The requiem is an exceptional musical genre, almost every example of which is linked to the mourning of a particular individual or collectivity. Initially the name requiem meant a setting of the texts of the funeral mass, strictly defined by liturgical books. Over time, the genre became more independent, thanks to composers who chose the words of the cycle with increasing freedom. For many years, the reason behind the composing of the moving Requiem by Herbert Howells, one of the leading representatives of twentieth-century English choral music, was believed to have been the painful loss of his son. However, archive research has shown that this composition was written a few years earlier. Only later did the work acquire an overwhelmingly personal significance for the composer, who waited almost 40 years before publishing it. Howells’s Requiem will be performed by the Warsaw Philharmonic Choir, conducted by its director, Bartosz Michałowski, in an exceptional concert of sacred choral music from different parts of twentieth-century Europe related largely to the theme of passing. The programme will conclude with the Missa brevis by the Swedish composer Sven-David Sandström, who died a few years ago and would have turned 80 this year.

Bartłomiej Gembicki