Gabriel Fauré composed his Requiem between 1887 and 1890, with an initial premiere at a funeral in 1888. Some say that he was inspired by the death of both his parents in the previous years, but the composer himself denied this, saying “my Requiem wasn’t written for anything – for pleasure, if I may call it that”! It has quite a different feel and tone from Mozart’s version from the previous century, and an ethereal beauty all its own.
And it is a pleasure to listen to this version of the Mass for the dead on this Octave Day of All Souls’. Our college Schola performed the piece back in 2019, and here is a version of the entire piece sung by Voces8:
And here is the famous Pie Iesu, the only part of the Dies Irae that Fauré included, also by the ensemble (who are performing in Toronto on December 21st, but tickets sold out in mere minutes, alas):
