Requiem Canticles

work by Stravinsky

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July 13, 2026

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The Requiem Canticles is a choral work by Igor Stravinsky, completed in 1966. It is a profound adaptation of modern serial techniques, deeply rooted in his Russian heritage. This piece is a testament to Stravinsky's enduring creative vitality in his eighties.1

A requiem mass is a musical setting of the Mass for the Dead, named after the opening Latin phrase "Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine" ("Give them eternal rest, O Lord"). Traditional requiems omit the joyful "Gloria" and "Credo" but include parts of the Ordinary and the Proper, often featuring the dramatic "Dies Irae" sequence. Notable composers of requiems include Mozart, Berlioz, Verdi, and Brahms. Brahms's A German Requiem, however, uses biblical passages in German rather than Latin texts, focusing on comforting the living.23

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Igor Stravinsky
Life and career
His last major work, Requiem Canticles (1966), is a profoundly moving adaptation of modern serial techniques to a personal imaginative vision that was deeply rooted in his Russian past. This piece is an amazing tribute to the creative vitality of a composer then in his middle 80s.
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His last major work, Requiem Canticles (1966), is a profoundly moving adaptation of modern serial techniques to a personal imaginative vision that was deeply rooted in his Russian past. This piece is an amazing tribute to the creative vitality of a composer then in his middle 80s.
Read More