Gabriel Fauré composed his Requiem in D minor, Op. 48, between 1887 and 1890. The choral-orchestral setting of the shortened Catholic Mass for the Dead in Latin is the best-known of his large works. Its focus is on eternal rest and consolation. Fauré's reasons for composing the work are unclear, but do not appear to have had anything to do with the death of his parents in the mid-1880s. He composed the work in the late 1880s and revised it in the 1890s, finishing it in 1900.
In seven movements, the work is scored for soprano and baritone soloists, mixed choir, orchestra and organ. Different from typical Requiem settings, the full sequence is omitted, replaced by just one of its sections . The final movement is based on a text that is not part of the liturgy of the funeral Mass but of the burial.
Fauré wrote of the work, "Everything I managed to entertain by way of religious illusion I put into my Requiem, which moreover is dominated from beginning to end by a very human feeling of faith in eternal rest."Steinberg, pp. 132–133. Quote's cited date is 1921.
The piece premiered in its first version in 1888 for a funeral at La Madeleine, the church in Paris where the composer served as organist. A performance takes about 35 minutes.
History Fauré's reasons for composing his Requiem are uncertain. One possible impetus may have been the death of his father in 1885, and his mother's death two years later, on New Year's Eve 1887. However, by the time of his mother's death he had already begun the work, about which he later declared, "My Requiem wasn't written for anything – for pleasure, if I may call it that!"Letter from Fauré to the composer Maurice Emmanuel, quoted in Nectoux (1991), p. 116 (English translation by Roger Nichols). in the original French, Fauré's words were "" Some English versions translate "" as "for fun": see Steinberg, p. 135 The earliest composed music included in the Requiem is the Libera me, which Fauré wrote in 1877 as an independent work.Duchen, p. 81
In 1887–88, Fauré composed the first version of the work, which he called ""Rutter, p. 3 with five movements ( and , , , and ), but did not include his . This version was first performed on 16 January 1888 for the funeral of Joseph Lesoufaché, an architect, at La Madeleine, Paris. The composer conducted his work; the treble soloist was Louis Aubert.
In 1889, Fauré added the portion of the Offertory and in 1890 he expanded the Offertory and added the 1877 . This second version was premiered on 21 January 1893, again at the Madeleine with Fauré conducting. The church authorities allowed no female singers and insisted on boy treble and alto choristers and soloists; Fauré composed the work with those voices in mind, and had to employ them for his performances at the Madeleine, but in the concert hall, unconstrained by ecclesiastical rules, he preferred female singers for the upper choral parts and the solo in the Pie Jesu.Nectoux (1991), p. 122
In 1899–1900, the score was reworked for full orchestra. This final version was premiered at the Trocadéro in Paris on 12 July 1900, during the Exposition Universelle. Paul Taffanel conducted forces of 250 performers.Nectoux (1991), p. 514
The composer said of the work, "Everything I managed to entertain by way of religious illusion I put into my Requiem, which moreover is dominated from beginning to end by a very human feeling of faith in eternal rest." He told an interviewer,
In 1924 the Requiem, in its full orchestral version, was performed at Fauré's own funeral. It was not performed in the United States until 1931, at a student concert at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. It was first performed in England in 1936.Steinberg, p. 135
Text Most of the text is in Latin, except for the Kyrie, which is Koine Greek. As had become customary, Fauré did not set the Gradual and Tract sections of the Mass. He followed a French Baroque tradition by not setting the Requiem sequence (the ), only its section . He slightly altered the texts of the Introit, the Kyrie, Pie Jesu, , and , but substantially changed the text of the Offertory (described below). He did not set the (the conclusion of the ), and added two texts from the Order of Burial, and In Paradisum.Nectoux, pp. 117–120
Fauré made changes to the text of the Offertory; at the beginning, he adds an "O". He changed "" ("deliver the souls of all the faithful departed") to simply "" ("deliver the souls of the departed"). He replaced "" ("Deliver them") at the beginning of the next verse with a repetition of "", and he omitted the third verse (beginning ""). He concludes with an added "Amen".Park and Davies, pp. 192–195.
Structure and scoring
The composition is structured in seven movements:
The piece has a duration of about 35 minutes.
Fauré scored the work for two soloists, chorus and orchestra. Its movements and their sections are listed in a table for the scoring in voices, key, time signature (using the symbol for common time, equivalent to ) and tempo marking. The voices are abbreviated, S for soprano, A for alto, T for tenor, B for bass. The composer divides the choir into as many as six parts, SATTBB, but frequently uses unison of one part or several. Given the liturgical nature of the work, boy trebles are often used instead of sopranos.
Details
No. Title Solo Choir Key Time Tempo Notes Theme I Introit et Kyrie SATTBB D minor Largo T S SATTBB Kyrie SATB first SAT in unison II ATB B minor B SATB Amen SATB B major III S TB E-flat major T and B in unison IV S B-flat major V T F major SATB T SATTBB SATTBB D minor Adagio first like the Introit D major VI B D minor SATB SATB A B unison SATB unison, as the soloist first B SATB VII S D major SATTBB S Requiem SATTBB
The structure of Fauré's work bears striking similarity to that of by Brahms, although Fauré set Latin liturgical texts to music, whereas Brahms chose German Bible quotations. Both works have seven movements, both employ a baritone and a soprano soloist, the baritone singing with the choir in movements 2 and 6, the soprano in a central movement (movement 4 in Fauré, movement 5 in Brahms) where she appears with the choir. In both works, the four remaining movements are sung by the choir alone, whereas Verdi, for example, has the soloists sing several arias and ensembles in his Requiem.
Introït et Kyrie
Like Mozart's Requiem, the work begins slowly in D minor. After one measure of just D in the instruments, the choir enters in six parts on the D minor chord and stays on it in homophony for the entire text "" (eternal rest). In gradual progression of harmony and a sudden , a first climax is reached on "" (and lasting light), diminishing on a repeated "" (may shine for them). The tenors repeat the prayer alone for eternal rest on a simple melody. The sopranos continue similarly that praise is due in Jerusalem, then all voices exclaim "" (hear).
The Kyrie begins with the same melody that the tenor sang before, but now in unison of soprano, alto and tenor, repeated in the following four measures in four-part harmony. The call "Christe" is strong and urgent the first time, repeated more softly a few more times. The final call "" appears pianissimo.
Offertoire
The Offertoire begins in B minor with a canon of alto and tenor in short succession on a simple modal melody with little ambitus, in a prayer "" (O Lord, Jesus Christ, King of Glory) to free the souls of the departed from eternal punishment and the deep lake, ending in unison. The sequence is repeated beginning one step higher for the next line, and again one step higher for the following more urgent call to Jesus, enforced by the basses. The voices add only softly, broken by rests, what the prayer is about: "" (that they may not fall into the darkness).
The baritone enters with "", offerings brought with praises, beginning on one repeated note, but asking with more melody "" (make them, Lord, transcend from death to life). The choir repeats the first line of the text on the same motif as in the beginning, but in more elaborate polyphony in four parts, concluded by an uplifting Amen in B major.
Sanctus
(Holy), in contrast with other compositions of Mass and Requiem where it is often illustrated with great vocal and instrumental forces (particularly Verdi's Requiem), is here expressed in extremely simple form. The sopranos sing softly in a very simple rising and falling melody of only three notes, which the male voices repeat, accompanied by arpeggios on the harp and a dreamy rising melody in the violins (sometimes just a solo violin). The pattern appears several times, with the melodies increasing in ambitus, and the volume reaching forte on "" (the highest). The orchestra changes tone, the dreamy accompaniment is replaced by firm and powerful major chords with a horn fanfare marked forte, and the male voices declare "" (praise in the highest). This is answered by the sopranos in diminuendo, and the music softens and reverts to the dreamy harp arpeggios that it began with as the violin melody floats upwards to the final note in E-flat major and the full choir repeats, helped by the organ, with the altos finally joining: "".
Pie Jesu
The solo soprano (or treble) sings the prayer to the "good Jesus" for everlasting rest. The one line of text is repeated three times, the first two times asking for "requiem" (rest), then intensified for "sempiternam requiem" (everlasting rest). The first call is a modal melody in B-flat major of six measures, the second call is similar but reaching up higher. The words "" begin with more expansion, but reach alternating between only two notes on two repetitions of "". The last call begins as the first and leads again to alternating between two notes in even lower range, until the last "requiem" has a gentle upward motion.
Agnus Dei
"Agnus Dei", in many settings of Mass and Requiem set with dark expression, begins in F major with a fluent expansive melody in the orchestra. After six measures, the tenors sing a melody to it that gently rises and falls, and repeats it almost the same way. Then, while the motion in the orchestra stays the same, the key changes to the minor mode, and the Lamb of God is asked for rest in chords of daring harmonic progression. Then the tenors, without instrumental introduction, repeat the first line, leading to a peaceful "".
The sopranos alone begins the following section "" (Light eternal shine for them) with a long "", then the choir, divided in six parts, lets that light shimmer.
The choir closes with a reprise of the Introit, the opening of the Mass ("Requiem aeternam"), before the orchestra picks up the "" melody to close the movement.
Libera me
The baritone soloist sings the first section alone. On a bass in an ostinato rhythm of two quarter notes, a rest and the upbeat to the next two quarters, he sings the text "" (Free me, Lord, from eternal death on that terrible day when the heavens will move and the earth, when you come to judge the world with fire.), embarking on a melody of wide range, with some sharp leaps. The text is continued by the choir in four parts in homophony: "" (I am trembling). In more motion, "" (day of wrath) is expressed by fortissimo chords, giving way to the prayer for rest in the same motion, but piano, with a crescendo on "", but suddenly softening on a last "". Then the choir repeats the opening statement of the baritone fully in unison. Soloist, then choir, end the movement softly, repeating "".
In Paradisum
The text of the last movement is taken from the Order of Burial. "" (May angels lead you to paradise) rests on a continuous shimmering motion in fast broken triads in the orchestra. The sopranos sing a rising expressive melody, enriched by chords of the other voices, divided in six parts, on the final "Jerusalem". A second thought is again sung by the sopranos, filled on the last words by the others: .
Versions