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Howard Goodall's Eternal Light: A Requiem in New York Debut at Carnegie Hall

Nov. 02, 2016

Howard Goodall's <em>Eternal Light: A Requiem</em> in New York Debut at Carnegie Hall

On November 20, Howard Goodall’s Eternal Light: A Requiem receives its New York premiere at Carnegie Hall. Bradley Ellingbow conducts the performance, featuring the singers and orchestra of the Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY), with whom Goodall is composer-in-residence.

The ten-movement, 40-minute work for soloists, chorus, and orchestra was commissioned by the London Musici to celebrate its 20th anniversary, and premiered in 2008 with the Manchester University Chamber Choir along with choreography by the Rambert Dance Company. Since its premiere, the work has received nearly 500 performances internationally. While setting his work, Goodall wanted to follow the form of a traditional requiem, though he diverged from many elements of the standard Medieval musical form. Goodall shares some insight:

Most requiems are based, one way or another, on the Medieval church’s Mass for the Dead, which is made up of a series of sections beginning with the ‘Kyrie Eleison’ and ending with ‘In Paradisum’. Although the traditional requiem text calls for ‘eternal peace, rest and light’ for those who have died, it also emphasizes judgment and everlasting damnation for anyone who transgresses the Roman Catholic Church’s code of behavior — as seen from the perspective of the Middle Ages. I did not feel at ease with this approach to the appalling pain of loss and grief, so in an attempt to provide some solace for the living that mourn, I stripped down the old Latin texts to a few phrases in each movement and laid beside them words from English poems [that range] across the last 500 years.

Also this month, Eternal Light receives performances at the Davidson United Methodist Church in Davidson, NC and at the Augustana Lutheran Church in Denver, CO, both on November 6.

Learn more about Howard Goodall at fabermusic.com.

Howard Goodall
Eternal Light: A Requiem (2008)
for soloists, chorus and orchestra or large ensemble
texts (Eng, Lat) from the Requiem Mass; Francis Quarles; Ann Thorp; John Henry Newman; attrib Mary Elizabeth Frye; John McCrae; Phineas Fletcher.
for soprano, tenor, baritone and SATB chorus
2 kybd.hp (opt)-str
40’

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