Howells Requiem
Herbert Howells Requiem
Sunday, November 1 5:00 PM
On Sunday, November 1, at 5:00 PM, the All Saints Festival Choir will offer a special Choral Evensong for All Saints’ Day, featuring Herbert Howells’ Requiem, one of the great works of twentieth-century English choral music.
Herbert Howells (1892–1983) was among the most influential composers of English sacred music in the twentieth century. Closely associated with the Anglican cathedral tradition, his works remain corerepertoire of church choirs throughout the English-speaking world.
Howells’ musical language was shaped by the generation that preceded him, particularly Charles Villiers Stanford, C. Hubert H. Parry, and Ralph Vaughan Williams. Hearing Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis sparked a lifelong fascination with Tudor music, an influence that became a defining feature of his own style. Like Vaughan Williams, Howells also drew inspiration from the beauty of the English countryside.
Written in 1932, Howells’ Requiem departs from the liturgical sequence of the Mass for the Dead. Instead, it interweaves texts from the Psalms with portions of the Latin Requiem, following a model established by Charles Wood and later adopted by composers such as John Rutter. Scored for unaccompanied choir, the work displays Howells’ colorful vocal writing, ranging from double-choir and eight-part harmonies to simple passages built around a single melodic line. Interestingly, the Requiem was not publicly performed until 1980, nearly fifty years after it was written.
All Saints Day is a time when the Church remembers those who have gone before us, giving thanks for their lives. Howells’ Requiem is particularly appropriate for this observance. We hope you will join us for this special service of Choral Evensong, a time to step away from the busyness of life and experience the splendor of the Anglican choral tradition in a setting for which it was intended. As is our custom, Evensong will be followed by a catered community dinner, and all are invited.