Washington University Concert Choir to present Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem April 20

The Washington University Concert Choir will present an evening of French choral music at 8 p.m. Thursday, April 20, in Graham Chapel.

The performance is free and open to the public. Graham Chapel is located immediately north of the Mallinckrodt Student Center, 6445 Forsyth Blvd. For more information, call (314) 935-4841 or email staylor@wustl.edu.

The program will open with Tu es Petrus and Ubi caritas by French composer Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986). Both works are based on medieval plainchant from the Roman Catholic liturgy.

Featured on the program is the Requiem of Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924), one of the most beloved works of all choral literature. The piece is dedicated to the memories of Elizabeth Gray Danforth, wife of Chancellor Emeritus William H. Danforth and first lady of Washington University for nearly a quarter century, who passed away last spring; and Sona Haydon, a longtime lecturer in piano for the Department of Music in Arts & Sciences, who died last fall.

John Stewart, director of vocal activities for the Department of Music, notes that the Requiem’s appeal “resides in lush, rich harmonies woven with melodies of great warmth and beauty. The entire piece is shaded with exquisite subtlety typical of late-19th century French music.”

Fauré composed his Requiem in 1887, shortly after the death of his parents. At the time he served as choirmaster at the Madeleine, one of Paris’s best known and most fashionable churches. The work’s first performance took place there on January 16, 1888. Unlike the more bombastic requiems of Hector Berlioz and Giuseppe Verdi, which shake the rafters in their depiction of the Day of Judgment, Fauré’s aim was to create a work of consolation and peace, which is poignantly achieved through the quietness of the “Pie Jesu” and “In Paradisum,” two of the Requiem’s five movements.

Stewart has chosen to present the work in its original, more intimate version, rather than the large-scale (and better-known) reworking for full orchestra which Fauré prepared for a performance at the Trocadéro Palace during the 1900 Paris World Exhibition.

The small orchestra for this version of the Requiem consists of strings, two French horns, harp and organ. Soloists are soprano Amy Schwarz, a senior in Arts & Sciences, and Nathan Ruggles, who teaches voice in the Department of Music. Also featured is Washington University organist William Partridge, Jr.