“Should not church music be mostly for the heart?” —Joseph Martin Kraus
The Roman Catholic Mass for the Dead—the Requiem, sometimes called Missa pro Defunctis (or Defuncto) or Messe des Morts—is surely the most dramatic of liturgical forms and has inspired countless composers, from medieval times to the present. What the Czech composer Antonin Dvořák, a devout Roman Catholic, said in regard to his Mass in D could just as easily be applied to his famous Requiem: “Do not wonder that I am so religious. An artist who is not could not produce anything like this.” And yet, not only Protestant composers but also those whose Christian faith was weak or non-existent wrote Masses for the Dead. After all, human life itself is the supreme drama, and what imagined scene could be more powerful than that of the individual soul pleading the case for salvation before the Almighty?
The term “Requiem” comes from the first Latin word of the Mass, which begins Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine (“Grant them eternal rest, O Lord”). The structure of the formal Requiem Mass and its Latin text developed within the Catholic Church over time, and composers have generally picked and chosen—and even added—when setting sections of the Death Mass proper. The Requiems of the classical and Romantic periods generally used some or all of these parts:
Introitus: Requiem aeternam
Kyrie
Graduale: Requiem aeternam
Tractus: Absolve, Domine
Sequentia: Dies Irae
Offertorium: Domine, Jesu Christe
Sanctus and Benedictus
Agnus Dei
Lux Aeterna
Pie Jesu
Libera me
In Paradisum*
During the Medieval, Baroque, and Classical periods, composers wrote Requiems with the intent of actually having them performed during the saying of the Mass for the Dead. This would later change, as during the Romantic period, composers wrote Requiems on a larger scale in terms of both length and required orchestral forces; they became, in effect, dramatic oratorios, and often operatic in style. Indeed, the great opera composers Giocomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, and Gaetano Donizetti all wrote pieces in this genre. At the same time, composers began to take more liberties with both the form and text of the Catholic Requiem Mass; Verdi altered some of the words of the Latin liturgy, and Johannes Brahms incorporated words of Scripture in German translation.
In the twentieth century there appeared the “secular” Requiem, a work that was meant to commemorate the dead but which dispensed with traditional religious belief, retaining only a vague spirituality. For instance, Frederick Delius, an atheist, originally termed his effort in the genre, which used a text largely derived from the philosophies of Friedrich Nietzsche and Arthur Schopenhauer, A Pagan Requiem. Paul Hindemith’s When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d: A Requiem for Those We Love uses as its texts the poem of the same name by Walt Whitman, commemorating the death of Abraham Lincoln. Even those twentieth-century Requiems that employed parts of the Roman Mass for the Dead took greater liberties than ever before with the text: Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem, for instance, uses the poetry of Wilfred Owen.
The list below ranks the greatest Requiems of all time, in order of greatness. Readers will notice that several popular Requiems have been left off this list: the aforementioned Requiems by Dvořák, Brahms, Britten, and Verdi, as well as settings by Gabriel Fauré and Maurice Duruflé (both of whom omit the Dies Irae, indicating the sedate nature of their settings). It is the present writer’s opinion that these six Requiems are vastly overrated: whereas Dvořák’s rambles over the course of its ninety-plus minutes, the Verdi is overly operatic and includes only one memorable moment—the brief and dramatic Dies Irae; Britten’s simply lacks music of the highest quality. The remaining three lack any sort of real fire; they may charitably be called “devotional” in spirit, but are more properly deemed somnolent. Brahms, Fauré and Duruflé seem to have thought that death and judgment are all about quiet resignation and consolation, without any place for desperate pleading and the terror of possible, eternal damnation.
I should remind readers that, as with all my “top ten” classical lists, the following does not constitute a democratic assessment of the consensus greatest works of all time, but represents rather my informed opinion on the matter, which I hope is more interesting. There are many worthy Requiems which I have been forced to leave off this list. I welcome with interest the opinions of readers as to the merits of ones I have omitted—and the demerits of the ones I have included.
1. Hector Berlioz: Grand Messe des Morts, Op. 5 (1837)
“If I were threatened with the destruction of all my works but one,” Hector Berlioz once said, “I should beg mercy for the Requiem.” A massive work, in terms of the number of musicians for which it calls—sixteen timpani, four brass choirs, and at least 210 choristers—Berlioz’ Requiem is, contra the composer’s reputation, not simply a showpiece full of sound and fury, but a masterpiece full of beauty, and yes, even extended contemplative sections. Berlioz’s Dies Irae rivals Mozart’s in its fire and awesomeness, while the meltingly beautiful Sanctus, featuring a solo tenor [beginning at 1:08:30 in the recording below] stands as one of the most beautiful things ever penned by the human hand. Surely this work alone should guarantee the atheistic Berlioz a mansion in Paradise?
2. Wolfgang Mozart: Requiem in D Minor, K. 626 (1791)
In all of sacred music, there are few works that rival the writing of Mozart’s immortal, incomplete Requiem: the mystery of the Introit, the fire of the Dies Irae, the brilliance of the Confutatis, and the majesty of the Rex Tremendae. Mozart’s work simply operates on a higher plane than any other examples in this genre. Famously left incomplete by the dying composer, its supreme status is enhanced by the mysterious circumstances of the composer’s death, and by the puzzle of who exactly finished the piece as we know it today. The performance below is among the best of the fifty or so recordings I have listened to over thirty years.
3. Michael Haydn: Requiem in C minor, MH 155—Missa pro defuncto Archiepiscopo Sigismundo (1771)
I have noted elsewhere how Mozart was surely influenced by the Requiem of Michael Haydn, the younger brother of the more famous Franz Josef Haydn. And though one will think of that greater Requiem when listening to this one, this Mass for the Dead, which takes about thirty-five minutes to perform, stands on its own as a work of genius, one imbued with an unrelieved sense of drama and urgency. The younger Haydn, some of whose works until recent times were long mistaken for those of Mozart, should be better known.
4. Georg Joseph Vogler: Requiem in E-flat major (1808)
Though Mozart thought little of him, the German-born Georg Joseph Vogler (1749-1814) had a successful career as a composer, performer, and teacher (Carl Maria von Weber and Giacomo Meyerbeer were among his pupils), and was something of an innovator in terms of music theory and practice, devising a new organ-like instrument and an alternative method of fingering for the harpsichord. An ordained Roman Catholic priest—and thus known also as Abbé Vogler—his Requiem dates from the last years of his life, and contains many dramatic moments, passages of sublime beauty, as well as some unusual arrangements. There is a supremely dramatic Dies Irae, a melting tune in the Lacrymosa, an absolutely gorgeous a capella Benedictus for the four soloists (listen at 38:00 in the video below), and an eerie Quantus tremor, whose echoing brass motif is a truly memorable effect. Weber called Vogler’s the “divine Requiem,” and it was indeed compared to Mozart’s in its day. Though the judgment of time has deemed it not to reach that exalted level, it is nevertheless a great work.
5. François-Joseph Gossec: Requiem (1760)
A severely underrated composer, the long-lived (1734-1829) Gossec had a career that spanned that of Baroque composer Jean-Philippe Rameau (his teacher) through the premier of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. He wrote much worthy, and sometimes brilliant, orchestral and chamber music, as well as many choral works and operas. Highly esteemed in his day, perhaps his reputation has suffered because of the propagandistic music he composed on behalf of France’s Revolutionary regime. Gossec’s Requiem, composed in 1760, is a monumental work, running about an hour-and-a-half and full of power and beauty. While on his tour of Paris in 1778, Mozart met Gossec, liked him, and—as in the case of Michael Haydn’s Requiem, though to a lesser degree—was probably influenced by Gossec’s setting when he wrote his own Mass for the Dead thirteen years later.
6. Luigi Cherubini: Requiem in C Minor (1817)
Luigi Cherubini (1760-1842) composed his first Requiem (a second, in D minor, would come twenty years later) on the occasion of a memorial Mass for King Louis XVI, who had been executed by French Revolutionaries in 1793. Cherubini’s Requiem was much admired by later composers; Robert Schumann deemed it “without equal in the world,” and Ludwig van Beethoven requested that it be played at his own funeral, declaring, “If I were to write a Requiem, Cherubini’s would be my only model.” (Beethoven never did write a Requiem.) In employing only a chorus and not soloists, Cherubini avoids any hint of the operatic. Though influenced by Mozart’s setting, Cherubini’s voice is entirely his own and anticipates several Requiems that would be penned later by Romantic composers.
7. Franz von Suppé: Requiem in D Minor (1855)
A candidate perhaps for most unlikely to write a Requiem, the Austrian composer Franz von Suppé wrote some fifty operettas and stage works, but it is generally only the overtures to some of these that are played in the concert hall today. His Requiem is one of a handful of his sacred works and certainly his best. Dedicated to Pope Pius IX, the work clocks in around seventy-five minutes and is dramatic and profound, with only a touch of the operatic in one or two places. Unusually celebratory in tone for a Requiem, especially one in D minor, Suppé’s nevertheless contains passages both of quiet lament and blazing terror.
8. Camille Saint-Saëns: Requiem, Op. 54 (1878)
Camille Saint-Saëns is generally considered a second-tier composer, and he is known today primarily for pieces like his “Organ” Symphony and his “Carnival of the Animals.” His status as an unbeliever makes him an unlikely candidate for composing a Mass for the Dead. But indeed he did—and in a mere eight days. Though he may not have bought into the theology represented by the Catholic Requiem Mass, he considered his composition a serious work. “I know how to respect what is respectable,” the composer once said of religious belief. The urgent strings that open this Mass immediately grip the listener, and the trombone calls and organ notes of the Tuba Mirum sound bring to mind the famous opening of Richard Strauss’ Also Sprach Zarathustra, composed eighteen years later. Unlike some of the sprawling Requiems composed, Saint-Saëns’ clocks in at only thirty-five minutes, never outstaying its welcome.
9. Joseph Martin Kraus: Requiem in D Minor (1775)
Joseph Martin Kraus was sometimes called the “Swedish Mozart” because he too composed in the “Classical style” and because his life was nearly exactly contemporaneous with that of “the miracle that God allowed to be born in Salzburg.” His Requiem, written when he was nineteen years old, was one of his earliest compositions and shows the effect of the Sturm und Drang (“storm and stress”) movement on the young composer in its many dramatic moments; the memorable Dies Irae stands out in this regard. Yet the relatively-brief piece (some twenty-six minutes long) also possesses “snatches of Mozartian grace” and moments of ethereal beauty; sample the haunting Lacrymosa, for instance. Kraus once asked: “Should not church music be mostly for the heart?”
10. Osip Kozlovsky: Requiem in E-flat minor—Missa pro defunctis for King Stanisław August Poniatowski (1798)
Possibly the first Requiem composed in Russia, Polish-born Osip Kozlovsky’s Mass for the death of King Stanisław August Poniatowski of Poland was commissioned by the king himself. Kozlovsky primarily wrote for the royal theater—dances and incidental music—but his Requiem is a grand creation that surprises with its profundity. It ends, atypically, with funeral march, followed by a setting of the Salve Regina. Unfortunately there presently exists only one recording of this work, a Soviet-era production in somewhat inferior sound; but it is well worth repeated listening despite its sonic shortcomings.
Bonus: A Requiem Never Recorded
Florian Leopold Gassmann: Requiem in C Minor (1774)
Florian Leopold Gassmann (1729-1774) was born in Bohemia and moved in 1757 to Venice, where he wrote operas and served as choirmaster in a girls’ conservatory. He was called into the service of Emperor Joseph II in 1763. In Vienna, he served as court ballet composer, chamber composer, and court conductor. There he tutored the young Antonio Salieri, who succeeded Gassmann as court conductor upon the latter’s death. Gassmann wrote his Requiem in the last year of his life, completing only the Introit, Kyrie, and Sequence. Though popular in the half-century after his death, and though it influenced Mozart’s own effort in the genre, there has never been a recording of Gassmann’s Requiem. What appears below is a “Vocaloid/MIDI Simulation” by one musicologist, which gives us a tantalizing taste of this work’s quality.
Playlist of the Top 10 Requiems (Spotify subscription required):
*The Latin text of the Requiem can be found here. It is actually not quite correct to say, as I did above, that the Requiem Mass has inspired “countless” composers, for one aficionado has tallied more than 5,000 examples of this genre, penned by more than 3,100 composers, spanning the Medieval period to the present. The Latin text of the Requiem can be found here.
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The featured image is “Funeral of the Five Victims of the Manifestation of 1861 in Warsaw” (1865) by Henryk Pillati, and is in the public domain, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Thanks for sharing the treasure.
You are most welcome! Thanks for your comment.
Your list is missing Faure’s and Dvorak’s requiems! Duruflé is also really great.
I explain why above.
Wait a minute, you left out Verdi’s Requiem.
I explain why above.
I was just asked what I thought was the best Requiem Mass and I automatically said Mozart in D Minor. I explained/qualified by adding that Verdi’s Dies Irae is certainly the most dramatic and memorable, being more appropriate for a concert hall than a cathedral (which concurs with you that Verdi’s is operatic although I never thought to express it that way). Thanks for sharing.
Agreed, Faure’s probably deserves a place on the list. Also, more contemporary is Morten Lauridsen’s Lux Aeterna. It’s written as if Palestrina composed in our times. Probably one of the most beautiful pieces I’m familiar with.
I can’t wait to listen to some of these. My personal favorite requiem is the one composed by Tomas Luis de Victoria. I prefer the relative simplicity of polyphony to the majesty and grandeur of orchestral pieces, without despising the latter.
A very timely article for me as I myself am humbly trying to compose my own requiem in the classical style and have be listening to many other settings for inspiration. Many of the ones I’ve discovered on my own have made your list. I especially love the Cherubini setting, it is severely underrated. I also hold the Michael Haydn and Tomasek settings in very high regard as well.
In the ‘classical style as in Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven, Bryan?
There are only two: Victoria & Mozart. All the others are footnotes.
Thx!!
AMAZING MUSIC.
Sad not to see any of the Renaissance polyphonic Requiems here: Victoria, as mentioned by another commenter, but especially Ockeghem. I also think you give short shrift to the Durufle Requiem. I understand not including it because it omits the Sequence, but I think “desperate pleading” is a perfectly apt way to describe his Offertorium and Libera Me movements.
A new ‘Requiem’ s/be considered for addition to this list. It is “Requiem” by Mark Hayes, and can be heard in its entirety on “Spotify.” Absolutely gorgeous and inspiring, its in six parts and was composed around 2013, its for full orchestra and massed chorus. Try it, you’ll like it!
I listened to this – a cross between film music and music from the musical theatre genre with a bit of recycled early 20th century romanticism. Do we really need the tubular bells at the end to hammer home the religious nature of the work? Quite pretty but nothing new.
“I know how to respect what is respectable,” the composer once said of religious belief.
It’s going to take time to assess the recommendations–hours of good listening beckon.
But I would be remiss if I didn’t express my appreciation for the quote from Saint-Saëns–it strikes me as a profoundly sane position, one that I share, but had never been able to express so cogently.
I am grateful to learn of so many works and composers. Thank you for a thoughtfully unorthodox list.
Thanks Stephen! Here’s another to add to the list of serious contenders: Mikos Theodorakis, Requiem.
Enjoy!
Thomas
Pentti Kauppi
I am requiemdiscophile in Finland,my collection consists of about 430 requiems,LP and CD. Impossible
task to say “Top Ten” but P.F. Cavalli´s Missa pro Defunctis (1675) is surely” One Of The Best”.
You can see more of my collection in Requiem.fi.
Thank you so much for including the outstanding Kozlovsky Requiem – the discovery of the year for me! But you definitely should also include the second Requiem from Cherubini in d-minor!!!
Would you happen to know if there is a score of Kozlovsky’s requiem, I’ve looked everywhere and can’t find one
While (as a conservative) I respect your right to an opinion, I most passionately disagree with your assessment of Brahms’ German Requiem and Faure’s Requiem – they are in my view two of the greatest works of art, and I hold them very dear.
For my part, I think Michael Haydn ought to be #1.
While I understand the technical reason for your omission in the explanation above, I think that both Faure’s and Durufle’s Requiems are among the most sublime works ever composed. On an emotional level they capture the drama of human life and death so beautifully. Kudos for discussing the truly awesome subject of Requiem masses nonetheless
What do you think of Andrew Lloyd-Webber? His version of Pie Jesu combined with Agnus Dei is beautiful when sung by the right singer.
I agree with you on Lloyd-Webber’s Requiem; also beautiful is John Rutter’s Requiem.
Thank you for a very interesting list. Have you heard HIF Biber’s Requiem in F. It has long been one of my favorites, as is Heinrich Schutz’s Musikalische Exequien. Sincerely, JR
Great list, Stephen. Just listened to Kozlovsky’s Requiem for the first time. I’m working my way through the rest of the list. Wonderful music! I understand your decision to exclude Faure’s Requiem, it does try to be a “kinder, gentler” Requiem, but when I lose a friend or loved one, that’s the music I inevitably turn to as I work through my grief.
I appreciate several of your more obscure selections and will use them as a springboard for further exploration. I want to observe, though, that this list appears to be written from the perspective of a listener, rather than a performer. As a chorister, I can assure you that the Fauré and Brahms Requiems are anything but somnolent. But virtually everyone knows about them, anyhow (along with Verdi and Dvorak) so I am not annoyed by the omissions, personally.
Are you familiar with Howard Goodall’s Eternal Light Requiem? Whilst being a thoroughly modern requiem, its astounding beauty will surely stand the test of time, and I feel it could rightly have been on this list. It was originally composed to accompany a dance piece by the Rambert Dance Company in 2008, but has since been performed countless times by choirs all over the world, and had its official US debut at Carnegie Hall in New York on 20th November 2016.
Yes! I agree with you, Alison. My choir performed this in the spring (the 500th performance!) and it was just magical. The baritone solo in the Lacrymosa brought tears to my eyes. His voice was so beautiful. I actually started listening to our recording right before reading this article. I love how Goodall incorporates English on top of the Latin in certain movements. In Flanders Fields is wonderfully intense, too. I hope more people discover this requiem.
Thank you for your recommendations; I have listened to so much that I was looking for something new. I grew up thinking the real or the best Requiems were the ones you indeed left off the list…you know the big massive operatic requiems with a thousand voices and overwhelming orchestra. Well I went out and purchased Gossec, Cherubini, Suppe, Saint-Saens, Vogler. I have Tomasek coming in the mail. Kozlosky appears to be OOP. The others I had. I have to admit I was disappointed in all these new requiems. But I will give them another try. Thanks again
Sadly lacking any Spanish renaissance era requiem settings. There is of course the famous Victoria 6part require, but also Morales’ 5 part requiem and the pro defunctis by Guerrero are beautiful and moving!
I am left to believe, or think, that one’s apprehension of beauty and meaning is so very individual…. I cannot agree with your list, but would not ever want to engage in any disagreement. I am happy to agree with no. 1, although we do not even know what it would have been had the composer had the time to complete the work.
I can think Jesus on the cross (even as a lapsed Catholic) and think of Mozart dying with his Requiem unfinished in connected moments of reflection. But Faure’s Requiem will always be my number two to Mozart’s, and I cannot understand your choices. I have never been so moved by any music, and as I said, I am a Catholic, who grew up going to Mass six times a week, who can recognize and repeat most of the Latin in the Requiem. I grew up singing Gregorian chants, and I can only attribute your list to a difference in tastes, just as some people do not like the color purple.
I also heard more Masses than I ever wanted to, growing up in a household (thank someone eternal) that had classical music playing in it every night of my life.
Sadly, the Requiem of Brahms will not make it to my list.
You missed out the best one actually. The plainchant Gregorian requiem mass. The one that inspires all the rest. The OG.
The Tract, Absolve is bar none the best. And all of them written by an obscure monk by the Grace of God and not through his own merits hence choosing to remain anonymous forevermore.
Thank you my friend! I just added all these to my sermon prep play list!
Also the Pierre de la Rue Requiem
We can’t leave out Bruno Walter’s 1937 Vienna Philharmonic recording. Powerful and classic.
Great list. I understand the exclusion of some traditional favorites. Interesting reasoning there, and true they don’t meet certain criteria you mention I think it makes way for inclusion of some magnificent and lesser considered works.
Great list! So glad to see the Cherubini on there, a fantastic though sadly underperformed piece. I was a bit disappointed with no mention of Penderecki. His Polish Requiem is one of my favorite pieces of all time, and perhaps his best work. (The Passion wins most days for me though.) You heard the Polish Requiem?
Thank you so much for this. This is my main reference that i’ve used to learn about requiems. I only knew about Mozart’s, and fell in love with Michael Haydn’s once i listened to it. have listened to over 20 since then time and again. Michael’s style and rythm really shows he’s asking for something passionately (repose for a soul). Mozart was definitely inspired by Haydn’s version of the requiem. both should either tie first spot, or at least Haydn’s own should come second. I strongly hold my opinion that Michael Haydn’s requiem is the best!
I’ll never consent to Verdi’s Requiem being classed as “overrated” and as including “only one memorable moment”. It is a work of genius, and this genius shines through in many instances, such as the Rex tremendae and the Kyrie. And then yes the supremely memorable moment is the Dies Irae where the drama and imaginative composition is simply overwhelming, so much it outshines about everything else. It captures the thumping terror so forcefully, perhaps even more than Mozart’s (though I think that overall Mozart’s oeuvre stands higher). Verdi’s work is quintessential when speaking about requiems (even for just the Dies Irae) and I’ll never for the life of me understand how it can be omitted from a top ten list.
Thanks for the list, and it has certainly opened my eyes to efforts which I was not aware of. However i’m guessing (and I’m very possibly wrong) that this list comes more from a musicological side, and less from a performing music side.
Yes! Can’t believe that piece is considered overrated. Personally I’d put it right at the top, followed by Mozart. Dies Irae is certainly not the only interesting part. Lacrymosa is extremely beautiful, and in general I enjoy the whole thing straight through. Verdi never lets any part stay long enough to get boring, his pacing is perfect to me, and the whole mass is really interesting and emotionally compelling. I feel like composers who primarily worked on operas get a bad reputation, and I’m not sure why. I stayed away from opera (and all other vocal classical music) for years when I was younger because my dad hated it, and I’ve met many other people who feel like opera is “lesser” than other classical music for some reason. Since listening to Rigoletto I’ve really come to love most types of vocal classical music, and a lot of Verdi’s work in particular. I meet so few people who have heard a single thing by him, including friends who have listened to a far broader range of classical music than me. If anything I would say Verdi is underrated by the general listener. Maybe that’s just the people I know though.
Also a contribution not mentioned here, not even in the comments: Ildebrando Pizzetti’s Requiem. This has an entirely a capella setting with some imaginative polyphony; in my opinion certainly worth a listen.
The Cherubini sounds uncannily like the Gossek Requiem at times. Wonder what Gossek thought if he heard it, as he could have, albeit in his 83rd year
The Gossek Requiem is stunningly good and it I astonishing that he was only 26 and had 69 more years to go when he composed it. Yes, Kraus produced a Requiem at 19 but it is a less monumental work. The Gossek standouts for me are the Te decet hymnus, tuba mirum and mors stupebit. Two quotations from Roderic Dunnett’s review of the Naxos recording, 2002: “The mere idea that anyone could pen such a Requiem in 1760 defies belief. It makes not Germany but France seem-in choral music as in Gluckian drama-the nursemaid of Classicism” and “Berlioz and Gounod garnered not a few of their best ideas from composers of the Gossek era; but few delivered this kind of unyielding consistency, melodic-harmonic vividness and untrammelled dramatic power.” PS. Thank you for this site and advertising some neglected treasures.
If you could build a Mass conformed from your favorite parts of different requiems, to have the most penetrating effect on the people in the congregation and help them in expressing and processing their pain, who would you choose for each part?
the most dramatic and startling dies irae has to be by karl jenkins who previously played in a rock band. It reminds me so much of the race of nibelung (sp?) in Wagners ring cycle. Worth a quick listen to if you are unfamiliar with it.
Dear Imaginative Conservative,
Thank you for this. I’m a composer myself and I found your information very clear and instructive. I’ve signed up for your daily updates. My interest go mostly to the historical and technical aspect of the masterpieces.
Sorry I don’t have a website.
Kind regards
Luc
Saying that Britten’s Requiem lacks music of the highest quality is a statement which is certainly debatable. To me it’s one of the best, although I haven’t listened to some that are mentioned in other comments.
The Verdi Requiem? Music preference is as personal perhaps as religion. I will always live the richness of the Verdi Requiem. Thank you for the list. I look forward to enjoying those I’ve not heard.
Another Requiem — amazing and unioque in style and structure, but never performed in its entirety nor recorded — is the “Requiem 9/11/2001.” Not only does it incorporate Christian Latin text, but also incudes percussion/lyrics from the Quran, as well as Tehilim from the Hebrew. The one movement first completed in 2002, “Agnus Dei,” was performed as a stand-alone in Bremerton, Washington, that summer, and is housed in the New York City Hall Archive.
You wrote: “Brahms, Fauré and Duruflé seem to have thought that death and judgment are all about quiet resignation and consolation, without any place for desperate pleading and the terror of possible, eternal damnation.”
Well, this is the crux of the matter. In my opinion, the job of a funeral mass is to provide solace and comfort for the friends and family of the departed–not to bludgeon them in their time of sorrow with thoughts about judgment and eternal damnation. Most of the Requiems of the great composers are too dramatic and focus on those fearful elements. There is enough doom-laden material in the prayers and texts of the service itself; by way of contrast, the music should offer consolation and contemplation.
This is why I have always thought that Faure’s Requiem is the best I have ever heard–and I have several recorded versions in my collection. Not only is it contemplative in spirit; it is also precise and to the point–not belabouring the text, as other composers do.
Teacher! I consider it important to mention Liszt’s mass of the dead for a men’s choir. It is a beautiful work, and little listened to.
Dear Stephen, thank for this article. I enjoyed it very much….I will listen to those works I never heard of before…By the way, I like Stravinsky’s Requiem Canticles, which is a serial work, and his last major composition lasting just 15 min… it was played at his own funeral… As it is a partial setting of a Requiem, it does not qualify as a candidate for the list…but I think it is worth listening…
GV
The requiem ,I like the most is Cherubini,also Mozart, I was surprised that there was so many requiem, very interesting to read all yours comments,thanks , I will surely look to find and listen to a few requiem that were mentionned,
“Saint-Saëns is generally considered a second-rate composer …”
This statement quite surprised me; it seems to me that anyone who could produce his Third Symphony can hardly be called second-rate. However, that is just my opinion, and I recognise that a reputation generally needs more than one masterpiece on which to stand.
The mystery of Mozart’s genius continues to be inexplicable. I really don’t think music can plumb the depths any more fully and effortlessly than his Requiem. Was just listening (again!) to one of my favorite renditions; Barenboim and the English Chamber Orchestra. Tears — just a physical reaction— come to my eyes immediately. The Lacrimosa seems to me to go as far as music can in matter of the requiem mass.
Alfred Schnittke, the Russian composer who died in Hamburg in 1998, wrote his Requiem in 1975, a piece that confirms Schnittke as a composer of some of the most important religious music of the late 20th century. Schnittke wrote the requiem when he was actually writing a sort of opera, music for a production of Schiller’s drama “Don Carlos” at Moscow’s Mossowet Theater (1975). The director wanted to stage the play with some sense of ‘Catholic church music’ , and Schnittke duly then decided to compose his own requiem.
Alfred Schnittke had a very good sense of humour and was also very religious/spiritual – a rare, but in his case wonderful combination.
This post stands the test of time, thankyou!
The problem with all lists of the ‘greatest’ is that they are entirely subjective and prejudicial to the preferences of the author. Verdi’s Requiem, while indeed being operatic in nature, is to my mind the greatest of them all. Every time I hear it I find new depth and meaning to each individual section melding into a masterwork of liturgy that shakes the senses to the core. While it is true the colors of his Requiem are brighter than the colors heretofore exhibited and who is to say the church must be dimly lit?. Who is to say that music of true religious feeling needs to be subdued or it’s drama restrained?. The Dies Irae is sublime on that we agree. As if flood lights are illuminating the very corners of every vestibule. In essence it is a Requiem within a Requiem. Verdi wrote his Requiem in 1874. Three years after Aida and a year after Manzoni’s death. It would have been a crowning achievement to the career of the preeminent operatic composer of the 19th century and two more masterpieces were still to come. Otello in 1887 followed by Falstaff in 1893 both of which exhibit music from the Requiem. The Una Vela opening of Otello contrasts with the opening and fury of the Dies Irae and the fugue of the Libera Me is represented in the ending fugue of Falstaff. In all Verdi wrote 28 operas of which nearly half are regularly preformed as part of the operatic canon. Nonetheless, to exclude this masterpiece of a Requiem from a list of the best is a great disservice to the genius that was Guiseppe Verdi.
There are a lot more requiems than I thought.
The Jean Gilles Requiem is certainly worth a listen, as it is in that highly ornate style of the French Baroque more familiar from works by De Lalande, perhaps. It is engaging, very beautiful, and a hell of a lot of fun to sing. I would also include the Howells Requiem and the Frank Martin. If you want to go down a very interesting rabbit hole having to do with Requiems, forgery and crime, than Google for info about the Tristan Foisin affair.
WOW! I could not disagree more strongly with your rankings.
Brahms German Requiem is a masterpiece not only of compositional techniques for which Brahms is so well knows, but for his ability to mine the depths of emotion and offer comfort to survivors. Both the Funeral march in 3/4 time of the 2nd movement, and the precious “How Lovely is thy Dwelling Place” capture the raw emotions of death, and hope of salvation like few other Requiems.
Then, there is no movement in any Requiem that more closely captures Heaven’s gate opening up to welcome a soul than the Sanctus (4th movement) of Durufle’s Requiem. This movement is unrivaled in Requiem masterpieces–Mozart’s Lacrimosa included.
These two masterpieces should be at or near the top of any list of top Requiems.
Dvořak and Verdi wrote worthwhile Requiems.
Props for putting Berlioz at number one. But I can’t believe Durufle didn’t make this cut
As I mention in the essay, Durufle’s Requiem is definitely a sleeper!