Requiem (thing)

The requiem mass is a traditional mass used in the Roman Catholic Church as a funeral mass. The term "requiem mass" is used to mean a "mass for the dead" (missa pro defunctis). It begins with the words "Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine" (give them eternal rest, O Lord). In addition to the requiem mass being used traditionally at funerals, the major use in the liturgical calendar is on All Saints' Day (or All Souls Day). The requiem mass follows many of the same elements as other traditional masses, except that some of the more joyful passages are omitted (for example the Gloria in excelsis and Credo), and with a generous amount of more somber reflections upon death and final things being added.

It is worth noting that the use of the requiem mass in Catholic church services seems to have fallen out of favor, at least in some parts of the world. Until recently, the use of the requiem mass was banned in the Boston diocese (among others). However, in 1998 Cardinal Law (ahem) issued a letter permitting its use in the observance of All Souls Day. In his sermon notes prepared for the sermon on All Souls Day, Dr. Michael Foley of Boston College had this to say about the mass: "...the Requiem Mass does not ignore a single facet of Christian mourning but captures all of the ambivalence which the average believer experiences when confronted with the humiliation of dying and the glorious possibility of rising again".

From a musical perspective, the significance of the requiem mass is that, while other masses of the church vary considerably within the liturgical calendar, the requiem mass is used for specific purposes and its structure is fixed. Thus, it lends itself very well to musical settings. References to early musical settings of the requiem mass date back to the Middle Ages. The earliest reference to the existence of a complete polyphonic requiem is in the will of Guillaume Dufay (c.1400-1474), who requested a choir of twelve or 'capable men' to sing his requiem mass at his own funeral. Unfortunately, there exists no record of Dufay's composition. The earliest known requiem mass for which we have a record is that of Johannes Ockeghem, written around 1470. Ockeghem's composition included only the Introit, Kyrie, gradual (Si ambulem) and tract (Sicut cerves). Antoine Brumel wrote another early setting not long after Ockeghem's, which added the Sanctus, Agnus Dei and communion sections, which had been omitted in Ockeghem's composition. Thus, even from the earliest times (and perhaps in part because the requiem mass appeared so early, when composers were much less ambitious), the composers who wrote choral settings for the requiem mass frequently omitted very large sections of the mass in their compositions. Undoubtedly, some example exists where the composer did not alter the mass' original text in some way; however, this is not the case with the vast majority of these compositions. (In particular, the extremely lengthy dies irae passage appears to be omitted very frequently.)

• the Mozart Requiem
• the Verdi Requiem
• the Fauré Requiem
• the Rutter Requiem (technically, not a requiem mass, but beautiful and moving nonetheless, and close enough for these pages)
• Benjamin Britten's War Requiem
• the Andrew Lloyd Webber Requiem

(Note: My sincere thanks to the authors who've contributed these fine nodes.)

The traditional structure of the requiem mass is as follows:

1. Introitus - Requiem Aeternum - Rest eternal
2. Kyrie Eleison - Have mercy
3. Gradual
4. Tract - A plea for absolution of departed souls
5. Sequentia - Dies Irae
   • Dies Irae - Day of wrath
   • Tuba mirum - Hark the trumpet
   • Liber scriptus - Now the record
   • Quid sum miser - What affliction
   • Rex tremendae - King of Glories
   • Recordare - Ah! remember
   • Ingemisco - Sadly groaning
   • Confutatis - From the accursed
   • Lacrimosa - Ah! what weeping
6. Offertorium (offertory)
   • Domine Jesu
   • Hostias
7. Sanctus
8. Benedictus - Pie Jesu Domine
9. Agnus Dei
10. Communion: Lux Aeternae
11. Responsory: Libera me