Requiem mass ... Sunday, March 12, 1978, Jesse Auditorium
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"In the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church, the Mass for the Dead (Latin: missa pro defunctis; Italian: messa per i defunti; French: messe des mortes; German: Totenmesse) is a solemn mass. It is sung annually on All Soul's Day (2 November), at funeral services, on the anniversary of the death of particular persons, and other occasions. The name requiem comes from the opening text of the Introit, "Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine" (Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord). The liturgical organization of the requiem mass includes sections from the Ordinary, the portion of the mass which remains constant without regard for the day it is performed (Kyrie, Sanctus, Agnus Dei), and the Proper, the portion which varies through the changing of texts and chant to fit the day or season (Introit, Gradual, Alleluia or Tract, Offertorium, and Communion). The joyful sections of the Ordinary (Gloria and Credo) are omitted in the requiem, and sometimes the Responsorium and Lectio are added. The Tract is followed by the sequence "Dies irae" (Day of wrath), attributed to Thomas of Celano (d. 1250). This movement did not become an integral part of polyphonic settings of the requiem mass until the middle of the 16th Century. Yet it is this part upon which much of the interest of the requiem mass is focused. The setting of the "Dies irae" text is quite dramatic in the requiem masses of Mozart, Cherubini, Gossec, Berlioz, and Verdi. Important requiem masses have also been written by Ockeghem, Palestrina, Victoria, Vecchi, Faure, Bruckner, Dvofak, and Durufle. Delius wrote a Requiem based on a pagan text compiled from Nietzche. Benjamin Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem, an instrumental work, has movements based on the principal sections of the mass. His War Requiem (1962) mixes the Latin text with nine poems by Wilfred Owen. Igor Stravinsky's Requiem Canticles (1966) is a condensed form of the requiem employing six passages from the Latin text in nine sections. Ein deutsches Requiem (1857-1868) by Johannes Brahms utilizes texts from the German Bible and is a sacred cantata rather than a mass."--Program Notes.
Table of Contents
I. Introit and Kyrie -- II. Sequence -- III. Offertorium -- IV. Sanctus -- V. Agnus Dei -- VI. Communion -- VII. Responsorium