New Season 2018-19

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This season promises to be an indulgent one as the choir performs two of the best –loved and contrasting requiems of the choral repertoire – those of Fauré and Mozart.

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Mozart’s Requiem is widely regarded as a choral masterpiece and the finest requiem of its time. Mozart was known for working within the conventions of the day – in this case music for the Catholic Liturgy – as well as cleverly incorporating elements from others’ compositions. This requiem also introduced a shift in the genre. It was the first where melodic, rhythmic and instrumental techniques were deliberately used for emotional effect.  The requiem became the genre whereby a composer could display the breadth of their rhetorical technique.

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However, many will know that the requiem was shrouded in mystery – it was an anonymous commission from a ‘grey stranger’ who visited Mozart’s home after dark one night and paid for up front for the composition.  Mozart was gravely ill at the time and died leaving a sizeable portion of the requiem still to write. It is now known that the piece was commissioned by Count Franz von Walsegg-Stuppach who had a reputation for claiming other’s music as his own. Mozart’s wife was worried that if the commission was not completed by Mozart the payment would have to be returned. She secretly arranged for the piece to be finished. Much mythology grew around who exactly had finished the requiem and how exactly they’d done it. It is thought that one of Mozart’s friends and students completed the piece using notes and guidance left by Mozart and his own personal observations. It was Beethoven who said: ‘If Mozart did not write the music, then the man who wrote it was a Mozart.’    It was several years after his death before the Count would credit Mozart with masterminding the piece.   Parts of the requiem were played at Mozart’s own funeral and after it was performed some years later, it quickly became popular as a concert piece suitable for the memorials of the great and famous, including Beethoven and Napoleon. It has held an iconic place in history ever since.

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Composed some 100 years later, Fauré’s Requiem is unlike many in that Gabriel Fauré was seen as somewhat of a religious ‘sceptic’ and so the tone is quite different to those written by his contemporaries. Instead of a sombre, morbid piece we are presented with a calm and tranquil one that focuses more on the supposedly restful and fear-free nature of death.   Fauré himself said that he wanted to write something different which reflected how he viewed death - “a happy deliverance, an aspiration towards happiness above, rather than as a painful experience. “  The Fauré will be an extra performance – a special concert on 11th November itself to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day. Singers from across Eastbourne and surrounding areas are warmly welcomed to join Phoenix for this special concert. Rehearsals for the Fauré will begin in October.