Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

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REQUIEM RESOLUTION 67
characteristic beauties into the highest possible
relief—in no case, perhaps, with more touching
etfect than in the opening ' Kyrie,' the first few
bars of which will be found at vol. ii. p. 613.
Next in importance to Palestrina's Requiem
is a very grand one, for six voices, composed by
Vittoria for the funeral of the Empress Maria,
widow of MaximOian II. This tine work
undoubtedly the greatest triumph of Vittoria's
genius—comprises all the chief divisions of the
Mass, except the Sequence, together with the
Besponsorium and Lectio, and brings the
plain -song subjects into prominent relief
throughout. It was first published at Madrid
in 1605—the year of its production. In 1869
the Lectio was reprinted at Katisbon, by Joseph
Schrems, in continuation of Froske's 'Musica
Divina.' A later issue of the same valuable
collection contains the Mass and Eesponsorium.
The original volume contains one more movement—
' Versa est in luctum '—which has never
been reproduced in modern notation ; but, as
this has now no place in the Roman Funeral
Service, its omission is not so much to be
regretted.
Some other very fine Masses for the Dead,
by Francesco Anerio, Orazio Vecohi, and Giov.
Matt. Asola, are included in the same collection,
together with a somewhat pretentious
work by Pitoni, which scarcely deserves the
enthusiastic eulogium bestowed upon it by
Dr. Proske. A far finer composition, of nearly
similar date, is Colonna's massive Requiem for
eight voices, first printed at Bologna in 1684
a copy of which is preserved in the Library of
the Royal College of Music.
Several modern Requiem Masses have become
very celebrated.
(1.) The history of Mozart's last work is
surrounded by mysteries which render it scarcely
less interesting to the general reader than the
music itself is to the student. (See vol. iii.
p. 308 ff.)
(2.) For Gossec's Messe ' des Morts ' see vol.
ii. p. 203.
(3.) Next in importance to Mozart's immortal
work are the two great Requiem Masses of
Cherubini. The first of these, in C minor, was
written for the Anniversary of the death of
King Louis XVI. (Jan. 21, 1793), and first
sung on that occasion at the Abbey Church
of Saint- Denis in 1817; after which it was
not again heard until Feb. 14, 1820, when it
was repeated in the same church at the funeral
Berlioz regarded this as
of the Due de Berri.
Cherubini's greatest work. It is undoubtedly
full of beauties. Its general tone is one of
extreme moumfnlness, pervaded throughout
by deep religious feeling. Except in the ' Dies
irae ' and 'Sanctus' this style is never exchanged
for a more excited one ; and, even then, the
treatment can scarcely be called dramatic.
The deep pathos of the little movement, interposed
after the last Osanna,' .'
to fulfil the usual
office
'
of the Benedictus '—which '— is here
incorporated with the ' Sanctus exhibits the
composer's power of appealing to the feelings in
its most affecting light.
The second Requiem, in D minor, for three
male voices is in many respects a greater work
than the first ; though the dramatic element
pervades it so freely that its character as a
religious service is sometimes entirely lost.
It was completed on Sept. 24, 1836, a few
days after the composer had entered his seventyseventh
year ; and, with the exception of the
sixth quartet and the quintet in E minor, was
his last important work. The Dies ' irae ' was
first sung at the concert of the Conservatoire,
March 19, 1837, and repeated on the 24th of
the same month. On March 25, 1838, the
work was sung throughout. In the January
of that year Mendelssohn had already recommended
it to the notice of the committee of
the Lower Rhine Festival; and in 1872 and
1873 it was sung as a funeral service in the
Roman Catholic Chapel, in Farm Street, London.
It is doubtful whether Cherubini's genius ever
shone to greater advantage than in this gigantic
work. Every movement is full of interest
and the whirlwind ' of sound ' which ushers in
the Dies ' irae ' produces an eff'ect which, once
heard, can never be forgotten. w. s. K.
[Schumann's Requiem, op. 148, is of comparatively
small importance ; more beautiful
compositions of his with the same title are the
'Requiem for Mignon,' and a song included
in op. 90. These two have, of course, nothing
to do with the words of the Mass which are
here under discussion ; nor has the famous
'
German Requiem ' of Brahms, which has been
noticed in its own place (see vol. i. p. 384).
Verdi's Requiem, written in memory of Manzoni,
startled the purists when it was produced in
1874, but it gradually won the enthusiastic
approval even of the most ardent classicists,
for it is a masterpiece in its way. Among later
Requiem Masses may be mentioned Stanford's
work in memory of Lord Leighton, given at
the Birmingham Festival of 1897 ; Henschel's
expressive Requiem, written in memory of his
wife, in 1902 ; and Sgambati's in memory of
King Humbert, published 1906.]
RESIN. See Colophane, and Rosin.
possibly, but
RESINARIUS, Balthasar, is
not certainly, identical with Balthasar Harzer
or Hartzer. He was bom at Jessen early in
the 16th century, took clerical orders and became
Bishop of Leipa in Bohemia about 1543.
He had been a chorister in the service of the
Emperor Maximilian I. He is said to have been
a pupil of Isaac, and he published at Wittenberg
in 1543 Responsorium numero '
octoginta
de tempore et festis . . . libri duo.
RESOLUTION is the process of relieving
dissonance by succeeding consonance. All dis