature; for example, the War Requiem 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 Requiem Ebraico (Hebrew Requiem) (1945) by Austrian-American
composer Eric Zeisl, a setting of Psalm 92 dedicated to the memory of the composer's father "and the other
countless victims of the Jewish tragedy in Europe", is considered the first major work of Holocaust
commemoration. John Foulds's A World Requiem 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 Taiwanese
composers Tyzen Hsiao and Ko Fan-long follow in this tradition, honouring victims of the February 28
Incident and subsequent White Terror.

The 20th century saw the development of the secular Requiem, written for public performance without
specific religious observance, such as Max Reger's Requiem (1915), the setting of a German poem titled
Requiem and dedicated to victims of World War I, and Frederick Delius's Requiem, completed in 1916 and
dedicated to "the memory of all young Artists fallen in the war";[11] Paul Hindemith's When Lilacs Last in
the Dooryard Bloom'd: A Requiem for Those We Love, commissioned in 1945 (premiered 1946) after the
passing of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and based on Walt Whitman's elegy written after the passing of
Abraham Lincoln; and Dmitry Kabalevsky's Requiem (Op. 72; 1962), a setting of a poem written by
Robert Rozhdestvensky especially for the composition.[12]

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". John Rutter combines in his Requiem (1985) some
of the parts of the Latin Requiem with two complete psalms, Psalm 130 "Out of the deep" and his earlier
composition The Lord is my Shepherd, and juxtaposes more biblical verses within the Latin movements.

Some composers have written purely instrumental works bearing the title of Requiem, as famously
exemplified by Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem. Hans Werner Henze's Das Floß der Medusa, written in
1968 as a requiem for Che Guevara, is properly speaking an oratorio; Henze's Requiem is instrumental but
retains the traditional Latin titles for the movements. Igor Stravinsky's Requiem Canticles mixes
instrumental movements with segments of the "Introit", "Dies irae", "Pie Jesu" and "Libera me".

See also
Memorial
Month's mind

Notes
1. Fahlbusch, Erwin (2005). The Encyclopedia Of Christianity, Volume 4 (https://books.google.
com/books?id=C5V7oyy69zgC&pg=PA649). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. ISBN 978-
0802824165. Retrieved 3 November 2012. "The possibility of a funeral Eucharist is provided
in North American Lutheran, Episcopal/Anglican, and United Methodist worship books."
2. 2 Esdras 2:35 (4 Esdras in Vulgate).
3. Missale Romanum, Ritus servandus in celebratione Missae, XIII
4. General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 346e
5. "The Catholic Diocese of Richmond, Office of Worship "Rites of the Order of Christian
Funerals" " (https://web.archive.org/web/20130311083420/http://www2.richmonddiocese.or
g/worship/liturgies/funeral.htm). .richmonddiocese.org. Archived from the original (http://www
2.richmonddiocese.org/worship/liturgies/funeral.htm) on 2013-03-11. Retrieved 2013-02-20.
6. "Mass of the Resurrection" (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mass%20of%20th
e%20resurrection). Merriam-Webster.com. Retrieved 20 February 2013.
7. The Rites of Christian Burial, Catholic Publishing Company 1984
8. A rather exhaustive list of requiem composers can be found at Requiem Survey:
requiemsurvey.org (http://requiemsurvey.org).
 9. Tommasini, Anthony (26 November 1995). "RECORDINGS VIEW; No Reverence, No
Reticence In Finishing Mozart's Requiem" (https://www.nytimes.com/1995/11/26/arts/recordi
ngs-view-no-reverence-no-reticence-in-finishing-mozart-s-requiem.html). The New York
Times. Retrieved 13 May 2015.)
10. Fabrice Fitch: "Requiem (2)", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (Accessed January 21, 2007)
11. Corleonis, Adrian. Requiem, for soprano, baritone, double chorus & orchestra, RT ii/8 (http://
www.allmusic.com/work/requiem-for-soprano-baritone-double-chorus--orchestra-rt-ii-8-c151
935/description) All Music Guide Retrieved 2011-02-20
12. Flaxman, Fred. Controversial Comrade Kabalevsky (http://www.compactdiscoveries.com/Co
mpactDiscoveriesArticles/Kabalevsky.html) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20190923
082853/http://www.compactdiscoveries.com/CompactDiscoveriesArticles/Kabalevsky.html)
2019-09-23 at the Wayback Machine Compact Discoveries with Fred Flaxman, 2007,
Retrieved 2011-02-20;

External links
Alphabetical Requiems Survey (http://www.requiemsurvey.org/)
Online Guide to Requiem (http://requiemonline.tripod.com/)
Writing – The Requiem Mass : A Literal Translation (https://web.archive.org/web/200805140
03909/http://www.johndavies.com.au/writing_requiem_mass_singing_lessons.htm.htm)
Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Masses of Requiem"  (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Cath
olic_Encyclopedia_(1913)/Masses_of_Requiem). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert
Appleton Company.
British Pathé News clips of the Catholic Police Guild Annual Solemn Requiem (http://catholi
cpoliceguild.org.uk/?page_id=522)
Fauré's "Requiem" (http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/los-conciertos-de-la-2/conciertos-la2-
20120225-0756-169/1332466/) - Spanish Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra and
Chorus. Petri Sakari, conductor. Live concert.

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