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HAYDN: Little Organ Mass - DURUFLE: Requiem

7:30pm, Sat, 12 Nov 2022

  • Event Details
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  • Type of event: Concert
    Start time: 7:30pm
    Venue: St John's Church, Epping CM16 5DN
    Description: HAYDN: Little Organ Mass - DURUFLE: Requiem
    Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) originally named this work Missa Brevis Sti Joannis de Deo after its dedicatee, but it became famous under the title Kleine Orgelmesse (Little Organ Mass) due to the introduction of a a new feature for the Benedictus, an extended organ solo.  He also replaced the traditional baritone solo with a soprano solo.

    Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986) spent his early musical training years at the cathedral in Rouen where there was a famous school of Gregorian chant and, after a thorough steeping in this tradition, he came to Paris Conservatoire where the likes of Fauré and Debussy had studied. When, upon the death of his father, Duruflé completed his Requiem in 1947 he was inspired by the Gregorian plainchant Mass of the Dead but layered those lines with the more varied harmonies and flexible rhythms of the early modern era resulting in a masterpiece, often dramatic and anguished but ending in consoling hope and peace.