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Quick NoteFinder:
The TE DEUM text is one of the oldest in Christian liturgy, dating possibly as far back as the fourth century. It is a text of praise and thanksgiving and has found popularity among composers and audiences for hundreds of years. Settings by such composers as Handel, Haydn, Berlioz and Bruckner have displayed both the durability and the relevance of this joyful proclamation.
John Rutter's setting of TE DEUM incorporates the inimitable and exquisite text of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England. Continuing this Anglican connection, Rutter has composed a work which is only seven minutes in length, providing a more functional or liturgical setting, as opposed to longer, more concert oriented settings. Actually, it is Rutter's hope that his TE DEUM may find a place, like much of our finest sacred music, in both the church and the concert hall.
The REQUIEM text, or Mass for the Dead, has been the source for some of the most profoundly conceived compositions in the history of Western music. Based on the recognition of earthly death and the hope of eternal life, the text has inspired such composers as Bach and Mozart to create works of unsurpassed beauty. John Rutter has followed instead the precedent established by Brahms and Faure, in composing a work made up of a personal selection of texts, rather than a strict setting of the Catholic liturgy. While still incorporating parts of the traditional REQUIEM text, Rutter has additionally chosen texts from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.
Rutter's version can be seen both as an affirmation of life and a recognition of death. It is constructed to form a seven section arch-like meditation on both life and death: the first and last movements are prayers for all humanity, movements two and six are psalms, three and five are personal supplications to Christ, and central Sanctus movement is an affirmation of divine glory.
One of the most prolific composers during the last twenty years, John Rutter has established himself in the forefront of choral composers, both in the United States and in his native England. As equally adept with orchestral music as with choral music, Rutter writes with an understanding of each instrument's color and capability possessed by relatively few choral composers.
While at home with both secular and sacred music, and with a significant body of works in each area, it is in his music for the church that Rutter has appeared most personally fulfilled, and corporately fulfilling. Certainly his childhood years as a chorister in the cathedral choirs of England contributed to his understanding of the voice and the spiritual depth found in much of his music. It is, in fact, Rutter's selection and setting of texts, along with his flowing melodies and rich orchestrations, which have placed him in his present position as one of our most popular "serious" composers.
Notes by Michael O'Neal
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