Herbert Howells’s Requiem was composed in 1932, though it was not published until nearly half a century later, in 1981. Scored for unaccompanied choir and soloists, it draws on texts from the traditional Requiem Mass alongside other sacred writings: Psalm 23 (‘The Lord is my shepherd’), Psalm 121 (‘I will lift up mine eyes’), ‘Salvator mundi’ (‘O Saviour of the world’ in English), ‘Requiem aeternam’ (in two distinct settings), and ‘I heard a voice from heaven’.
Following the death of his son Michael in 1935, Howells incorporated substantial elements from the Requiem into his Hymnus Paradisi, a piece for soloists, large chorus, and orchestra, which received its first performance at the Three Choirs Festival in 1950. The a cappella Requiem itself lay unperformed until 1980, when the BBC Singers presented the world premiere under the direction of John Poole, and Novello issued the published score the year after.
Composer: Howells Title of Musical Work: Requiem