requiem mass

For more information on requiem mass, visit Britannica.com.

The Mass for the Dead of the Roman Catholic Church, taking its name from the first word of its introit, Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine (‘Give them eternal rest, O Lord’). Its sections are: Introit; Kyrie; Gradual (Requiem aeternam) and Tract (Absolve, Domine); Sequence (Dies irae, dies illa); Offertory (Domine Jesu Christe); Sanctus and Benedictus; Agnus Dei; and Communion (Luxaeterna); the responsory Libera me, Domine follows the communion on solemn occasions. The oldest extant polyphonic requiem is that of Ockeghem (c1470), who set only four sections. Some 41 settings survive from the period between Ockeghem's and the end of the 16th century, including those of La Rue, Morales, Lassus and Palestrina; they are generally conservative in style. Most Renaissance requiems do not include the sequence.

Hundreds of requiems were composed in the 17th century, by G. B. Bassani, Cazzati, J. K. Kerll, Johann Stadlmayr, Viadana and others. Many were for special occasions. In the 18th century Jommelli, Paisiello and others wrote requiems. Mozart's unfinished Requiem (1791) is the first large-scale setting with instruments in the concert repertory, to which 19th-century composers, starting with Cherubini, added notable works. The requiems of Berlioz (1837) and Verdi (1874) are large-scale works employing huge forces. Those of Liszt, Saint-Saëns, Bruckner and Dvořák are more conservative, in the expressive tradition of Cherubini, and Fauré's is notable for its songlike character and its restraint. These qualities are present also in Duruflé's Requiem of 1947, probably the most frequently performed 20th-century setting before the War Requiem (1961) of Britten, which combines the Latin texts with war poems by Wilfred Owen.

Brahms's German Requiem (1857-68) is a setting of biblical texts on the theme of death and mourning; it is not a Requiem Mass.