Join Choir of the Earth as we return to one of the best-loved works in the choral repertoire: Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem in D Minor. Plus, unique to this course, learn, sing and record a beautiful SATB arrangement of the Pie Jesu - a movement usually reserved for a soprano soloist.
What we will learn
Fauré’s Requiem in D Minor is very different from many other settings of the traditional Requiem Mass. Rather than concentrating on judgement and fear, much of the music is calm, consoling and reflective, moving from the quiet opening of the Introit and Kyrie through the dramatic Libera Me to the serene closing In Paradisum.
Fauré began composing the Requiem in the late 1880s while working at the Church of the Madeleine in Paris, one of the city’s most prominent churches. The sound-world of the Requiem was shaped in part by the musical forces available there to Fauré. Its relatively restrained orchestration and emphasis on clarity, warmth and colour give the work an intimate quality even in its most powerful passages.
The first version of the Requiem, then consisting of five movements, was performed in the Madeleine on 16 January 1888, with Fauré conducting. He continued to revise and expand the work over the following years, and in 1900 completed and premiered the the seven-movement version familiar today.
For this course, we will also do something a little different with the famous Pie Jesu movement. Usually performed by a soprano soloist, we will instead learn and record a beautiful SATB arrangement, allowing the whole Choir of the Earth to sing one of the Requiem’s best-known movements.
About the composer
Gabriel Fauré
Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) was a French composer, organist, teacher and one of the most important figures in French music at the turn of the twentieth century. He studied with Camille Saint-Saëns and spent much of his professional life working as an organist and church musician, becoming choirmaster at the Church of the Madeleine in Paris in 1877, then its chief organisist in 1896. In 1905 he was appointed as the director of the Paris Conservatoire.
His music helped bridge the Romantic and early modern periods, combining elegant melodic writing with an increasingly distinctive and adventurous harmonic language.
Alongside his church appointments, Fauré composed songs, chamber music, piano works and sacred music, but his Requiem has become by far his most widely performed large-scale composition. Its combination of restraint, warmth and emotional directness has given it an enduring place at the heart of the choral repertoire.
Our teaching and resources
The course will be directed by Choir of the Earth Musical Director Ben England, who teaches the music note by note and voice part by voice part through a programme of online rehearsals. Each week begins with a full choir rehearsal, followed by separate sessions focusing on individual voice parts. Rehearsals are usually around an hour long and, if you cannot attend live, every session is recorded, so you can catch up when it suits you best.
You will also have access to high-quality voice part louder rehearsal tracks recorded by professional singers and musicians. Separate tracks are provided for each voice part, with your part louder than the other voices so that you can hear it clearly while you learn. These are the same tracks used during our rehearsals, so as Ben teaches the music you can hear exactly what you need to replicate - not only the notes and rhythms, but also the phrasing, dynamics, pronunciation and other musical details that bring the piece to life.
You can attend as many rehearsals as you like, learn more than one voice part if you wish, and take the course at your own pace. There is no requirement to record: some singers simply enjoy the teaching, while others submit their voice from home to become part of our final performance.
For this course, our rehearsal tracks have been recorded by Recordare Chamber Choir, with organ accompaniment by Richard Gowers. Rehearsal tracks for our special SATB arrangement of the Pie Jesu have been provided by Ben and Katie England.
Free scores for both Fauré’s Requiem and also the SATB arrangement of the Pie Jesu will be available as part of your course resources.
Please note this course includes an Easter teaching break from Friday 26 March to Sunday 4 April 2027 inclusive.
Join us!
Everyone is welcome to join Choir of the Earth. There are no auditions - just sign up as a member and you’re already in!
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Hear us in action
Here is Choir of the Earth singing another stunning work by Gabriel Fauré and a bonus piece by his Parisian contemporary, Olivier Messiaen. Will you be part of our next recording? 🎶