Requiem (Duruflé)

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The Requiem op 9 of. Maurice Duruflé is a setting of the Latin Totenmesse for Mezzosopran - and baritone - Soli , mixed choir , orchestra and organ . The work was created from 1941 as a commission for the French Vichy regime . Completed only after the end of the war , it was performed for the first time on All Saints' Day in 1947 and was published by Durand & Cie. In 1948 a version for mezzo-soprano, choir and organ followed, and in 1961 a version for chamber orchestra (strings, trumpets, harp, timpani).

construction

  1. Introїt
  2. Kyrie
  3. Domine Jesu Christe ( Offertory )
  4. Sanctus - Hosanna - Benedictus
  5. Pie Jesu (mezzo-soprano)
  6. Agnus Dei
  7. Lux aeterna
  8. Libera me
  9. In paradisum

Work description

Duruflé's Requiem is based in several respects on the model of Gabriel Fauré's Requiem, written some 60 years earlier . Like him, Duruflé suggests a consoling, contemplative basic tone in his composition. The construction of the two plants is similar to very strong: from the Dies Irae - Sequence only conclusion was Pie Jesu set to music. To this end, Libera me and the hymn In paradisum from the Exequien were included in the work.

The music is pervaded by elements of Gregorian chant . Duruflé wrote: “The ... Requiem is based entirely on themes from the Gregorian mass for the dead. Sometimes I have taken over the exact musical text, with the orchestral part only supporting or commenting, in other places it only served me as a suggestion ... In general, I tried to let my composition permeate the special style of the Gregorian themes completely. "

Actual Gregorian chant - unaccompanied unanimous singing in free meter - does not occur, however, there is always an independent music of the orchestra or the organ that underlines or contrasts the singing. Long sections of text are sung unanimously in Gregorian. The melodies are notated in metrics with frequent changes of time. Usually the male voices sing, the alto is used when it comes to a pleading request (e.g. Domine Jesu Christe , Agnus Dei ) and the soprano when something unearthly is addressed (e.g. Te decet hymnus in Sion in the introit , In paradisum ). Singing in one voice in two voices works like another organ register : the two high voices, the two low voices or alto and tenor at the end of the Libera me . Particular importance is attached to texts that are sung in unison by all voices, such as Libera eas de ore leonis (in Domine Jesu Christe ), Dies illa and Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna .

The heart of the composition is the heartfelt request of Pie Jesus , sung by an individual female voice, as in Fauré. Originally a solo baritone was provided, as in the German Requiem by Brahms , Duruflé but later said that he preferred solo voice of the choir for these passages.

The requiem is mostly calm and introverted, all movements end with a transition into the inaudible. Against this background, the climaxes in dynamics and pitch appear all the more decisive. The call to Kyrie , which is first made in fugue (above a bass that plays the Gregorian melody enlarged), sounds the second time with eruptive urgency. In the Osanna a ringing of a bell is built up, which in excelsis reaches a long, radiant chord. In Libera me , Calamitatis et miseriae leads all voices to extreme heights.

The work fades away in a seven-part floating chord, "très long".

The Kyrie and the Agnus Dei were chosen for the liturgy of the funeral mass for Helmut Kohl on July 1, 2017 in Speyer Cathedral .

literature

  • Alfred Beaujean: Maurice Duruflé. Requiem op. 9. In: Hans Gebhard (Ed.): Harenberg Chormusikführer. Harenberg, Dortmund 1999, ISBN 3-611-00817-6 , p. 259 f.
  • Stephan Weitjens: Duruflé, Maurice. In: Silke Leopold, Ullrich Schneider (Ed.): Oratorienführer. Metzler, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-476-00977-7 , p. 188 f.
  • Werner Oehlmann , Alexander Wagner : Reclams choral music and oratorio guide. 7th edition. Reclam, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-15-010450-5 , p. 541 f.
  • (anonymous) Supplement to the CD Maurice Duruflé: Requiem, 4 Motets sur des themes gregoriens . Erato 2292-45230-2 (1986)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Texts on the music Duruflé (1999)
  2. ↑ Divine service booklet Requiem Federal Chancellor a. D. Dr. Helmut Kohl  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed July 1, 2017@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.dom-zu-speyer.de