Our concert on 15th March at St Mary of Bethany church in Woking features several French romantic composers with a focus on the well-known and much loved Requiem by Gabriel Fauré. This work was written in 1888 shortly after the death of his father, and notably omits any grand settings of texts speaking of judgement and damnation. Faure himself said “my Requiem does not express the fear of death…. it is thus that I see death: a happy deliverance, an aspiration towards happiness above, rather than as a painful experience”. Of the many settings of the Requiem by famous composers this is probably the most widely loved, and it is impossible not to be moved by the ethereal beauty of this humble masterpiece.

Our programme also includes Fauré’s Cantique de Jean Racine, Maria mater gratiae and Tantum ergo. In addition to these motets, we will also sing an Ave Verum by Saint-Saëns, a Salve Regina by Poulenc and the well-known Panis Angelicus by César Franck.

The first part of our concert will include a Mass for upper voices by Cécile Chaminade, appropriately titled Messe pour deux voix égales, written in 1927. She wrote, “I am essentially of the Romantic school, as all my work shows”, and she affiliated herself with nationalist composers such as Saint-Saëns and Gounod. Her musical style has been described as tuneful, highly accessible and mildly chromatic. Bizet affectionately referred to her as “my little Mozart”, and she was extremely popular with Queen Victoria - an organ work by Chaminade was even played at the Queen’s funeral. If all you know of this composer is the Flute Concertino she composed as a final diploma examination piece at the Paris Conservatoire (and the only work of hers that remained in public awareness throughout the latter half of the 20th Century), then come to be enlightened and uplifted by this charming work.