The Book of Requiems, 1550–1650

From the Earliest Ages to the Present Period

David J. Burn · Antonio Chemotti (eds)

Few western musical repertories speak more to the imagination than the Requiem mass for the dead. Yet, surprisingly, despite the significance of Requiem settings for our musical culture, the literature concerning them is sparse. The Book of Requiems presents essays on the most important works in this tradition, from the origins of the genre up to the present day. Each chapter is devoted to a specific Requiem, and offers both historical information and a detailed work-discussion. Conceived as a multi-volume essay collection by leading experts, the Book of Requiems is an authoritative reference publication intended as a first port of call for musicologists, music theorists, and performers both professional and student.

The present volume, the second in the series, treats settings composed between c. 1550 and c. 1650, a period in which the Requiem becomes a defining feature of the soundscape of Catholic death rituals.

€ 75,00 / £68.00

ISBN 978 94 6270 371 1

May 2023

Hardback, 17,8 × 25,4 cm

Richly illustrated with music examples ca. 250 pp.

English

The Book of Requiems II ebook available

Reference work for musicologists, music theorists, performers, and music lovers

David J. Burn is professor of musicology and head of the Early Music Research Group at KU Leuven.

Antonio Chemotti is assistant professor of musicology at the University of Leuven in association with the Alamire Foundation and research affiliate at the Royal Library of Belgium.

Contributors: Pieter Bergé (University of Leuven), Franz Körndle (University of Augsburg), Christian Thomas Leitmeir (University of Oxford), Alison Sanders McFarland (Louisiana State University), Bernadette Nelson (CESEM-FCSH, Nova University, Lisbon), Owen Rees (University of Oxford), Stephen Rice (director of The Brabant Ensemble), Katelijne Schiltz (University of Regensburg).

The Book of Requiems is a multi-volume set.

More volumes will be announced soon.

The Book of Requiems will become a primary reference tool on this fascinating genre and serve as a crucial aid to researchers, performers, and students of various disciplines. The editors of the second volume in the series have made a highly insightful decision to group together works from ca. 1550 to ca. 1650; this cuts across stylistic changes and reveals the most intense period of creation of Requiem settings and many shared compositional approaches across the traditional style periods. — Grayson Wagstaff, The Catholic University of America