Dvorak Requiem

Venue: 

Tewkesbury Abbey

Date: 

Saturday, 17 November, 2018

Organisation: 

Tewkesbury Abbey

This composition was performed for the first time on 9 October 1891, in Birmingham, England, with the composer conducting.Antonín Dvořák composed the Requiem at the beginning of his peak creative period.The construction of the Mass is not typical: the composition is divided into two basic parts, each of which begins with the original interconnection of several liturgical sequences. Dvořák inserted between the Sanctus and Agnus Dei a lyrical Pie Jesu movement based on the final text of the Dies irae sequence. The Requiem's basic melodic motif is created by two ascending half-tones with an incorporated very sorrowful diminished third, which begins the piece and continues in many variations as the main motif throughout the whole work.