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• 1 2025-07-06T19:08:25-04:00 "Requiem Mass" by Herbert Howells, contributed by Tara Guetzloe (2025) 1 plain 2025-07-06T19:08:25-04:00
  Howells wrote his Requiem Mass in 1932 in the aftermath of unparalleled loss in World War I. When the requiem was found in 1980, it was initially thought to have been written for Howells’ son Michael, who died of polio at age 9. Researchers later discovered that the requiem was actually written 3 years before Michael’s death. Still, loss had accompanied Howells throughout his life, and I believe that this familiarity with grief allowed him to write a truly inspired work of art.
  
  Howells departs from the normal collection of texts for a mass, instead having six parts: Salvator mundi (“Savior of the world”), a ministration to the sick from the Book of Common Prayer; Psalm 23; Requiem aeternam I (“Rest eternal grant upon them”); Psalm 121; Requiem aeternam II (“Rest eternal grant upon them”); and I heard a voice from heaven (Revelation 14:13). This collection of texts creates an atmosphere of comfort and hope in the outpouring of grief. The music pulls at your very being with dissonant chords building into calmer, soaring resolutions. Howells managed to capture the essence of the intense despair felt with loss and how it can settle into a place of quiet hope and trust.

  1. Salvator mundi 
       O savior of the world, who by thy cross and thy precious blood has redeemed us, save us and help us, we humbly beseech thee, O Lord.
  
  2. Psalm 23
       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 in 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 forever.
  
  3. Requiem aeternam (I)
       Requiem aeternam dona eis.
       Et lux perpetua luceat eis.
       Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine.
  Translation:
       Rest eternal grant unto them.
       And may light perpetual shine upon them.
       Rest eternal grant unto them, O Lord.
  
  4. Psalm 121
       I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills; from whence cometh my help.
       My help cometh even from the Lord: who hath made heaven 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 and for evermore.
  
  5. Requiem aeternam (II)
  Requiem aeternam dona eis.
       Et lux perpetua luceat eis.
       Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine.
  Translation:
       Rest eternal grant unto them.
       And may light perpetual shine upon them.
       Rest eternal grant unto them, O Lord.
  
  6. I heard a voice from heaven 
       I heard a voice from heaven 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 labors.