Modern requiem compositions and musical knowledge on death and afterlife

Hoondert analyses the texts, structure and music of the Requiem Masses composed by Rutter, Penderecki and Jenkins. To compose a Requiem Mass, he argues, is an attempt to communicate life and death experiences. The Requiem Mass offers a musical and ritualized set of guidelines for inner transformation and conveys musical knowledge on death and afterlife. Hoondert concludes that the Requiem Masses by Rutter and Jenkins convey a message of hope; Penderecki’s Polish Requiem however, confronts the listener with the raw aspects of death and violence in our times