Fauré: Requiem
Most
performances of the Fauré Requiem are for full orchestra and chorus, which the
composer neither created nor approved.
Geoffrey Boers will recreate the composer’s original intent with this
concert. A gifted organist, Fauré was
familiar with the properly somber burial music of the time and “wanted to write
something different.” Faure immediately set about to compose a Requiem of joy, hope and beauty. He
played with the colors of the orchestra -- no violins! -- and played with the
traditional text, deleting any words of fear or judgement. The result was
this landmark work, a “lullaby of aspiration towards happiness above.” The Fauré Requiem changed the image of this genre forever, and opened the way
for the many beautiful works of similar beauty and joy in the ensuing 125
years! A select few members of the TSO join with our
chorus in Tacoma’s
splendid First Presbyterian Church for this celebration of life and hope.
“Everything I managed to entertain by way of religious illusion I put
into my Requiem," Fauré said; "which moreover is dominated from beginning to end by a
very human feeling of faith in eternal rest.”
Surprisingly, the work has frequently found its way into pop culture and so can lay claim to relatively familiarity with the general populace. Segments of the Requiem have been used on television programs as diverse as
Inspector Morse, South Park and
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. In the movies, it has popped up in
Salt, American Beauty, A Good Woman, and
Interview With the Vampire.
The second half of the concert will find the TSC enjoying the marvelous
acoustics and versatile performance space in First Presbyterian Church. The
choir will sing antiphonal music of the 17th century, such as Lassus' humorous
"Echo Song." Then they will surround the audience and enjoy beautiful sounds by
Eric Whitacre and other modern composers, and the choral world's most beloved
setting of
Shenandoah, by James Erb.
