Faure's "Requiem"

Essay # 54714

Music Studies > History
Music Studies > World Music

Faure's "Requiem"

A general analysis of the historical perspectives of Gabriel Faure's "Requiem".

1,722 words () | 5 sources | APA | 2004 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper provides a biography of Gabriel Faure, born on May 12th, 1845, in Pamiers, France, and looks at his musical career and his life as a composer. In particular, it examines his "Requiem", which was written shortly after the death of his father in 1885. It provides a movement by movement analysis and looks at how Faure's "Requiem" is a piece of extraordinarily beautiful musical sentiment. It analyzes how the delicate melodies and warm, dark orchestration create a rich and distinctly pious effect and how, with the greatest use of simplicity, Faure wrote a work that is of the most humanistic and tender nature.

From the Paper:

"Faure's Requiem embodies a very different feeling than many requiems by other composers. Most profoundly, the tone is more one of exaltation than fear. There is a sense of celebration of life as opposed to a fear of death. A good contrast would be to compare Faure's Requiem with Mozart's Requiem. With the use of thick orchestration and driving melodies Mozart created an urgent and, at times, a painful and agonizing feeling. Faure's Requiem is lighter and more understated. We can infer a lot about his ideas on religion from this piece. At this period the notorious Pope Pius X released an edict stating that church musicians and clergy needed to remove from their repertoire all music of secular and theatrical origins."