Requiem

A requiem is a musical setting of the Mass for the Dead of the Roman Catholic liturgy, named for its opening words, Requiem aeternam dona eis — grant them eternal rest. Its texts, centred on the Introit, the Dies Irae sequence, the Offertory and the Libera Me, address death, judgement and consolation, and have drawn composers from the Renaissance to the present. Settings range from unaccompanied polyphony to vast Romantic scores for soloists, chorus and orchestra; from the nineteenth century the requiem increasingly left the church for the concert hall, becoming a vehicle for public mourning and personal testament.