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The Requiem, op. 9, by Maurice Duruflé was commissioned in 1947 by the French music publisher Durand and is written in memory of the composer's father. The work is for mixed choir with mezzo-soprano and baritone soloists. It exists in three orchestrations: one for organ alone, one for organ with string orchestra, and one for organ and full orchestra.
At the time the commission arrived, Duruflé was working on an organ suite using themes from Gregorian chant. Duruflé incorporated his sketches for that work into the Requiem, which uses many themes from the Gregorian "Mass for the Dead". Nearly all of the thematic material in the work comes from chant.
The work is set in 9 movements. Interestingly, the Dies irae text, perhaps the most famous portion of the requiem mass, is not set as a movement by itself as usual, but is instead incorporated into the Libera Me. Overall, however, Duruflé chose the calmer and more meditative texts from the requiem.
The mezzo-soprano soloist sings the fifth movement, Pie Jesu. The baritone soloist sings in both the third movement, Domine Jesu Christe, and the eighth movement, Libera me. Duruflé said that he himself preferred that the solos be sung by an entire section of the choir and the work is often performed that way.
Structure
Duruflé's Requiem is as follows. As usual it omits the Gradual and the Tract, but also omits the Sequence (Dies irae). It includes the motet Pie Jesu and two texts from the burial service, Libera me and In Paradisum.
External links
- Oestreich, Jamer R. (November 16, 1989). "Review/Music; Maurice Durufle Requiem Opens 3-Part Retrospective". The New York Times.
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