Requiem

Description

The first two polyphonic Requiems in our history, two dazzling works with deep and profound sounds magnified by the male voices of Diabolus in Musica. These two Requiems by Johannes Ockeghem (+ 1497) and Pierre de La Rue (1518) develop deep sonorities through an astonishing and unprecedented use of the lower registers, and uncommon musical boldness (ambitus, rhythmic play, striking contrasts, unusual expressionisms...). Both great musicians demonstrate remarkable mastery and virtuosity, always in service of emotion. In this dawn of the Renaissance, religious sensitivity is changing, and the ars moriendi (the art of dying well) takes on a fundamental role in devotion and its most spectacular artistic manifestations. The masses for the deceased, which had traditionally been sung in a sober and restrained plainchant, are now set to polyphony, like all other masses.