How Requiems are Used & Memorialize in our Society in Events

Requiem music plays an important role in human lives, as it is related to their emotions upon serious loss, as a response to the souls of the deceased persons in a particular form. Often, but not always, requiem music is associated with the funeral context. The term of “requiem music” is usually used to describe the compositions, related to death and mourning. Using the most outstanding and famous examples of requiems, it is possible to trace the meaning of this kind of music for the whole generations of humans, as the ways to remember and glorify the dead people, who gave their lives for the sake of the lives of the others or died in tragic accidents.

One of the greatest and vivid examples of requiem music is Different Trains, which was produced by Steve Reich as an autobiography and memorial of the Holocaust and World War II. On the basis of this example it is possible to trace the profound meaning of requiems for evoking some past events with the help of words, letters and symbols, which help to memorize certain places and events. Different Trains include the sounds of trains and speech, which contribute to creation of the feeling of space. Reich also used the recorded voices from America-Before the war, Europe-During the War, and After the War, mimicking them in the string instruments (Songs of Remembrance. LIB-320: The Music of War and Peace. Thomas Edison State College, 2015).

A lot of people died during World War II and in order to commemorate these dead individuals Benjamin Britten produced his War Requiem. For this sake he took the Latin Mass for the Dead and added nine poems, devoted to the theme of war by the English port Wilfred Owen. The combination could be related not only to World War II, but be treated as requiem for all wars in this world.

The work of American avant-garde George Crumb was different, as he produced “electric string quartet” Black Angles, revealing his protest to the Vietnam War. Black Angles was subtitled as “Thirteen Images from the Dark Land: a parable on our troubled contemporary world” and performs the role of the memorial to the Vietnam War and the reflection of the humans’ feelings towards those bloody and devastating events. The Vietnam War was to a great extent different from other wars, which were rather seen as the examples of glory and victory, it was perceived as a destruction and death machine. (Songs of Remembrance. LIB-320: The Music of War and Peace. Thomas Edison State College, 2015).

In order to commemorate the terrorist attacks of 9/11 American composer John Adams wrote his famous work On the Transmigration of Souls. Later he commented he did not want to focus upon such terms as memorial or requiem, as they seemed to be too conventional for his work. He called it a “memory space”, which symbolized the place for an individual to move to in order to remain alone with his thoughts and pains. Although this work was devoted to a concrete historical event, John Adams considered it to be relevant for various human experiences. On the Transmigration of Souls is made up of different parts, including the reading of each victim’s names, the sound of the city, cars, sirens, traffic and the sounds of the chorus, singing the texts from missing –persons signs, posted by their families. The major peculiarity of these texts was their simplicity, as people in the state of shock from such a loss are simply not able to look for nice words and beautiful phrases.

Overall, requiem music roots back to the religious practices, but has transformed in the modern world. It continues to perform the function of humans’ mourning of the dead people and helps them to reveal their emotions and go over their moral suffering, caused by the loss of dear and close people and serves a strong reminder of the important historical experiences of the whole humanity.

Works cited:

Songs of Remembrance. LIB-320: The Music of War and Peace. Thomas Edison State College, 2015

The terms offer and acceptance. (2016, May 17). Retrieved from

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016.

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

freeessays.club (2016) The terms offer and acceptance [Online].
Available at:

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]
close
Haven't found the right essay?
Get an expert to write you the one you need!
print

Professional writers and researchers

quotes

Sources and citation are provided

clock

3 hour delivery

person