Requiem

   A setting of the Roman Catholic mass for the dead including both ordinary and proper prayers. The name is taken from the first piece sung in a traditional liturgy, the Introit Requiem aeternam {}dona eis, Domine ("Eternal rest grant to them, O Lord"). It could be sung on All Souls Day, November 2, and on the day of someone’s burial as well as on funeral anniversaries and certain other commemorations.

   The texts for a Requiem mass include:

   Introit—Requiem aeternam{}

   Kyrie

   Gradual—Requiem aeternam{}

   Tract—Absolve, Domine{}

   Sequence—Dies irae, dies illa{}

   Offertory—Domine Jesu Christe{}

   Sanctus-Benedictus

   Agnus Dei (altered)

   Communion—Lux aeterna luceat eis{}

   On solemn occasions the following could be sung during the committal rites:

   Responsory—Libera me, Domine{}

   Antiphon—In Paradisum{}

   The will of Guillaume Du Fay (1474) requests that his Requiem be sung on the day after his funeral, but the work does not survive. The earliest extant polyphonic setting (late 15th century) is by Johannes Ockeghem, which sets only the Introit, Kyrie, and the alternative Gradual (Si ambulem in medio umbrae mortis) and Tract (Sicut {}cervus) allowed before the Council of Trent. In all, 41 Requiems composed before 1600 survive, including two by Orlandus Lassus, two by Tomas Luis de Victoria, and one by Giovanni da Palestrina. They show considerable variety in which texts were set polyphonically and which were chanted, and in general they are conservative in comparison to contemporary polyphonic mass ordinaries: no parody technique, little imitative texture, and a great reliance on cantus firmus.

   After 1600, Requiem masses often adapted operatic and other secular idioms, as did other sacred genres. Often they were composed for specific commissions or occasions, as was Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem (1874) for the great Italian writer AlessandroManzoni (1785– 1873). That work, like many others of the 19th and 20th centuries, calls for very large chorus, soloists, and symphony orchestra, making regular liturgical usage impossible. These works live on in the concert repertory of choral societies. Some of the most famous are the Requiems of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1791), Luigi Cherubini (C minor, 1817), Hector Berlioz (1837), Franz Liszt (1867–1871), Gabriel Fauré (performed 1894), Antonín Dvořák (1890), and Maurice Duruflé (1947).

   See also German Requiem; War Requiem.