Herbert Howells was born in Lydney, Gloucestershire. He received early encouragement in the arts from his father, who played the organ at the local Baptist chapel. On beginning music lessons in earnest, Howells quickly showed great promise; at 16 years old, he was taken on as an Articled Pupil at Gloucester Cathedral.
Howells went on to study under Sir Charles Villiers Stanford, Sir Hubert Parry and Charles Wood at the Royal College of Music after winning a scholarship there. After a brief tenure at Salisbury Cathedral as sub-organist, he returned to the Royal College of Music to lecture in composition, alongside other tuition roles, including at St Paul’s Girls’ School, where he succeeded Gustav Holst as Director of Music.
The sudden death of his 9-year-old son, Michael, from polio in 1935 was a devastating loss, colouring Howells’ outlook for the rest of his life. Profound grief left him unable to compose for substantial periods, but ultimately proved a powerful influence on his creative output. Over the following decades his emotional response inspired, among other works, the Hymnus Paradisi (1938), Missa Sabrinensis (1954), A Sequence for St Michael (1961–2), and the hymn tune for All my hope on God is founded (1938) - originally written for Charterhouse School, but later renamed in Michael’s memory.
The Requiem itself was written in 1932, but it was made available for performance in 1980, and published the following year. Although it pre-dates Michael’s death, some of the material served as sketches for the later and more complex Hymnus Paradisi, which was an explicit expression of Howells’ personal loss. A tangible sense of grief nonetheless suffuses the earlier work, which has been interpreted as a broader reflection of the public mood during this period – characterised by the great losses of the First World War.
Howells’ ability to articulate both heart-rending desolation and exquisite joy through his writing, combined with his unique musical style, placed him at the forefront of Anglican liturgical music in the mid to late 20th century. His lifelong interest in Medieval and Tudor music is evident in his compositions, giving them a historical resonance that accorded closely with the aesthetics of the Oxford Movement.
This sense of long tradition and reverence is palpable in his choral works, even despite their distinct modernity and freshness (and Howells’ private ambivalence towards religious faith).
Howells’ Requiem is not a standard setting of the full Latin mass for the dead. Familiar parts of a typical funeral mass, including the ‘Dies irae’ and ‘Lux aeterna’, ‘Kyrie’, ‘Sanctus’, ‘Benedictus’, and ‘Agnus Dei’ are absent. Instead, Howells retains a key element, ‘Requiem aeternam’, interspersing two different settings of this prayer between other liturgical texts of an elegiac nature.
The piece opens with the antiphon ‘Salvator mundi’: a plea to Christ for salvation, expressed with uncertain urgency that swells and subsides in a double choir arrangement. ‘Psalm 23’ (The Lord is my Shepherd), perhaps the most famous of all the psalms and almost synonymous with remembrance of the dead, follows. Solo voices highlight the timeless beauty of the first verse; they are joined by the choir, in a mesmerising chordal chant, which blooms briefly at the triumphant high point in the text: “and my cup shall be full”.
The first treatment of ‘Requiem aeternam’, loving and restrained, with a celestial softness, is followed by ‘Psalm 121’ (I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills). After the psalm is introduced by solo baritone, the chordal chant texture returns. The tone is resolutely confident in God’s protection, before giving way to vivid imagery of the sun, the moon, and the warding away of evil, which Howells imbues with a sense of ancient mysticism.
The second setting of ‘Requiem aeternam’ is a movement of increasing complexity and emotional intensity, reaching its apotheosis at “et lux perpetua luceat eis” (and let perpetual light shine upon them) - a moment of both anguish and expectation.
A verse from the Book of Revelation in the New Testament, ‘I heard a voice from heaven’, brings the work to a close. The vision described in the narrative is one of comfort, compassion and release, granting the dead the title of “blessed”; the sustained suspension gently resolves as the departed may finally “rest from their labours”. The words of this last movement also appear in the final movement of Brahms’ A German Requiem (1868) – and in common with Brahms’ work, the unconventional choices of text in Howells’ Requiem make for a very personal and reflective interpretation of mourning and remembrance.
I. Salvator mundi (Saviour of the world)
O Saviour of the world, who by thy Cross and precious Blood hast redeemed us;
Save us, and help us, we humbly beseech thee, O Lord.
II. Psalm 23 (The Lord is my shepherd)
The Lord is my shepherd: therefore can I lack nothing.
He shall feed me in a green pasture: and lead me forth beside the waters of comfort.
He shall convert my soul: and bring me forth in the paths of righteousness,
for his Name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: thy rod and thy staff comfort me.
Thou shalt prepare a table before me against them that trouble me: thou hast anointed my head with oil, and my cup shall be full.
But thy loving kindness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
III. Requiem aeternam (1)
Requiem aeternam dona eis, et lux perpetua luceat eis.
Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine.
(Translation: Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.)
IV. Psalm 121 (I will lift up mine eyes)
I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills: from whence cometh my help.
My help cometh even from the Lord: who hath made heav’n and earth.
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: and he that keepeth thee will not sleep.
Behold, he that keepeth Israel: shall neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord himself is thy keeper: he is thy defence upon thy right hand;
So that the sun shall not burn thee by day: neither the moon by night.
The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: yea, it is even he that shall keep thy soul.
The Lord shall preserve thy going out, and thy coming in: from this time forth for evermore.
V. Requiem aeternam (2)
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine: et lux perpetua luceat eis.
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine.
(Translation: Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.)
VI. I heard a voice from heaven
I heard a voice from heav’n saying unto me:
Write, From henceforth blessed are the dead which die in the Lord:
Even so saith the Spirit: for they rest from their labours.
