The Book of Requiems, 1550-1650

Reference work for musicologists, music theorists, performers, and music lovers

Few western musical repertories speak more to the imagination than the Requiem mass for the dead. Yet, surprisingly, despite the significance of Requiem settings for our musical culture, the literature concerning them is sparse. The Book of Requiems presents essays on the most important works in this tradition, from the origins of the genre up to the present day. Each chapter is devoted to a specific Requiem, and offers both historical information and a detailed work-discussion. Conceived as a multi-volume essay collection by leading experts, the Book of Requiems is an authoritative reference publication intended as a first port of call for musicologists, music theorists, and performers both professional and student.

Contributors: Pieter Bergé (University of Leuven), Franz Körndle (University of Augsburg), Christian Thomas Leitmeir (University of Oxford), Alison Sanders McFarland (Louisiana State University), Bernadette Nelson (CESEM-FCSH, Nova University, Lisbon), Owen Rees (University of Oxford), Stephen Rice (director of The Brabant Ensemble), Katelijne Schiltz (University of Regensburg)

 

The present volume, the second in the series, treats settings composed between c. 1550 and c. 1650, a period in which the Requiem becomes a defining feature of the soundscape of Catholic death rituals.

Format: Edited volume - hardback

Size: 254 × 178 mm

250 pages

Richly illustrated with music examples

ISBN: 9789462703711

Publication: May 15, 2023

Series: The Book of Requiems

Languages: English

Antonio Chemotti is assistant professor of musicology at the University of Leuven in association with the Alamire Foundation and research affiliate at the Royal Library of Belgium.
David J. Burn is professor of musicology and head of the Early Music Research Group at KU Leuven.

The Book of Requiems will become a primary reference tool on this fascinating genre and serve as a crucial aid to researchers, performers, and students of various disciplines. The editors of the second volume in the series have made a highly insightful decision to group together works from ca. 1550 to ca. 1650; this cuts across stylistic changes and reveals the most intense period of creation of Requiem settings and many shared compositional approaches across the traditional style periods. Organizing the volume in this way also allows important focus on many changes brought by Trent since some works exist in both pre-Tridentine versions reflecting local liturgical use and those based on the Reformed liturgy. Although significant in various regions of Europe, the Requiem as a genre witnessed what could be considered its most important flowering during this era in the Iberian sphere as is demonstrated by the works selected by the editors to be featured. I congratulate them on their wonderful achievement. 
Grayson Wagstaff, The Catholic University of America