# Looking for the name of a requiem **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 13, 2009, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-the-name-of-a-requiem/492942 "2009-04-13T15:10:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-the-name-of-a-requiem/492942/1 "2009-04-13T15:10:20Z")
several years ago I attended a requiem and really liked it, but I’ve forgotten the name of the composer. It was a modern piece (post 1900), and I’m pretty sure the composer’s name just had four letters in it. can anyone help me find it? ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-the-name-of-a-requiem/492942/2 "2009-04-13T15:55:07Z")
Well, it ain’t Berg and it ain’t Pärt, cause neither of them wrote a Requiem. I love me a good stumper like this, but in the meantime you might be faster looking up who did the performance and going from there… Let us know if we get any more hints. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-the-name-of-a-requiem/492942/3 "2009-04-13T16:31:06Z")
In addition, neither Cage, Ives or Nono wrote a requiem. This is fascinating, because I just don’t think of composers by how many letters in their name… Nationality, style, period, influences, alphabetically, instruments played, instruments written for - yes; how many letters - this is a fun challenge. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-the-name-of-a-requiem/492942/4 "2009-04-13T16:41:41Z")
> [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](#): > > …this is a fun challenge. Maybe for you. The only four-letter composer I can think of is Bach, but he doesn’t fit the time frame. I’ll leave this challenge in the hands of an expert. I should be working anyway. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-the-name-of-a-requiem/492942/5 "2009-04-13T16:51:38Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > It was a modern piece (post 1900) Was it a tonal work, or something avant-gardish? If tonal, possibly [Richard Wetz](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Wetz)? ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-the-name-of-a-requiem/492942/6 "2009-04-13T17:01:37Z")
Jocelyn Pook has a piece called [Requiem Aeternam](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9V9iuKgSlU), but it’s not a full mass. Fauré has ‘faur’ letters in his name 🙂 (although the earliest version of his was finished before 1900). ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-the-name-of-a-requiem/492942/7 "2009-04-13T17:38:51Z")
How’s about [Nicholas Lens?](http://members.optusnet.com.au/charles57/Requiem/flamma.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-the-name-of-a-requiem/492942/8 "2009-04-13T18:28:26Z")
Lukas Foss!! Nah, bugger it, he didn’t write one, either. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-the-name-of-a-requiem/492942/9 "2009-04-13T21:26:14Z")
> [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](#): > > in the meantime you might be faster looking up who did the performance and going from there… Let us know if we get any more hints. It was in the local Roman Catholic Cathedral about 12 or 15 years ago - I doubt that they keep the programmes that far back. I seem to recall the composer’s name was an Anglo-Saxon type of name, if that’s of any assistance. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-the-name-of-a-requiem/492942/10 "2009-04-13T21:27:16Z")
> [@panamajack](#): > > Fauré has ‘faur’ letters in his name 🙂 I’ve commented before that we need a :groan: smiley. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-the-name-of-a-requiem/492942/11 "2009-04-13T23:06:35Z")
Was it the traditional liturgical text in Latin? Or English? Or a mix? Or different text just grouped under the title of Requiem? ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-the-name-of-a-requiem/492942/12 "2009-04-14T01:52:28Z")
Rutter. No, probably not–fails the four letter test, but while under ordinary circumstances his name comes readily to mind, immediately after reading this question his name ran away and refused to come back for a while. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-the-name-of-a-requiem/492942/13 "2009-04-14T03:20:38Z")
Sink me, this is tough. Phillip Wood - nope. Hugh Wood - nope. Judith Weir - nope. Phyllis Tate has a thing called ‘A Secular Requiem’, based on Shakespeare’s ‘The Phoenix and the Turtle’. Martin Shaw - nope. Minna Keal - couldn’t find her catalogue online… Trevor Hold wrote a thing called ‘Requiescat’… Gareth Glyn - nope. Eric Fogg - nope. Gordon Dale - nope. Gerard Francis Cobb - nope. Arthur Duff - nope. Alan Bush - nope. Stanley Bate - nope. Giving up for the evening - I’ll phone you when the answer comes to me at 4 AM… ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-the-name-of-a-requiem/492942/14 "2009-04-14T08:58:41Z")
I just found this: [http://www.requiemsurvey.org/](http://www.requiemsurvey.org/) …plenty to choose from! ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-the-name-of-a-requiem/492942/15 "2009-04-14T15:16:47Z")
Andrew Lloyd Webber (six letters) wrote a _Requiem_: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/QOWm_rBDRzE/hqdefault.jpg "Andrew Lloyd Webber - Requiem concert - Part 1") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOWm_rBDRzE) The best-known song from it is probably “Pie Jesu”: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/OhOstwxcwWs/hqdefault.jpg "Pie Jesu (Andrew Lloyd Webber)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhOstwxcwWs) Samuel Barber’s _Adagio for Strings_ isn’t a requiem, as such, but has often been used as one (at the time of JFK’s death, in the movie _Platoon_, and after 9-11, as shown here): [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRMz8fKkG2g&feature=PlayList&p=1F994042A5A002B9&playnext=1&playnext\_from=PL&index=1](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRMz8fKkG2g&feature=PlayList&p=1F994042A5A002B9&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=1) ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-the-name-of-a-requiem/492942/16 "2009-04-14T15:20:33Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > Maybe for you. The only four-letter composer I can think of is Bach, but he doesn’t fit the time frame. P.D.Q.? ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-the-name-of-a-requiem/492942/17 "2009-04-14T23:17:33Z")
[Karl (4 letters) Jenkins?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RirEqehfsg) ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-the-name-of-a-requiem/492942/18 "2009-04-15T03:20:09Z")
The Faure Requiem is often performed in churches during Lent. [Here are some samples.](http://www.amazon.com/Faure-Requiem-Op-48-Durufle-Op-9/dp/B000003CU2/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1239765324&sr=8-1) ---
**Author:** ![Cyberhwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-the-name-of-a-requiem/492942/19 "2009-04-15T07:34:42Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > The Faure Requiem is often performed in churches during Lent. > > [Here are some samples.](http://www.amazon.com/Faure-Requiem-Op-48-Durufle-Op-9/dp/B000003CU2/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1239765324&sr=8-1) LOL. I just bought that exact recording not two weeks ago. I get to perform it in a couple months. 🙂