Dear Trinity Church and friends,
Since the earliest days of the Church, Christians have offered prayers and oblations for the dead, expressing our faith in the resurrection and our mystical union with the communion of saints. In the beloved words of Eric Milner-White’s traditional Bidding Prayer for Lessons and Carols, we “remember before God all those who rejoice with us, but upon another shore, and in a greater light, that multitude which no one can number, whose hope was in the Word made flesh, and with whom in the Lord Jesus we forevermore are one.”
The Requiem Mass has inspired composers for centuries, with more than 2,000 musical settings now known. These range from intimate liturgical works to grand concert pieces, such as well-known settings by Brahms, Verdi, Berlioz, and Britten. The word Requiem comes from the Latin Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine (“Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord”) expressing the Church’s prayer that the departed may rest in God’s peace.
Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem, Op. 9 has a deeply personal history. Recognizing his young son’s musical gifts, Duruflé’s father brought him to visit the Cathedral Choir School in nearby Rouen. At the end of the visit, young Maurice was dismayed to discover that his father had brought a suitcase and intended to leave him there. “I needn’t say what my reaction was,” he recalled. “That night in the dormitory I sobbed on my bed.” After eventually thriving at the school, Duruflé reflected many years later that “a great page opened in front of me.”
At the school, Duruflé fell in love with the organ and Gregorian chant, whose ancient melodies would become the foundation of his Requiem. He dedicated the work to his father, transforming a complicated relationship and a formative chapter of his life into a musical prayer for the departed; rich with themes of loss, hope, and eternal life.
Art and music offer ways to express what words alone cannot. Having experienced several losses in recent years, I find that Duruflé’s music opens a kind of transcendent wormhole between this life and the life to come, connecting me with those I love but see no longer. In the timeless chants and Duruflé’s luminous harmonies, I find space to lean into grief, remember the departed, and rejoice in the promise of the resurrection, trusting that they are gathered among the choirs of angels.
My hope is that you, too, might encounter something of this beauty and consolation at Trinity Church this Sunday. The Necrology will be read at both the 10 am and 5 pm Eucharists, with a substantial portion of Duruflé’s Requiem at 10 am and the complete work at 5 pm. May this music offer us comfort in our grief, connection with those we have lost, and hope in the resurrection.
See you Sunday,
Colin Lynch
Director of Music