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Requiem Cover James Humberstone Requiem James Humberstone Requiem in memory of my mother The Requiem is dedicated to my mother, who died in 2001 from cancer. It has taken over 18 months to complete and in many ways is the most difficult and personal music I have ever written. It’s probably also some of the most beautiful. Mum was beautiful – in looks and nature. Even after six months of chemotherapy she looked spectacular. Even after six months of chemotherapy she was looking after us more than we were looking after her. The personal element of mum within the requiem is represented by quotes based on an English folk song “The Prickety Bush”. When mum was in her teens she sang this song in a national competition that was recorded and broadcast, and she could frequently be heard around the house singing it while she wiped surfaces, or cleared things you needed into piles, or stoked the fire in the living room. You can hear the clearest quotes of this song in the solo cor Anglais during the opening solo of the offertorium, and the closing solo in the Libera Me. “The Prickety Bush” Originally it was my intention to source a recording of this folk song and make an ac- curate transcription, but it seemed appropriate that my memory of the song as mum sang it around the house was quite in keeping with the aural tradition of folk music. The above was the main melody as I remembered it. Seven movements of the traditional Latin Requiem Mass were set. They are: Requiem Aeternam The mass opens and closes (as do several movements) with the pitch of C. C represents the centre of my musical learning, because in the piano method that I used to first learn music as a child everything was learned from middle C outwards. C also represents Cancer, which killed mum, and kills one in three human beings. C is beginning, hope, beauty, and it is death – the circle of life, if we’re to put it in Disney terms. The harmony in the Requiem Aeternam is set symmetrically around C, and grows twice in two different patterns. The solo cor anglais is introduced on C, and also the solo string group that forms a string quartet (which reappears in the Lux Aeternae): so the Requiem Aeternam introduces many musical ideas that are echoed through the rest of the work. The opening harmonic material of the Requiem Aeternam, arranged symettrically around the pitch of C. The chords are built upon the inter- val series 2,3,2,2,3,2, itself symettrical. This number series is then used to define the modulations of the string harmony in the Dies Irae. Dies Irae The kind of rhythmic drive behind the Dies Irae is something I learned in the piano music of Bartok, it is excitement and drive beyond pre- dictability but which creates its own familiarity. The Dies Irae is the most difficult movement of the requiem to sing, because many of the vocal lines syncopate with the irregular time signatures. Harmonically a series of perfect fifths (my favourite interval which is used in just about every piece I write) moves through a set of transpositions. These transpositions were determined by the same numerical patterns that set the symmetry of the Requiem Aeternam and a series of aleatory procedures. The vocal parts were then written intuitively over the top. The Dies Irae also includes a long repentance sung by the child soprano which introduces the underlying harmony of the Agnus Dei. Offertorium The influence of Satie’s Gnoissiennes and Gymnopodie on me as a teenager was immense. Satie also had a great influence on the experimen- tal movement, on which all of my research has been based in the last ten years. And mum used to love it when I played Satie or quasi-Satie pieces that I wrote myself. The Offertorium echoes those impersonations in the strings, while the choral lines and a solo for child soprano or soprano are incredibly simple and reflective. The movement opens with a long solo on the cor anglais which quotes “The Prickety Bush” for the first time, and ends, unresolved, on C. Sanctus The Sanctus is relief! To me, the words which loosely translate as “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth, heaven and earth are full of Thy Glory. Hosanna in the highest.”, are celebratory. I wanted to reflect the wonder of life and the excitement I feel in the possibilities given to us with this gift, which are expressed in every religion, not just the catholic mass. To this end, the Sanctus has a fast, furious, poppy feel to it, and as such is relief to the more contemplative mood that much of the requiem evokes. Again the strings harmony is based around the fifths, simplifying some of the material presented in the Dies Irae. Agnus Dei When mum was diagnosed with cancer I wrote three piano miniatures which were supposed to be for her, to reflect her strength and beauty. But there was an inherent sadness to the pieces, and a friend pointed out me they were pieces about her, rather than for her, and hence I renamed them Three Miniatures About Ma. Mum wrote in her notebook instructions for her funeral, and suggested that I should play these pieces at it, but a piano could not be arranged. So the final miniature has found its harmony used here, in the Agnus Dei. After the unaccompanied, homophonic setting of the words, the cor anglais echoes the top line of the chorale, and then echoes the Prickety Bush melody once more before settling on the pitch of C, from where the Lux Aeterna grows. The third Miniature About Ma - in the original, decision about tempo, phrasing, articulations and dynam- ics are left to the pianist. The Agnus Dei reflects this openness in its performance mode. Accidentals apply only to the notes the immediately precede. Lux Aeterna The Lux Aeterna is the second, celebratory movement. I have always believed that even if there were no afterlife, we can remain immortal by leaving a good mark on the world. By giving more to others than we give to ourselves, by expressing ourselves and by trying to make every thing we do the best we can, others will remember us and some of our good will be left in the world. To me, this is what “eternal light” is, whether one believes in God or not: and so the Lux Aeternae is a celebration of a good life. It grows from C using the first harmonic field from the Requiem Aeternae, until the strings break free with repeating arpeggiations and scales of differing lengths, and the choir sings. There is then a senza misura section with the string quartet again, before the strings begin to grow again with little repeated figures, and a restatement from the choir. The harmonic material used in the strings after the string quartet section uses a scale or mode that appeared unconsciously in several works that I wrote in 2000 and 2001. This time it is used very deliberately to create excitement from stillness. Libera Me The Libera Me is a very simple movement, ending on C with the child soprano again. The use of the child soprano in the requiem is a reflection of mum’s career as a primary school teacher, and a great mother, and it seemed fitting to end with a pure and unspoilt tone, again reflecting the end being a beginning – from death to life. Many of my favourite musical sounds appear again – the quasi- Satie setting of the harmony in the strings, and the harmony made up of perfect fifths. The simple melody, which repeats rather than develops, and a final cor anglais solo again based on the Prickety Bush melody. There is a quote in the choir from the Dies Irae, but the final tone is again the eternal light, and eternal rest – the final C sounding unresolved, as if it might go on for ever. Orchestration Solo boy soprano Solo Cor Anglais Choir—SATB, with at least 6 voices to each part (voices divide in places) Strings, minimum 6,6,6,4,2 recommended. The leader of the 1st violins, 2nd violins, violas and cellos also form a string quartet at points in the work Performance Notes The solo boy soprano part requires a peformer with a great range. If the range is too wide, choose a soprano with a range in the higher part of the tessitura, and transpose the lower parts up an octave. If no boy soprano is available, a female soprano can be used, and should sing entirely non vibrato. All dynamics, phrasing and tempos should serve as a guide only. As much interpretation as possible is encouraged. The complete work lasts about 35 minutes..
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