Requiem

Starting from the Baroque era, a requiem is a multi-part composition for a choir (often also soloists and an orchestra), usually not related to worship. The source of such a requiem is the requiem mass of Catholics, from which composers took only chanted texts (the original memorial service also uses recited chants and recited prayers).

The structure of the Gregorian memorial mass was finally formed by the 16th century. and was recorded by the decisions of the Council of Trent . Ordinary prayers corresponded to the ordinary of the ordinary Catholic Mass , with the exception of Credo and Gloria. Instead of hallelujah , a compulsory path and several other prayers were introduced into the property, including (which became extremely widespread later) the Dies irae sequence .

Initially, like a regular mass , the requiem consisted of melodies of the Gregorian choral , was a one-voice choral composition and did not provide for instrumental accompaniment.

Beginning from the late Renaissance, in parallel with the Gregorian "cult" requiem, composer (author) requiems began to appear. Over time, they were less and less intended for ceremonial burial, but were essentially public concert compositions of the “high calm”, dedicated not only to the death of a person (as it was originally), but to any other mourning event (for example, a requiem in memory of the victims of the war, natural disaster, etc.). The original Gregorian chorales were hardly used in composer requiems, but only canonical texts were in the original (that is, in Latin) and in translations (into English, German, and other languages).

The author of the first composer requiem (c. 1450) is considered to be John Okegem ; however, in his memorial mass, only a number of texts from the (stabilized later) prayer-book "canon" are used. The first requiem with the Dies irae sequence (text sung in the alternatim technique) belongs to Antoine Brumel (written in the second half of the 15th century), and the largest volume of Dies irae in Brumel for the first time forms the dramatic center of the whole composition.

In the 17th century (circa 1636), Heinrich Schütz ( Concert in Form einer teutschen Begräbnis-Messe , the first part of the collection Musikalische Exequien , SWV 279) wrote the Protestant memorial mass (on texts other than Catholics).

Since the 18th century, the requiem has been the most demanded of the traditional genres of sacred music ; it is easier to name composers who have never addressed this genre (Protestants J.S. Bach and G.F. Handel did not write requiems; Viennese classics J. Haydn and L. van Beethoven also have no requiems).

During this period, requiems were no longer composed for the church, often by order of both private individuals (for example, Requiem V.A. Mozart) and statesmen (in particular, the minor Requiem L. Cherubini - in memory of Louis XVI ). Many of the compositions were born due to the personal loss of composers, such as, for example, Requiem J. Verdi and the “ German Requiem ” by I. Brahms (to an arbitrary German text). Antonio Salieri his Little Requiem and Luigi Cherubini Requiem in D Minor wrote for themselves. Among other requiem writers in the 19th century F. Liszt , S. Gounod , C. Saint-Saens , A. Bruckner , G. Foret , A. Dvorak .

In pre-revolutionary Russia, only one Requiem is known, written in a canonical Latin text - it belongs to Osip Kozlovsky .

Composers turned to the requiem genre in the 20th century , moreover, using noncanonical texts more and more often. So, in “Military Requiem” by Benjamin Britten, canonical Latin is combined with anti-war verses by the English poet W. Owen ^[3] .

In Soviet music, the name “Requiem” is some vocal-symphonic works with Russian text dedicated to the memory of folk heroes (eg, Requiem D. Kabalevsky to the words of R. Rozhdestvensky ). A.G. Schnittke , who (in his Requiem from music to Schiller’s drama “Don Carlos”, 1975), removes separate (traditional) verses and adds (for some reason at the very end) Credo, is very fluent in the structure. In E. V. Denisov, the word "requiem" (in his Requiem, 1980) is used even in a rhetorical sense, as something in the style of tragic pathetics. Denisov completely ignores the traditional requiem structure. The textual basis of his work is composed of (German, French, English) verses by the modern German poet Francisco Dancer , into which Denisov occasionally “intersperses” canonical Latin phrases (“Lux aeterna” at the end).

Some works by composers of the 20th and beginning of the 21st centuries, for example, P. Hindemith 's “American Requiem” to the text by Walt Whitman (1946), “ J. Requiem” by J. Tavener with fragments from the Koran and Upanishad (2008) ^[4] , “Requiem” E. Firsova to the text of the poem of the same name by A. Akhmatova (2001), etc., although they contain the word “Requiem” in the title, are not related to the Christian memorial mass.

The form (set of texts and their subsequent) in the Gregorian Mass of different eras and different local traditions, as well as in composer requiems, is variable. The requiem structure (from Trent to the Second Vatican Cathedral ) usually included the following chants of the ordinarium and propria :

• Introit "Requiem aeternam" (Eternal peace grant them, Lord)
• Kyrie (Lord have mercy) ^[5]
• Gradual "Requiem aeternam"
• The Absolve Domine tract (God, save the souls of all the departed faithful)
• Sequence “Dies irae” (Day of Wrath)
• Offertory "Domine Jesu Christe" (Lord Jesus Christ); sometimes only his second stanza “Hostias et preces tibi, Domine” is used (Victims and pleas to Thee, Lord)
• Sanctus (Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts)
• Agnus Dei (the Lamb of God who took upon himself the sins of the world)
• Communio "Lux aeterna" (May the eternal light shine upon them, Lord)

The composition of the composer requiem could additionally include:

• processional antiphon "In paradisum" (To Paradise [may angels accompany you]); performed after the end of the liturgy, to take the body out of the church;
• Libera me Response Book (Deliver Me, Lord, from Eternal Death); in the traditional memorial office, it was performed during permissive prayer after the Mass;
• motet “Pie Jesu” (to the text of the last lines of “Dies irae”); in the traditional liturgy was not used; As a material for a separate part of the requiem, it is found among composers since the 19th century.

In the composer's requiem, the canonical texts of the gradual, tract, and communo were often omitted. The sequence (due to its dramatic color that is beneficial for the musical embodiment), on the contrary, the composers not only left, but also framed its individual stanzas in separate (many) sections. For example, in the c-moll requiem, Cherubini graduated and there is a tract, but Mozart and Verdi do not. Cherubini does not have Libera me, but is in Verdi's requiem. In all of these works, In paradisum is absent. In G. Foret's requiem (an exceptional case) there is no sequence (Kyrie eleison is followed by an off-site), but the path, the communio and the final antiphon “In paradisum” are included. Often, Benedictus (from Sanctus) also separates into a separate part of the oratorio composition.

• John Okegem . Missa pro defunctis (c. 1450; first-ever polyphonic memorial mass; polyphonic only introit, Kyrie, grad, path and off-set)
• Antoine Brumel . Missa pro defunctis (2nd half of the 15th century; for the first time in history with Dies irae , here is the longest part, using alternatim technique)
• Thomas Luis de Victoria . Memorial Mass ( Missa pro defunctis , 1583) and Memorial Offii ( Officium defunctorum , 1603, publication in 1605)
• Heinrich Ignaz Bieber . Requiem (1690)
• Jan Dismas Zelenka . Requiem in C minor, D major, D minor, F major (ZWV 45, ZWV 46, ZWV 48, ZWV 49), Missa pro defunctus (ZWV 47)
• Michael Haydn . Missa pro defunctis, Requiem in c-Moll
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart . Requiem d-moll (1791)
• Antonio Salieri . Little Requiem (1804)
• Luigi Cherubini . Requiem in C Minor (1816), Requiem in D Minor (1836)
• Hector Berlioz . Requiem (Grande Messe des morts, 1837)
• Anton Bruckner . Requiem (1849)
• Zuppe, Franz background . Requiem (1855)
• Johannes Brahms . German Requiem (oratorio on biblical texts in German translation; 1866)
• Giuseppe Verdi . Requiem (in the traditional. Lat. Texts, 1874)
• Gabrielle Foret . Requiem (in traditional Lat. Texts; 3 editions: 1877, 1893, 1900)
• Antonin Dvorak . Requiem (in the traditional. Lat. Texts, 1891)
• Maurice Durufle . Requiem (3 editions, 1947-61; in traditional Latin texts)
• Benjamin Britten Military Requiem (to the verses of W. Owen and traditional Lat. Texts, 1962)
• György Ligeti . Requiem (in the tradition. Lat. Texts, 1965)
• I.F. Stravinsky . Memorial hymns ( eng. Requiem canticles ; in traditional Latin texts, 1966)
• M.S. Weinberg . Requiem (to the texts of F. G. Lorca, D. B. Kedrin, S. Tisdale and others, 1967)
• John Tavener . Requiem for Father Malachy ( Eng. Requiem for Father Malachy ; Trad.Lat. Texts, 1973; 2nd ed., 1979)
• Alfred Schnittke . Requiem (from music to Schiller’s drama “Don Carlos”; to the traditional. Lat. Texts, 1975)
• Edison Denisov . Requiem (verses by Francisco Dancer and Trad. Lat. Texts, 1980)
• Andrew Lloyd Webber . Requiem (Trad. Lat. Texts, 1985)
• Requiem of Reconciliation ( German: Requiem der Versöhnung , 1995; into traditional Latin texts). Collective composition (L. Berio, M.-A. Dalbavi, D. Kurtag, K. Penderetsky, V. Rome, J. Harbison, F. Zerch, A. G. Schnittke and others, a total of 14 composers)
• Vladimir Martynov . Requiem (in traditional Latin texts, 1998)
• Krzysztof Penderecki . Polish Requiem (in traditional Latin and Polish texts, 2005)
• Sergey Slonimsky . Requiem (on the traditional. Lat. Texts, 2003)
• Tigran Mansuryan . Requiem (in traditional. Lat. Texts, 2011)

The name "Requiem" in a figurative sense is often used in other forms of art, denoting a work dedicated to the memory of the dead. In particular, the poem “Requiem” by Anna Akhmatova after the victims of Stalin’s repressions , the poem of the same name by Elizabeth Mnatsakanova ^[6] , Pavel Korin ’s picture “Requiem (leaving Russia)” or the film “ Requiem for a Dream ” are known .

Well-known guitarist John 5 has an album called "Requiem", released in 2008. The song "Requiem" was featured on Angst's first studio album by Swiss gothic metal band Lacrimosa . Linkin Park 's first song from A Thousand Suns is called Requiem. The groups Aria and Nogo Svelo also have songs with the corresponding name. Avenged Sevenfold has a song called Requiem in the Hail to the king album. Also the Requiem song has folk metal band In Extremo and heavy metal band Trivium .

• Lebedev S.N., Pospelova R. L. Musica Latina: Latin texts in music and musical science. St. Petersburg: Composer, 1999.
• Nohl P.-G. Lateinische Kirchenmusiktexte. Übersetzung - Geschichte - Kommentar. Kassel, Basel: Bärenreiter, 2002.
• Chase R. Dies Irae: A Guide to Requiem Music. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2003.

• Database of Requiem and its authors
• The text of the canonical requiem with a Russian translation
• Original latin text
• Gregorian Requiem chants in square notation