Requiem (Berlioz)

The first edition (Paris, 1838)

The Grande Messe des Morts ( German "Große Totenmesse"), as the work is called in the original, is Hector Berlioz 's setting of the traditional Requiem text with minor changes or adjustments. The composition bears the opus number 5, although it was written later than, say, the Symphonie Fantastique (op.14).

history

The Requiem was commissioned by Comte Adrien de Gasparin on behalf of the French state in 1837 for the victims of the July Revolution of 1830 and was then to be performed on the anniversary of the death of Marshal Édouard Adolphe Mortier , a victim of the 1835 assassination attempt by Joseph Fieschi .

The premiere did not take place in July as planned, but only on December 5, 1837 as part of an act of state mourning for General Charles-Marie Denys de Damrémont, who died in the Algerian campaign, in the Paris Invalides under the direction of François-Antoine habeneck .

occupation

At that time, Berlioz had nothing less than the greatest work ever written in mind. The orchestral apparatus is correspondingly huge:

• The main orchestra includes 4 flutes , 2 oboes , 2 English horns , 4 clarinets , 8 bassoons , 12 horns , 16 timpani , 2 large drums , 10 pairs of cymbals , 4 tam-tams and 108 strings (25 first and second violins each, 20 violas and cellos each and 18 double basses ).
• There are also four other brass orchestras , consisting of cornets , trumpets , trombones and tubas , which are to be placed as a distant orchestra in the four cardinal directions to depict the Last Judgment .
• The choir should according score indicating at least 210 parts comprise (80 Soprane and Old , 60 tenors , 70 Bass ). Berlioz only used one tenor ( Gilbert-Louis Duprez ) as solo part in the Sanctus , whose part can also be taken over by 10 tenors from the choir.

In the score , Berlioz added the preliminary remark that these figures are only relative and that the apparatus can be doubled or tripled if necessary.

Formal structure

The Grande Messe des Morts is divided into 10 sentences :

1. Introit and Kyrie
2. Dies irae
3. Quid sum miser
4. Rex tremendae
5. Quaerens me
6. Lacrimosa
7. Offertory
8. Hostias
9. Sanctus
10. Agnus Dei

literature

• Volker Scherliess : Revolutionary Music . In: Booklet for CD Deutsche Grammophon 429724-2 (1989/1992)
• Kurt Pahlen : Oratorios of the World . Heyne, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-453-00923-1

Web links

• Requiem : Sheet Music and Audio Files in the International Music Score Library Project
• Sheet music in the public domain by Requiem (Berlioz) in the Choral Public Domain Library - ChoralWiki (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Steinberg, Michael: Choral masterworks: a listener's guide . Oxford University Press, Oxford 2005, pp. 61 .