The thought began quite some time ago with someone in an online church musician group where I’m a member. They mentioned how hard it was to find any music for unchurched and non-believers’ funerals and asked for suggestions. Funeral music always seems to be exclusively religious: eternal life in heaven, the love of God, etc. The recommendations were a collection of show tunes and pop songs. I noticed that there weren’t really many (any?) songs that equaled the liturgical works of the old masters or even more current hymns and church music. It appeared to be a significant gap in the existing repertoire. As a composer, that thought became a background “maybe someday—if I find the right texts” future project.
I believe that the rabbi from Nazareth—who touched the untouchable, welcomed the stranger, and ate with the hated tax collector—would definitely approve of meeting the non-religious where they are. So, filling that repertoire gap remained in my possible future project list. Here are some of the steps from idea to completed project.
An unchurched friend, who is a truly lovely person with an excellent voice, mentioned in passing that singing sacred music makes them feel uncomfortable. They can “handle” religious texts in Latin and non-English languages, but singing words of belief in their own language makes them feel dishonest.
A composer friend wrote a traditional type requiem—that was recently performed by a local symphony and symphony choir. It was excellent and well received.
I was reaching a significant age milestone. Too many of my age peers had already passed on. My “someday” thoughts became “If you’re going to do this, you’d better get serious,” and “If you write a requiem, will God/Fate/the universe decide you should die mid-composition—like Mozart and other classical composers?” Or… my insecurities’ mantra, “Maybe you’re not a good enough composer for supernatural intervention.”
Another stimulus was when a choral director friend asked what new music was in my future. I said, “a requiem, if I can find the right text.” He immediately assumed some type of liturgical text or Brahams’ Requiem type Biblical lyrics. I said that I wanted to include non-church participants and audiences as well. I’m not sure quite what he thought. His one-word response, “Oh,” didn’t seem to convey either approval or disapproval.
So, I started looking for these subjects in poetry that I read: life, music, nature, and our temporary earthly existence. Yes, I asked my poet friends what they had written. Nothing seemed to fit. I didn’t really think the right texts would fall out of the sky. Or even if they did, would I even be able to get permission to use those texts? Newer poetry is often problematic unless you personally know the author.
The tipping catalyst was talking with a non-religious musician friend who knew he was dying of cancer. When he mentioned his depression, I recounted my experience when writing my symphony The Constellations. I repeated my belief that music travels through nature, from even as far away as the stars. (See my blog post about discovering that music I had already written about stars resembled actual celestial frequencies, which I hadn’t remembered hearing before. Music from the Stars) I assured him that I believe music keeps traveling on and that his music will too. The assurance seemed to comfort him a little. This was the prompt for my lyric, “Music Travels Onward,” which I set to music. It belonged in a requiem. It’s also the perfect music for my eventual memorial service.
Fast-forward to late 2024 when I realized my ancient computer was almost defunct and that I should back up everything more completely in several places—including hard copies in physical file cabinets. I found bits of poetry in randomly labeled computer files that needed to be organized. So, of course I reread all of them, edited, finished partial musings, backed up the files, and printed everything. The collection was much larger than I realized, and I discovered that I had already written three additional poems that fit; one of them was even titled “Requiem.” And… I didn’t need to track down the author to get permission to use them. I had already written and orchestrated an instrumental piece titled “Lament for the Living” that would easily work as an interlude. The actual music for the rest of it had to wait until I got my new computer working. (Ugh. I hate dealing with new electronics.) The five requiem pieces prompted me to write four more poems for the set. But my requiem-ish song cycle of nine, The Cycle of Life Turns, is complete and now awaits the rest of the orchestration.
P.S. I haven’t died.