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Views from the Choir Loft

Requiem pour une américaine à Paris

Richard J. Clark · July 26, 2013

NE OF THE MOST powerful spiritual experiences I ever had was the Requiem Mass in the Extraordinary Form at the 2012 Sacred Music Colloquium in Salt Lake City, Utah. This is saying a lot, as many of the liturgies at the Colloquia, whether in the Ordinary or Extraordinary Form, have shaken me to the core; I have been overwhelmed with an unspeakable sense of awe, mystery, and joy. Even these words are inadequate.

Requiem pour une américaine à Paris is a direct outgrowth of this experience. It is based largely on the Gregorian Chant Propers of the Requiem Mass. It is dedicated to the memory of my beloved aunt and Godmother, Anita Cipriani, who passed on The Feast of the Sacred Heart, just prior to the 2012 Sacred Music Colloquium. It was premiered on All Souls Day in 2012.

A seven-movement work composed for trumpet and organ, it is reminiscent of an early Twentieth Century French Romantic style. Although quite faithful to many of the Gregorian Chants, this is not a liturgical work, but a concert work. It would be difficult to match the music to the liturgical action. However, I hope this may be a helpful and hopeful meditation on God’s merciful love, and our hopeful expectation of eternal life in the words of Credo quod Redemptor: “I believe that my Redeemer lives, and that on the last day, I shall rise from earth and in my flesh I shall behold God my Savior.”

The CD is available for purchase ($9.99) and for download ($6.93) (Amazon, CD Baby, iTunes, etc.). Or you may listen and follow the scores below on YouTube. (Score available at RJC Cecilia Music)

Free Sample from Score:   PDF • VI. Lux aeterna

      YouTube:  I. Introit | Requiem aeternam”
      YouTube:  II. Gradual | Requiem aeternam
      YouTube:  III. Dies Irae
      YouTube:  IV. Jubilis!
      YouTube:  V. Offertory | Domine Jesu Christe”
      YouTube:  VI. Communion | Lux aeterna
      YouTube:  VII. Last Farewell

HIS WORK WAS COMPOSED for Richard Kelley, trumpet. Certainly, the trumpet is rarely, if ever associated with Gregorian Chant. However, Mr. Kelley possesses unusually extraordinary grace, dignity, and humility, all which sing beautifully through his playing. (Listen especially to IV. Lux Aeterna and the quote of “In Paradisum” in the VII. Last Farewell.)

The one movement, which is a departure from the Requiem mass, is the “IV. Jubilis!” It briefly quotes the Tract (which of course comes before the Sequence in the mass—the order is reversed in this concert piece.) It is also loosely based on the Post-Vatican II addition of the “Alleluia” The “Jubilis!” theme returns at the end of the final movement, in hopeful expectation of eternal life in heaven.

ICHARD KELLEY, TRUMPET was a soloist with the Boston Symphony and Boston Pops 1984 and 1985 at the age of 16 and 17. He studied at the Juilliard School in NYC, he is a former member of Boston Brass Quintet and a current member of the Brass Band of Battle Creek. His credits include Broadway shows in NYC, TV ads, and film soundtracks. He has performed with artists such as Andrea Bocelli, Ray Charles, Steven Tyler, James Taylor, Glenn Close, Bernadette Peters, Jennifer Aniston, and Vanessa Williams. Conductor of the New England Swing in Nashua New Hampshire, he now plays frequently with the Boston Pops.

NITA CIPRIANI was a French teacher at Hunter College Elementary School and Convent of the Sacred Heart, both in Manhattan. A consummate educator, she studied in Paris and spent much of her life there. In 1992, she was honored by the French Government at the French Consulate in New York as a Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques, a decoration founded by Emperor Napoleon I to honor outstanding academics. Her joy of life and her deep faith in God sing on.

• Pictured right: Anita Cipriani and Richard, New York City, 1996

• CD Cover Photography by Rev. James Martin, SJ | Window from St. Mary’s Chapel, Boston College
• Recording Engineer: Evan Landry
• Mastering: Paul Umbach
• Richard Clark played the 1999 Smith & Gilbert Organ Recorded at St. Cecilia Church, Boston

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.
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Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Requiem Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Richard J. Clark

Richard J. Clark is the Director of Music of the Archdiocese of Boston and the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.—(Read full biography).

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President’s Corner

    “Music List” • 4th Sunday of Easter (Year C)
    Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for the 4th Sunday of Easter (11 May 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. I don’t know a more gorgeous ENTRANCE CHANT than the one given there: Misericórdia Dómini Plena Est Terra.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Entrance Chant” • 4th Sunday of Easter
    You can download the ENTRANCE ANTIPHON in English for the 4th Sunday of Easter (11 May 2025). Corresponding to the vocalist score is this free organ accompaniment. The English adaptation matches the authentic version (Misericórdia Dómini), which is in a somber yet gorgeous mode. If you’re someone who enjoys rehearsal videos, this morning I tried to sing it while simultaneously accompanying my voice on the pipe organ.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Music List • “Repertoire for Weddings”
    Not everyone thinks about sacred music 24/7 like we do. When couples are getting married, they often request “suggestions” or “guidance” or a “template” for their musical selections. I created this music list with repertoire suggestions for Catholic weddings. Please feel free to download it if you believe it might give you some ideas or inspiration.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
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    There are lots of different guides to postures for Mass, but I couldn’t find one which matched our local Latin Mass, so I made this one: sit-stand-kneel-crop
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    The Funeral Rites of the Graduale Romanum
    Lately I have been paging through the 1974 Graduale Romanum (see p. 678 ff.) and have been fascinated by the funeral rites found therein, especially the simply-beautiful Psalmody that is appointed for all the different occasions before and after the funeral Mass: at the vigil/wake, at the house of the deceased, processing to the church, at the church, processing to the cemetery, and at the cemetery. Would that this “stational Psalmody” of the Novus Ordo funeral rites saw wider usage! If you or anyone you know have ever used it, please do let me know.
    —Daniel Tucker

Random Quote

“The Pope is not an absolute monarch whose thoughts and desires are law. On the contrary: the Pope’s ministry is a guarantee of obedience to Christ and to his Word. He must not proclaim his own ideas, but rather constantly bind himself and the Church to obedience to God’s Word, in the face of every attempt to adapt it or water it down, and every form of opportunism.”

— ‘His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI (11 May 2005)’
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