Anne C. Kilstofte

Requiem for Still Voices

InstrumentationMezzo-soprano soloist, 3 flutes (picc); 2 oboes, 1 English horn, 2 B flat clarinets,
B flat bass clarinet, 2 bassoons
4 fr. horns, 3 B flat trumpets, 3 trombones (doubling bass tbn), tuba
timpani, 3-4 percussion
piano, harp, strings
Length40-45 minutes
DifficultyNot too difficult, could be done by good high school orchestra, definitely by a good college orchestra, easily accessible by all professional orchestras.
CommentsThis Requiem does not use standard Catholic mass but secular texts about life and death, including Edna St. Vincent Millay's God's World, text attributed to Anne Boleyn while awaiting execution, texts by John Galsworthy, Walt Whitman, Charlotte Mew, Rainer Maria Rilke, Eugene Field, and finishing with the traditional Latin text Lux Aeterna.

Stylistically it is very lush with expansive colors. Very accessible to audiences. This piece tells of the experience of death and its eventual acceptance. After its premiere many people were moved to tell the composer how they were able to relate to it in their own experience either through their own brushes with death or in losing a loved one. Above all, this is a piece about hope, redemption, and affirmation.

SourcesPlease contact the composer through Kaska Publishing at http://www.kilstofte.com. Scores, both instrumental and vocal are available as well as all parts. A recording should be out in May 2003. Please feel free to contact the composer further about this work, kilst001@tc.umn.edu
ExtrasPlease watch for sound files which will be included shortly on www.kilstofte.com
HistoryThis piece was commissioned by the Cherry Creek Chorale, funded by the Bush Artist Fellowship of Minnesota, the McKnight Foundation, and the Minnesota State Arts Board as well as funding through the Chorale itself.
Contributorthe composer, Dr. Anne Kilstofte
Other

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