Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 3.djvu/121

REPETITION. But there need be no difficulty in playing this on a well-regulated and checked single escapement. With a double escapement the nicety of checking is not so much required. [ A. J. H. ]

REPRISE, repetition; a term which is occasionally applied to any repetition in music, but is most conveniently confined to the recurrence of the first subject of a movement after the conclusion of the working out or Durchführung. In that sense it is used in this work. [ G. ]

REQUIEM (Lat. Missa pro Defunctis; Ital. Messa per i Defonti; Fr. Messe des Morts; Germ. Todtenmesse). A solemn Mass, sung, annually, in Commemoration of the Faithful Departed, on All Souls' Day (Nov. 2); and, with a less general intention, at Funeral Services, on the anniversaries of the decease of particular persons, and on such other occasions as may be dictated by feelings of public respect, or individual piety.

The Requiem takes its name from the first word of the Introit—'Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine.' When set to Music, it naturally aranges itself in nine principal sections: (1) The Introit—'Requiem æternam'; (2) the 'Kyrie'; (3) the Gradual, and Tract—'Requiem æternam,' and 'Absolve, Domine'; (4) The Sequence or Prose—'Dies iræ'; (5) The Offertorium—'Domine Jesu Christi'; (6) the 'Sanctus'; (7) the 'Benedictus'; (8) the 'Agnus Dei'; and (9) the Communio—'Lux æterna.' To these are sometimes added (10) the Responsorium, 'Libera me,' which, though not an integral portion of the Mass, immediately follows it, on all solemn occasions; and (11) the Lectio'—Tædet animam meam,' of which we possess at least one example of great historical interest.

The Plain Chaunt Melodies adapted to the nine divisions of the Mass will be found in the Gradual; together with that proper for the Responsorium. The Lectio, which really belongs to a different Service, has no proper Melody, but is sung to the ordinary 'Tonus Lectionis.' [See .] The entire series of Melodies is of rare beauty; and produces so solemn an effect, when sung, in Unison, by a large body of Grave Equal Voices, that most of the great Polyphonic Composers have employed its phrases more freely than usual, in their Requiem Masses, either as Canti fermi, or, in the form of unisonous passages interposed between the harmonised portions of the work. Compositions of this kind are not very numerous; but most of the examples we possess must be classed among the most perfect productions of their respective authors.

Palestrina's 'Missa pro Defunctis,' for 5 Voices, first printed at Rome in 1591, in the form of a supplement to the Third Edition of his 'First Book of Masses,' was reproduced in 1841 by Alfieri, in the first volume of his 'Raccolta di Musica Sacra'; again, by Lafage, in a valuable 8vo. volume, entitled 'Cinq Messes de Palestrina'; and by the Prince de la Moskowa in the 9th volume of his collection [see p. 31 of the present vol.], and has since been advertised, by Messrs. Breitkopf & Härtel, of Leipzig, as part of the contents of their complete edition. This beautiful work is, unhappily, very incomplete, consisting only of the 'Kyrie,' the 'Offertorium,' the 'Sanctus,' the 'Benedictus,' and the 'Agnus Dei.' We must not, however, suppose that the Composer left his work unfinished. It was clearly his intention that the remaining Movements should be sung, in accordance with a custom still common at Roman Funerals, in unisonous Plain Chaunt: and, as a fitting conclusion to the whole, he has left us two settings of the 'Libera me,' in both of which the Gregorian Melody is treated with an indescribable intensity of pathos. One of these is preserved, in MS., among the Archives of the Pontifical Chapel, and the other, among those of the Lateran Basilica. After a careful comparison of the two, Baini arrived at the conclusion that that belonging to the Sistine Chapel must have been composed very nearly at the same time as, and probably as an adjunct to, the five printed Movements, which are also founded, more or less closely, upon the original Canti fermi, and so constructed as to bring their characteristic beauties into the highest possible relief—in no case, perhaps, with more touching effect than in the opening 'Kyrie,' the first few bars of which will be found at page 78 of our second volume.

Next in importance to Palestrina's Requiem, is a very grand one, for 6 Voices, composed by Vittoria, for the Funeral of the Empress Maria, widow of Maximilian II. This fine work—undoubtedly the greatest triumph of Vittoria's genius—comprises all the chief divisions of the Mass, except the Sequence, together with the Responsorium, and Lectio; and brings the Plain Chaunt Subjects into prominent relief, throughout. It was first published, at Madrid, in 1605—the year of its production. In 1869 the Lectio was reprinted at Ratisbon, by Joseph Schrems, in continuation of Proske's 'Musica divina.' A later cahier of the same valuable collection contains the Mass and Responsorium; both edited by Haberl, with a conscientious care which would leave nothing to be desired, were it not for the altogether needless transposition with which the work is disfigured, from beginning to end. The original volume contains one more Movement—'Versa est in luctum'—which has never been reproduced in modern notation; but, as this has now no place in the Roman Funeral Service, its omission is not so much to be regretted.

Some other very fine Masses for the Dead, by Francesco Anerio, Orazio Vecchi, and Giov. Matt. Asola, are included in the same collection, together with a somewhat pretentious work, by Pitoni, which scarcely deserves the enthusiastic eulogium bestowed upon it by Dr. Proske. A far finer Composition, of nearly similar date, is Colonna's massive Requiem for 8 Voices, first printed at Bologna in 1684—a copy of which 