Faure Requiem ~ Choral Sing-along, May 11th@ 3 p.m.
Faure: Requiem Op. 48
Faure was a composer and organist, whose long life (1845-1924) spanned the Romantic, Impressionistic, and 20th century eras. The greatest impact of his musical genius might have been through his work as instructor and director of the Paris Conservatory of Music (1905-1920), where he mentored two generations of talented young musicians.
Though he studied and appreciated the music of the German Romantics (Schumann and Wagner), Faure charted a quite different direction in his own compositions. The unique, powerful characteristic of Faure's compositional style is that harmonies are not expressed vertically, in chords, but horizontally, across long lines of music. For Faure, melody was the overwhelming concern.
The Requiem was meticulously crafted over a period of decades. The first elements (Libera me)were composed in 1877. A short five-movement version was performed in 1888. The first performance of the full seven movement version was given in 1893, and orchestration was not completed until 1900.
Faure's art songs are one of his greatest legacies. Over a span of 60 years he composed over 100 songs for voice and piano. Until his mid-forties, Faure worked in fairly menial, low-paying music positions, and did not have ample time or resources to devote himself to music composition. (This might be the reason he was so passionate about supporting young composers when he came into positions of authority at the Paris Conservatory.) Until the age of about 45, Faure's primary times for composing music were nights, his infrequent days off, and brief summer vacations. Faure sold dozens of art songs to his publisher for 50 francs, with no royalties.
Faure's Requiem is thus unique in several respects:
* It is one of Faure's few large-scale works.
* It was composed in the first half of his life, before he began to lose his hearing.
* The extended texts of the Requiem mass provided a format for the expression of Faure's great musical genius for creating and setting melodies.
When we sing the Requiem we observe:
* Much of the music is modal; it doesn't fit easily into major/minor categories. Faure's training as a church musician is the source of the musical language for the Requiem.
* Musical phrases are extremely extended.
* In all of the movements except the Pie Jesus (sung by a solo soprano) soprano, alto, and tenor sections take turns singing melodies that are extended and beautiful. Members of the choir feel as if we are taking our turns singing the solo.
* The final movement, In Paradisum, is 61 measures, but just one long musical phrase.
* In the third movement, Sanctus, the melody is passed back and forth between upper and lower voices in a way that appears to be simple and inevitable.
* Dies irae, in the middle of the sixth movement, is the only portion of the text where rhythm is a dominant element.
* The strong rhythm of the Dies irae provides a dramatic contrast to the first and final portions of the movement, Libera me, characterized by the extended phrases sung by the baritone soloist (at the beginning) and by the choir singing in unison (at the end of the movement).