With a thesis of around 70-80,000 words and a 40-minute ‘Requiem’, this is clearly a work in progress; I will keep you posted on how things are developing. With the thesis, I don’t want to post early drafts, which I’ll only rewrite or throw away. So, for now, here is the opening of the Introduction, which is really the Proposal and basically tells you what this study is going to be about. I’m also posting my current bibliography, which is subject led, to give you an idea of the areas I’m studying; I’ll be adding to this as I move forward. I don’t intend to begin the composition process for a while; when I do I’ll let you know – but forgive me if I keep most of it to myself until it is ready for public airing:
Passing Notes: Understanding the Requiem as a 21st century Non-Religious Music Memorial Rite, through Ritual and Dramaturgy.
Within an atheist context of there being no afterlife in the spiritual-religious sense, what does it mean to compose a Requiem? How might such a work serve the purpose of a funeral/memorial ritual and what would that purpose be?
Theism suggests a belief in a spiritual higher power and within that is generally accommodated some notion of an afterlife. This may be in the form of a version of the redemptive Heaven or Paradise (or indeed Hell), or a type of reincarnation or progressions of reincarnations. Whatever it is, this notion is central to religious belief and these post-death journeys, in the form of stories/narratives, are clearly part of religious funeral rites. However, if one does not accept there is an afterlife or any sense of redemption or spiritual progress of any sort beyond death, then what is the story/narrative? What text would this work contain and what function would the music serve in supporting this story/narrative? Funeral rituals serve many purposes, including bringing comfort to the grieving; how might this aspect of the rite be served within this work? Given that the title of the rite comes from its opening line: Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine (Eternal rest grant them O Lord), then what might such a work be called?
