All Souls Requiem Mass

On All Souls Day we honor and remember those who have gone before us. The music of  the Mass will serve as a tribute and offering to the beloved deceased of St. James Parish and beyond. This event is a Roman Catholic Mass which all are welcome to attend. This special event is a collaboration between St. James’ Bereavement Ministry and the Sacred Sounds Concert Series.

Repertoire: Requiem by Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986)

Composed for organ and choir, the Requiem by Duruflé uses the chants of the Catholic church as the basis of each movement while employing harmonies and textures that are surprisingly modern. It has been called, “An astoundingly successful compromise between musical styles 1400 years apart.”

The composer’s own insight speaks to the power of this composition. He wrote, “This Requiem is not an ethereal work which sings of detachment from earthly worries. Rather, it reflects, in the immutable form of Christian prayer, the agony of man faced with the mystery of his ultimate end. The text and music are in turns dramatic, resigned, hopeful, terrified just as the words of the Scriptures themselves.”