The Nativity Choir and the Requiem by John Rutter

Over the course of the next six weeks in Lent (and Easter), the Nativity Choir will be preforming the entire Requiem by English composer John Rutter during the 11am Mass.
 
The Requiem, translated “Mass for the Dead,” was completed in 1985 and premiered in the United States.  
The first movement, “Requiem Aeternam” (Eternal Rest) will be performed on March 12 and consists of the Introit and Kyrie.  The introit is plagued with thick dissonant chords, which hardly sound like “Eternal Rest.”  However, the angst of the beginning soon gives way to one of the most beautiful melodies of the entire piece.  The struggle between restlessness and rest continue in this first movement until we finally find eternal rest (for now) with the text “Kyrie Eleison” (Lord, have mercy).
 
The second movement (March 5) is based on Psalm 130, "Out of the deep have I called unto thee, O Lord.”  Famous for it’s cello solo, the text speaks of the sinner (man) pleading for the Lord to hear and have mercy on him.  The movement ends as it began, haunting and dark with the cello cascading in a despairing downward pattern of chromaticism and dissonance. 
 
The third movement (March 19) of the Requiem gives us a much-needed reprieve from the darkness of the first two movements in “Pie Jesu Domine” (Blessed Jesus, Lord, I Pray).  This movement, largely a soprano solo with choral responses, incorporates big lush major chords as we pray for the eternal rest of those gone before us.  This challenging solo features lines of music that ascend, along with our prayers, higher and higher until they reach heaven.
 
The fourth movement (Easter, April 15-16), “Sanctus,” continues the bright sounds of hopefulness for the life to come.  Again we hear fast ascending patterns pointing to God.  The choir, seemingly all speaking independently, culminate in a glorious “Hosanna!”
 
In the fifth movement (April 2), “Agnus Dei” (Lamb of God), angst returns and is felt in the underlying quarter note base pattern which sounds like someone beating a large stick on the floor.  Its unrelenting tension gives the listener little hope for reprieve.  Alas, the Lord has heard our cry and saves us from the darkness with a beautifully sonorous melody coupled with the hopeful text, “I am the resurrection and the life…”
 
Comfort and peace are the emotions evoked in movement six (March 26), Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd.”  The oboe and solo soprano are featured.  Rutter uses a compositional technique called “tone painting,” which is hearing the meaning of the text through its musical texture and harmonies and is an important feature in this movement as it speaks of walking through the shadow of death.
 
Finally, we reach movement seven (March 26).  In “Lux Aeterna” (eternal light), our journey is nearly complete as we continue our prayers for the dead.  “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, for they rest from their labors.”  Again, a solo Soprano transcends the boundaries of this world as it gives us a glimpse of the life to come.  Similar to the prayers at the conclusion of a funeral Mass, “Grant them rest eternal…”  Finally, a recap of the melody that is reminiscent of the opening “Kyrie,” this time “Requiem Aeternam” delivers us to our final resting place and also closes this magnificent work.
 
Requiem aeternam.
 
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This article was published in the March 5 issue of the parish bulletin.