A Piece Of Memories: Gabriel Fauré's Requiem

Published by Stephen Milward in Culture · Tuesday 24 Feb 2026 · 3 minutes
Tags: Gabriel, Fauré, Requiem, classical, music, memories, music, analysis, emotional, impact, composer, choral, music, orchestral, spirituality, interpretation, musical, legacy

Firstly, I should say that I'm an atheist. I do not believe in god, nor do I believe that religion is a positive force for good. So the choice of a piece of religious music surrounding death and the afterlife seems a very strange choice for me to write about with affection. Yet I will do that.

Do you have to be a religious person to enjoy religious music? I would argue, no you don't. A religious believer may gain insights into a religious piece that are lost on an atheist. But appreciation of the beauty of style, harmony, voicing, structure and performance are not the preserve of the religious. All can enjoy that. We did.

I first became aware of the Requiem when Denise and I performed it as students. We had a wonderful Head of Music, John Craven, who clearly loved this piece. After rehearsals, we performed it at Himley Hall (i) on a Sunday afternoon. The vocal lines, the orchestration and the shape of the piece immediately made it a favourite of ours.

Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) (ii) was a teacher, organist, composer and musicologist. The Requiem (iii), composed between 1887 and 1890 may have been written as a response to the death of his parents, but he did say that he wrote it for pleasure. In seven movements, it lasts for around 35 minutes.

Why does it mean so much to us? It brings back memories of College, performing music which we both enjoyed. At that time in our lives as music students, performing defined much of our lives, particularly singing. We were young, slightly innocent, growing into adults and under the wing of a wonderful lecturer and musician. I think we both understood at the time how important this stage of our lives was, which may go some way to explaining why we look back at those years with so much affection.

I wish that our performance had been recorded, however here's a video of the Requiem performed at the Proms in 2016.

I do hope that you listen to the Requiem, even if, like me, you are an atheist. Enjoy the intrinsic beauty, the flowing lines, the orchestration and the harmonies. You'll not regret it.

(i) Wikipedia: Himley Hall

(ii) Wikipedia: Gabriel Fauré

(iii) Wikipedia: Requiem (Fauré)