Camille Saint-Saëns Messe de Requiem

Saint-Saëns’ colorful Messe de Requiem op. 54, originally opulently scored, is published here in an ingenious reduced version, so that smaller choirs, and choirs with more limited resources of space or finance can also perform this attractive work with smaller instrumental forces.

The original large forces – quadruple wind and brass and four harps – may have been a reason why the expressive and richly colored work was less well-known than the composer’s Oratorio de Noël (Carus 40.455), a popular work the world over. To expand the options for performance, Carus has therefore published two versions of the Messe de Requiem – the original version, whose material has been arranged in such a way that the work can alternatively be performed with 11 instead of 20 wind and brass instruments (Carus 27.317), and a version without any wind or brass, scored just for strings, one or two harps, and organ. These versions are based on an arrangement published by Durand in 1927, and newly adapted by Klaus Rothaupt. The organ is allocated sections of the original wind and brass parts; registration details will help rehearsing. The vocal and string parts are unaltered compared with the original composition, so the vocal and choral score of the original version can also be used for this version. This is a fine-sounding, distinctive setting of the Requiem Mass which is undoubtedly one of the composer’s most important works.

• Major requiem can also be performed by smaller choir
• version without any wind or brass, reduced strings, one or two harps, and organ
• Vocal scores and choral scores from the original version can be used.