Dies irae: a guide to requiem music

730 Pages·2006·34.582 MB·English

by  Chase, Robert

Dies Irae
A Guide to Requiem Music
Robert Chase
The Scarecrow Press, Inc.
Lanham, Maryland, and Plymouth, UK
2003
SCARECROW PRESS, INC.
Published in the United States of America
by Scarecrow Press, Inc.
A wholly owned subsidiary of
The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
www.scarecrowpress.com
Eastover Road
Plymouth PL6 7PY
United Kingdom
Copyright © 2003 by Robert Chase
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Chase, Robert, 1938-
Dies irae : a guide to requiem music I Robert Chase.
p. em.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN Q-8108-4664-0 (hardcover: alk. paper)
ISBN: 978-0-8108-4664-7
1. Requiems-History and criticism. I. Title.
ML3088.C43 2003
782.32'38-dc21 2002152105
@ The paper used in this publication meets the
TM
minimum requirements of American National Standard
for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for
Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Manufactured in the United States of America.
In memory of my parents,
Edna Avis Chase
Robert Henry Chase

Contents
Foreword by Dr. Jahja Ling, Associate Conductor,
Cleveland Orchestra vii
Acknowledgments ix
Abbreviations xi
Introduction xiii
1 The Gregorian Requiem Mass 1
2 The Polyphonic Corsican Requiem 11
3 The Renaissance and the Franco-Flemish School 13
4 The High Renaissance 37
5 The Baroque Requiem 89
6 The Symphonic Requiem 183
7 Romanticism 237
8 The Twentieth Centwy 307
9 Dies Irae 509
10 Ein Deutsches Requiem: The German Requiem 527
11 The Anglican Requiem 567
12 The Byzantine-Greek Requiem 581
13 The Russian Orthodox Panikhida 593
v
vi Contents
14 The Serbian Orthodox Requiem: Opelo 627
15 The Armenian Orthodox Requiem 637
Appendix A: Dies Irae Melodies 645
Appendix B: More Liturgical Requiems 649
Bibliography 689
Composer Index 701
About the Author 705
Foreword
For musicians, music lovers, choral directors, and anyone interested in
music, Dies Ir ae: A Guide to Requiem Music provides a look into the numer
ous settings of a musical-poetic form that has been composed from the
Middle Ages to the present. Not only does this guide take the reader
through the better-known requiems by Mozart, Brahms, Cherubini, and
Verdi, but also lesser-known settings by James DeMars, Friedrich Kiel,
Theodore Gouvy, and Sir George Henschel.
Included are a number of contemporary requiems, such as Gerard Vic
tory's Ultima Rerum and Britten's War Requiem. Dr. Chase has included a
significant selection of works from the Eastern Orthodox Rites, works that
are an important part of the Christian musical and spiritual heritage. Fur
thermore, there are also selections from the German Requiem, the Angli
can Requiem, the War Requiem, and the secular requiem. It is a well
known fact that many composers have written a setting of t~eir requiem,
but I do not recall any source that puts information about them under one
cover. Of special interest to me are the pieces by Gouvy, Rivier, Tomasi,
Bomtempo, and the Messa per Rossini.
I have conducted many requiems with The Cleveland Orchestra and
other orchestras, including Berlioz, Brahms, Faure, Mozart, and Verdi.
Every time I conduct a requiem, it is an emotional experience for me and
always serves to enlighten. Even though each composer has its own charac
teristic setting of the requiem, I always feel the same message in the music:
et lux perpetua. "May the eternal light shine upon you." It is a message of
hope and comfort knowing that eternal life is waiting for those who depart.
No other form of music can convey this meaning so vividly except for the
requiem. This book will be a welcome addition to any musical library.
Jahja Ling, Associate Conductor, Cleveland Orchestra
vii

Acknowledgments
Few books are the product of a singular mind and a great many people
have helped on this musical journey. I would like to express here my
heartfelt thanks and appreciation for that assistance.
To composers, James Bingham, Thomas Beveridge, Daniel Pinkham,
Edgar Grana, Anthony Newman, and James DeMars-Michel Sarda for
scores and tapes of their works. Baronet Lionel Sawkins, for his sharing of
his transcription of the virtually impossible-to-find score of De la Lande's
grand motet, Dies !rae. Nikolai I<achanov, for scores of the monophonic
Russian chants, Sviridov and Copytsko scores. Vladimir Morosan of
Musica Russica, for various Panikhida scores, and full scores of Taniev's ,
St. John of Damascus and Kastalsy's Commeration Fraternelle, as well as
many other valuable insights. Long-time friend and classmate, Eugene
Pelletier, titulaire du grande-argue de L'eglise Saint Joseph des Carmes (Paris),
for reading the manuscript as well as alerting me to the Calmel, De Ranse,
and Le Francois works and for sending full scores of the Rivier and Gag
neux requiems. Long-time friend and classmate, Dr. Peter Bayerdorfer,
for locating the Hasse, Kiel, and Gouvy scores. My friend, Shiela Hu,
librarian, who located and obtained several dozen hard-to-get scores.
To the conductor, Christopher Dawes for a taped performance of Wil
lan's Requiem. Fathers Oshagan Minassian, Mammigon Kiledjian, and
Daniel Findikyan for musical scores and assistance with the Armenian
Rite. Milos Raikovich for a copy of his setting of the Parastasos and help
with the Serbian Opelo. Brother Cyril Cavet for his Latin motet transla
tions. Eugene Mohr for reading my translations of the German requiems
and, most especially, his work with the poetry of Hermann Heiss. Arlene
Stadler for her preparations of the musical examples found in the Guide.
ix