How does Faure's Requiem fit into a sung EF mass for All Souls?
  • Dan F.Dan F.
    Posts: 205
    I know that Faure did not set the entire mass. But he also changed some of the Latin for what he did compose. Also, he set the Libera Me and In Paradisum which is part of the burial service. Our parish choir (in which I sing but do not lead) will be singing this at mass Nov. 2, possibly an EF liturgy. How does the piece fit with the mass? Is it ok that some texts are slightly altered?
  • JDE
    Posts: 588
    There is not supposed to be any instrumental music at the solemn EF Requiem Mass. It would be easier to get away with it in an NO Mass for the Dead.
  • Daniel Bennett PageDaniel Bennett Page
    Posts: 833
    With all due respect, instrumental accompaniment to sung music in the EF Requiem Mass is very much permitted and is one of the Church's treasures. The great Requiem Mass settings of the period 1550-1825 are none of them concert works. There is not supposed to be *solo* or *purely* instrumental music at Requiems.
  • Steve CollinsSteve Collins
    Posts: 1,021
    Here is what we do:

    Introit/Kyrie – Fauré
    Gradual/Tract – Psalm tones (from St. Basil Hymnal – w/accompaniment)
    Sequence – Proper (w/NOH accompaniment)
    Offertory/Sanctus – Fauré
    Benedictus – Fauré “Messe Basse” (after the Elevations)
    Pater noster – chant (remember to use the simple tone)
    Agnus Dei/Communion – Fauré
    Communion – Fauré “Pie Jesu” movement & whatever else
    The Mass finishes out with the Fauré, along with the chanted responses
    Thanked by 1canadash
  • Jeffrey MorseJeffrey Morse
    Posts: 202
    In the EF, on All Souls or ANY day a Requiem Mass is permitted, if you use a Catafalque, you then sing the LIBERA ME, and can then use the IN PARADISUM as a retiring procession. At St Stephen, the First Martyr, in Sacramento, CA., the catafalque is set up early in the morning of All Souls, and stays up all day in the church and all the candles are replaced with unbleached ones. This serves as a striking reminder to the faithful as they enter the church. At other times of the year it is used for special Requiems, certainly anytime the Faure is sung so the the LIBERA ME can be sung.
  • JahazaJahaza
    Posts: 468
    Mr. Page, I'm afraid Yurodovi is correct. In the EF, according to the 1958 and on rules at least, the use of the organ is permitted at Masses for the dead only to support the singing and no other instruments are allowed.

    http://www.adoremus.org/1958Intro-sac-mus.html
  • Jeffrey MorseJeffrey Morse
    Posts: 202
    Suffice it to say, that the same prohibition against musical instruments and the organ used as a solo instrument were in place in Faure's time, and nearly without exception, were NOT followed. There was a similar prohibition against organ alternatim with the choir, one of the earliest contemporary accounts was a report of the "Field of the Cloth of Gold" in 1520. This practice was NEVER given up despite official prohibitions, but has given us glorious music to be used in alternatim, from Tallis in the 16th century, to Couperin (Messes pour les Couvents, Messes pour Les Paroisses) in the 17th, to Marcel Dupre in the 20th century and others, with examples even from the New World (Le Livre d'Orgue des Ursulines, QUEBEC)

    In France, in the Traditional churches and chapels of the the Society of Pius X and the Fraternity of Saint Peter the people could not imagine a Requiem without the organ used as a solo instrument, and as a matter of fact, do not follow the prohibition of the organ/instruments in Advent and Lent or even the Triduum, nor have they traditionally. While this could be seen as "local custom" having the force of law, many organists and choir directors in U.S. before the council have told me that practice in their parishes and Cathedrals was much the same.
  • Dan F.Dan F.
    Posts: 205
    Thank you for your insights, all, especially Mr. Collins for the order he has used. I will of course defer this decision to our pastor, but I am glad to hear that this is not unheard of.
  • Dan F.Dan F.
    Posts: 205
    From De musica sacra 83, there are exceptions allowed "on the occasion of some extraordinary solemnity". Also, reference is made to the permission of the local ordinary and local custom.
  • JDE
    Posts: 588
    Okay, but does the fact that no one follows the rules mean that the rules should continue to be flouted? Or should we try to actually do what the rules say?

    At the EF Requiem Mass at the Colloquium this year, the only instruments played were the pitch pipe and the altar bell. And I, for one, didn't miss the organ one bit.
  • Maureen
    Posts: 675
    If people have permission -- or the support of "local custom" -- they're not flouting the rules, are they?

    I'm sure it sounds very nice and solemn, under any of the subsets of the rules.
  • Chrism
    Posts: 868
    Is it ok that some texts are slightly altered?

    That's a second rule, arguably a more important one, which would need another "local custom" to circumvent. I'm not familiar with all the changes, but even Wikipedia says the modification to the Offertory, "it can be argued, is a fundamental theological change". Has the Fauré been sung before at a Requiem in the area?
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