About Reflection and Remembrance: Requiems By Fauré and Charpentier
It is unusual, but perhaps telling, that requiems" by Mozart, Verdi, Fauré, John Rutter, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and more" have become so popular and well known. This music may have been written in memory of the departed, but it is capable of bringing great comfort, guidance and even joy to our daily lives; as well as at times of loss and memorial.
As we enter the season of remembrance in early November (including All Souls' Day, Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday), Figure invites you to pause and take stock as you are guided by the sacred music of Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) and Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643-1704) on a musical, spoken and, at times, silent journey of reflection and remembrance.
Whilst Fauré’s Requiem is a firm favourite, with the bittersweet ‘Pie Jesu’ at its heart, Charpentier’s sacred music is heard all too rarely. The ‘requiem’ presented in this concert sees Charpentier's Messe pour les trépassés (Mass for the Departed) paired with his Prose des morts (a setting of the Dies Irae). Together they form a powerful musical journey, ranging from the fiery wrath of the Dies Irae at its centre, to the plaintive lamentations which open and close the mass. With echoes of Monteverdi’s celebrated Vespers of 1610, this music will leave a lasting impression and provide fascinating context to Fauré’s Requiem, also written in Paris some 200 years later.
All of the music presented in this concert is sacred music, written for and first-performed in Christian funeral services. These requiems were not intended to be performed as concert works, played from start to finish, but broken up and interspersed by formal words or personal reflections. Although this performance is being held in a church, it is not an act of worship. However, Figure hopes to capture some of the stillness, solemnity and poignancy of a church service by allowing the music space to breathe through moments of spoken and silent reflection and remembrance, led by a special guest speaker (to be announced).
