- Date: 1974 -1975
- Composer: Alfred Schnittke
- Period: Contemporary (1950- )
Review
The Requiem (1974 - 1975) of Russian composer Alfred Schnittke (1934 - 1998) takes as its starting points the choral Russian funeral service for the dead and the bells and gongs of Stravinsky's recently completed Requiem Canticles (1965 - 1966). Composed after the piano quintet that had been dedicated to the composer's mother, Schnittke's Requiem was originally intended to be part of the incidental music for Schiller's Don Carlos. However, the scale and scope of the work effectively forced its removal from the incidental music and Schnittke re-imagined it as a separate concert work. Schnittke's setting conforms to the usual order of the Latin mass for the dead, but with the addition of a Credo as the penultimate movement and with a repetition of the opening Requiem text in place of the Lux Aeternum. A pros pro on the emotional content of the work, Schnittke remarked that "there is an escalating desire for expression which gives the work the character of a powerful confession." In order that this expression may be understood, Schnittke employs a fundamentally tonal language with roots deep in Russian chant. Scored for soloists and chorus, the work's instrumental accompaniment consists of only brass, piano, organ, and a vast array of percussion instruments including a drum kit in the work's climax. The Requiem is in 14 movements:1. Requiem: A slow and mysterious chant-theme in the altos acts as a cantus firmus for the contrapuntal singing of the men above the tubular bells, low tympani, low piano, and bells.
2. Kyrie: A slow, painful opening for women, gradually increasing in tempo and fugally climaxing in huge percussion and organ outbursts.
3. Dies Irae Frightful choral shouts accompanied by bells, bass drum, low piano, and organ pedals.
4. Tuba Mirum. Blasts from the trombones beneath even chanting in low women's voices, organ and groans from the men, and unearthly sounds from gongs and bells
5. Rex Tremendae: Huge outbursts from the tympani followed by a fast, quiet march, starting with the men and gradually increasing in density and intensity.
6. Recordare: Quiet, imploring music for chorus over a discrete organ accompaniment.
7. Larcrimosa: A sorrowful solo soprano cantilena over low organ tones, a slow moving choral accompaniment and deep tympani strokes.
8. Domina Jesu: An almost traditional sounding choral movement.
9. Hostias: A short movement for chorus and bells moving in slow waves.
10. Sanctus: A short solo tenor over a sighing women's chorus.
11. Benedictus: A quiet alternation of men and women in slowly descending chromatic lines.
12. Agnus Dei: A solo alto alternating with women's chanting.
13. Credo: Starting with a low men's chorus accompanied by solo trombone and low organ tones, Schnittke stunningly adds a drum kit playing an insistent rock rhythm in 4/4 time. The men's chorus returns and brings with it the women and, over drum kit, the singers build to an overwhelming climax.
14. Requiem: A reiteration of the music of the opening movement. ~ All Music Guide
