Music Notes for All Souls Sunday, November 2nd, 2025
Dr. John Michniewicz
2025 Annual Mass of Remembrance
This year’s Mass of Remembrance will be held on All Souls Day, Sunday, November 2nd during the 11:30 AM Mass. During this special Mass each year, the names of parishioners, or those connected to the parish, who passed away during the previous year are read. Additionally, as part of this year’s Mass, the St. Aloysius Choir will be offering a beautiful presentation of the Requiem, by Gabriel Fauré. Composed between 1887-1890 in Paris, Faure’s Requiem is most often today performed as a beloved and significant concert work, known for its peaceful and hopeful setting of texts from the Latin Requiem Mass. Fauré originally composed the work to be performed at Mass at his church. It was first presented at the Church of the Madeleine in Paris where Fauré served as the Choir Master beginning in 1877. Having the opportunity to hear the Requiem as part of a Mass highlights its origin and conception as a musical prayer. As sung during this year’s Mass of Remembrance, it will serve as a moving musical offering and prayer for the Souls of all the faithful departed.
The Requiem reflects Faure’s attractive and moving musical style. As a composer and later Director of the Paris Conservatory, his style is characterized by delicate textures, refined harmonies, a sense of neo-classicism with memorable and nuanced melodies that evoke emotion subtly. His music is said to bridge the gap between late Romanticism and a more modern aesthetic. His innovative harmonic language and exploration of color were key influences as well on later Impressionistic composers like Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. These techniques are heard in some of Faure’s most famous works, such as his “Pavane” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQQFWtw4FIQ and the “Sicilienne” from his opera Pelleas et Melisande. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybfffKpirNo
Fauré uses this subtle, colorful and distinctive musical style, which results in and reflects an intimate and refined emotional tone in the Requiem. His work emphasizes peacefulness and serenity throughout. In this composition, rather than strictly using major or minor tonalities, Fauré drew upon medieval church modes and scales that reflect his familiarity with Gregorian Chant. This influence is especially shown in the chant-like passages that are interspersed throughout the work, notably on texts such as “Requiem Aeternam” (Rest eternal grant them) as heard in the first movement “Introit and Kyrie” and reprised at the end of the “Agnus Dei.” The work’s final movement, “In Paradisum” features a chant-like ethereal melody, accompanied by harp, organ and strings featuring rich, subtly shifting chords and harmonies. Overall, the work’s vocal lines are characteristically smooth, expressive, and refined, again, drawing inspiration from the long, fluid lines of chant. Faure’s use of vocal solos in the “Offertory,” “Libera Me” and “Pie Jesu” also provide more intimate and personal moments of prayer and supplication to God.
The New York conductor Dennis Keene (and one of my teachers!) writes that Faure’s Requiem is like a great wine, with “layer after layer of different flavors, some poetic and feminine, some darker and richer, with infinite nuance and intrigue; and yet, at the same time, everything is perfectly balanced, harmonious, not one element overpowering the others.”
The Choir will offer the first movement: “Introït et Kyrie” at 11:20 AM as a prelude to the 11:30 Mass. This opening movement immediately establishes the Requiem’s unique character. The “Introit” (Requiem æternam) begins with a gentle, flowing melody in the cellos and basses, setting a contemplative and prayerful mood. The text asks for eternal rest for the departed. The “Kyrie eleison” (Lord, have mercy) follows, woven seamlessly into the music, maintaining the work’s overall sense of calm and supplication.
During Sunday’s Mass, after the annual reading of the names of the departed following the Homily, Nancy Leville will sing the soprano solo movement, perhaps the most famous and cherished section of the entire Requiem, the “Pie Jesu” (Merciful Jesus). Its calm melody and perfect simplicity are deeply moving. The text is a heartfelt plea to Jesus for eternal rest: “Blessed Jesu, Lord, I pray, in thy mercy grant them everlasting rest.” Fauré’s setting of this text is personal and intimate, conveying a profound sense of trust and hope in divine mercy.
The “Offertoire” will take place during the Presentation of the Mass, and features a prominent solo sung by Jeffrey Taveras, who sings the contrasting, faster middle “Hostias” section which intones: Hear our prayer and let our cry come unto thee; God our Father, bow thine ear: we pray this day for all the souls departed; O remember them, Lord, we pray. The music too evokes a sense of heartfelt prayer and humble offering, confidently emphasizing the hope of eternal light for the deceased.
Faure’s “Sanctus” will be sung during the “Holy, Holy, Holy” of the Mass. Above a gently moving string and harp accompaniment, the sopranos start with a chant-like serene melody. They are answered by the tenors and basses, in unison, which slowly builds up, to a thrilling climax of affirmation and ultimate triumph on the text: “Hosanna in the highest,” before again concluding peacefully.
Faure’s setting of the “Agnus Dei” (Lamb of God) will be sung by the choir during Communion. It builds in intensity, though still within Fauré’s characteristically gentle framework. It starts with a beautiful and profound melody in the violin, followed by the tenors and basses singing the Agnus Dei text in a pleading tone. An interesting moment occurs when the sopranos sing “lux aetera” that is–”light eternal,” for two measures, just on one note, a capella, without any accompaniment. Here, it is as if time stops, the contemplation of a moment’s reflection of eternity. At the end, the opening melody returns, in a brighter key signifying optimism and hope.
The following movement, “Libera me” (Deliver me) will also take place during Communion as the Communion Meditation. It is a more dramatic movement than those preceding it, yet still maintains a sense of control and restraint. The baritone solo’s text, sung by Jeffrey Leinen, speaks of deliverance from eternal death and the fear of judgment. One of the most dramatic and memorable melodies in the Requiem is then repeated dramatically by the choir, suggesting both the solemnity of death and the promise of resurrection. The movement ultimately resolves into a sense of calm, reinforcing the overall message of peace.
As a meditation before the Final Blessing, the choir will sing “In Paradisum” (Into Paradise), which has been noted as perhaps the most unique and comforting aspect of Fauré’s Requiem. Here, Fauré concludes with this beautiful, angelic vision of the soul being carried to paradise by angels. The soprano voices of the choir sing a soaring, chant-like, gentle melody, supported at the end harmonically by the rest of the choir, which creates a sense of calm optimism, and eternal peace. It is essentially a confident and hopeful farewell.
Here is a link to John Rutter conducting the Cambridge Singers and the City of London Sinfonia in a performance of Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem.
Introit et Kyrie: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXpQCRhZw2laREcCUl4Hb4IWOX9MNEQf3
Pie Jesu: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT4cmjWRC3Q&list=PLXpQCRhZw2laREcCUl4Hb4IWOX9MNEQf3&index=4
Offertoire: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-K83RjMbJs&list=PLXpQCRhZw2laREcCUl4Hb4IWOX9MNEQf3&index=2
Sanctus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qI-FpEzVIjc&list=PLXpQCRhZw2laREcCUl4Hb4IWOX9MNEQf3&index=3
Agnus Dei: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1dpIfAwAUE&list=PLXpQCRhZw2laREcCUl4Hb4IWOX9MNEQf3&index=5
Libera Me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXwFNoBHCf0&list=PLXpQCRhZw2laREcCUl4Hb4IWOX9MNEQf3&index=6
In Paradisum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAGClH9iFfY&list=PLXpQCRhZw2laREcCUl4Hb4IWOX9MNEQf3
Notes:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yitAGR0ZJQKIJOEG2Fj4X4hxDvUGzmkNomXpAJEaFrc/edit?tab=t.0
https://catholicproject.catholic.edu/the-all-souls-day-faure-requiem/