Requiem Aeternam - Louis Vierne
**Gloria - Francis Poulenc
Introit and Kyrie - Maurice Durufle
Agnus Dei - Maurice Durufle
Variations Sur Sine Nomine - Denis Bedard
Hymns: #287 Sine Nomine, #293 Grand Isle, #625 Darwall's 148th
This weeks music all comes from the late(r) French Romantic period. Vierne, Poulenc and Durufle all come from the Paris Conservatoire and share many of the same influences. One of the biggest influences on the writing of Vierne and Durufle is the music of the Catholic Church. Durufle's Requiem was written in memory of his father. It started as a commission from his publisher for a set of organ pieces based on the Gregorian chants for the Requiem mass but as a result of his personal loss evolved into a mass in memory of his father. Durufle was extremely critical of his own writing and despite a long career has left behind only 13 published works. The prelude is from Louis Vierne's Pieces de Fantasie Suite 1. Requiem Aeternam was written in memory of his brother Edouard. Durufle served as Vierne's assistant at Notre Dame before taking the position of titular organist at Saint Etienne-du-Mort. The Poulenc Gloria was is dedicated to the memory of Sergei and Nathalie Koussevitzky, the former music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and his wife. Koussevitzky was responsible for commissioning many works including Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms and Ravel's arrangement of Pictures at an Exhibition. The postlude is a set of variations on Sine Nomine by the Canadian composer Denis Bedard. Bedard has composed a great deal of church music. Many of his pieces are based on hymn tunes and are accessible and audience friendly (including this one).
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