Opera Scotland

Requiem, op48 Requiem in D minor, op48

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Music

Gabriel Fauré (born Pamiers, Ariège, 12 May 1845; died Paris, 4 November 1924)

Text

Liturgy

 

Premieres

First Performance: Paris (La Madeleine), 16 January 1888

First Performance (revised text): Paris (La Madeleine), 21 January 1893

First Performance (Full Orchestration): Paris (Trocadéro), 12 July 1900.

First Performance in UK; tbc 1936.

First Performance in Scotland: tbc.

 

Background

Fauré's generally calm and consoling interpretation of the Requiem text, concluding with the unusual addition of an 'In Paradisum' movement, took a while to catch on, but since his death has become very popular. The early performances, for small forces in the liturgical setting of the Madeleine, were obliged to use male voices throughout, including trebles for the high chorus lines and the solo 'Pie Jesu'. When the expanded orchestral version came into use in 1900 for the Exposition Universelle, female voices became accepted, including for the solo.