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Details
St George's Church
London Road South
Poynton
England
SK12 1NH
England
Programme
Luigi Cherubini – Requiem in C minor
Performers
Neil Taylor – Musical Director
Peter Durrant – Accompanist
St George's Singers, Poynton
Other concerts in this Series (+)
Programme Note
Born in 1760 in Florence, Luigi Cherubini moved to Paris aged 27 and lived there for the rest of his life, achieving enormous success as an opera composer before turning to religious music.
His Requiem in C minor was first performed in 1817 at a memorial service to commemorate the 24th anniversary of the execution of Louis XVI at the hands of the French Revolutionaries. Beethoven (who regarded Cherubini as the greatest composer of the age), Brahms, Berlioz and Schumann all greatly admired the work, and it was performed at Beethoven’s funeral in 1827. However, in 1834 the work was banned by the Archbishop of Paris because of its use of women’s voices, causing Cherubini to compose a second version for men’s voices only, and although during the 19th century his Requiem was regarded as on a par with Mozart’s, by the end of the century Cherubini was out of favour and the piece forgotten.
Rarely performed even now, the Requiem is a work of great beauty, with dramatic moments balanced by reflective passages. Unusual in that it requires no soloists, it is a joy to sing, and an ideal choice for a Singing Day.
Singing ticket prices include music hire (Peters Edition), morning coffee and afternoon tea including cakes. Home-made soup and filled rolls will be available to purchase for lunch, price £5.
Please visit our website for further details and to download a registration form.
