Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem, the most well-known of his large-scale concert works, was pieced together during the last decades of the 19th century, and did not take its most familiar form until 1899. Indeed, it is probably one of the most patchwork and haphazardly conceived compositions, but nonetheless a delight for any admirer of classical music. Fauré’s intentions for composing the Requiem remain debated with some suggesting that the deaths of his parents in the mid-1880s may have been the reason. However, Fauré himself stated, “My Requiem wasn't written for anything – for pleasure, if I may call it that!” and by the time of his mother’s death in 1887, work on the Requiem was already well underway.
The first version of the work premiered in La Madeleine in Paris on January 16, 1887, under the composer’s own directions, comprising five movements—Introit and Kyrie, Sanctus, Pie Jesu, Agnus Dei and In Paradisium—and scored for an intimate ensemble of mixed chorus, organ, harp, timpani, violas, cellos and double basses, a boy soprano for Pie Jesu and a solo violin for Sanctus. In 1888, Fauré added the Hostias portion of the Offeratory, and the following year, further expanded it by adding a Libera Me, both utilizing a baritone soloist. This addition of a Libera Me, despite being the last made to the Requiem, was actually a separate piece that Fauré had written in 1877, and makes it the earliest composed music in the entire work. This new extended version of the work was then premiered on January 21, 1893. However, even with these extensive changes, Fauré was not yet finished with it. The demand of the large choral societies of the late 19th century, prompted him to score the intimate work for full orchestra in 1899-1900. Fauré had only limited interest in orchestration and it is debated to what extent he may have delegated this particular revision to one of his pupils. Regardless, the full orchestral version premiered on April 6, 1900, and of the different forms the Requiem has taken, it is today the most frequently performed and recorded.
Spanning seven movements, Fauré’s Requiem bears a striking similarity to Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem. Both employ a baritone soloist in their second and sixth movements, and a soprano soloist (though in the fourth movement in Fauré’s work and the fifth in Brahms’s). Likewise, both works gravitate around ethereal and heavenly fourth movements. In the selection of movements, Fauré followed a French Baroque tradition, omitting nearly the entire Requiem sequence (Dies irae). Only the Pie Jesu, the final couplet of the Dies irae, was set.Joseph DuBose
HOSTIAS CONDUCTED BY MICHEL PLASSON AT THE VERDI FESTIVAL IN PARMA
Classical Music | Baritone
Gabriel Fauré
From Requiem: Hostias Play
Recorded on 05/10/2008, uploaded on 06/27/2010
Musician's or Publisher's Notes
Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem, the most well-known of his large-scale concert works, was pieced together during the last decades of the 19th century, and did not take its most familiar form until 1899. Indeed, it is probably one of the most patchwork and haphazardly conceived compositions, but nonetheless a delight for any admirer of classical music. Fauré’s intentions for composing the Requiem remain debated with some suggesting that the deaths of his parents in the mid-1880s may have been the reason. However, Fauré himself stated, “My Requiem wasn't written for anything – for pleasure, if I may call it that!” and by the time of his mother’s death in 1887, work on the Requiem was already well underway.
The first version of the work premiered in La Madeleine in Paris on January 16, 1887, under the composer’s own directions, comprising five movements—Introit and Kyrie, Sanctus, Pie Jesu, Agnus Dei and In Paradisium—and scored for an intimate ensemble of mixed chorus, organ, harp, timpani, violas, cellos and double basses, a boy soprano for Pie Jesu and a solo violin for Sanctus. In 1888, Fauré added the Hostias portion of the Offeratory, and the following year, further expanded it by adding a Libera Me, both utilizing a baritone soloist. This addition of a Libera Me, despite being the last made to the Requiem, was actually a separate piece that Fauré had written in 1877, and makes it the earliest composed music in the entire work. This new extended version of the work was then premiered on January 21, 1893. However, even with these extensive changes, Fauré was not yet finished with it. The demand of the large choral societies of the late 19th century, prompted him to score the intimate work for full orchestra in 1899-1900. Fauré had only limited interest in orchestration and it is debated to what extent he may have delegated this particular revision to one of his pupils. Regardless, the full orchestral version premiered on April 6, 1900, and of the different forms the Requiem has taken, it is today the most frequently performed and recorded.
Spanning seven movements, Fauré’s Requiem bears a striking similarity to Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem. Both employ a baritone soloist in their second and sixth movements, and a soprano soloist (though in the fourth movement in Fauré’s work and the fifth in Brahms’s). Likewise, both works gravitate around ethereal and heavenly fourth movements. In the selection of movements, Fauré followed a French Baroque tradition, omitting nearly the entire Requiem sequence (Dies irae). Only the Pie Jesu, the final couplet of the Dies irae, was set. Joseph DuBose
HOSTIAS CONDUCTED BY MICHEL PLASSON AT THE VERDI FESTIVAL IN PARMA
More music by Gabriel Fauré
Après un rève
Piano Quartet in C minor, Op. 15
Piano Quartet No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 45
Nocturne in e-flat minor, Op. 33, No. 1
Impromptu No. 3 in A-flat Major, Op. 34
Élégie in C minor Op. 24
Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1, Op. 13
Piano Quartet in C minor, Op. 15
Piano Quintet No. 1 in d minor, Op. 89
Morceau de Concours
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