Talk:Rekyum Man/@comment-6532857-20141209180348

"Requiem" is not a musical term, nor does it refer to music alone. Requiem is a Latin word, used by Catholcism to refer to a mass for the dead with a burial, and any mass for the dead with a burial. A mass for the dead when a body is not present is not a requiem mass.

Requiem is a Latin word, referring to resting, due to the Christian belief that death is eternal rest in God. In fact, in a Requiem, the words "miserere nobis" are replaced with "requiescant in pacem," among other changes, such as the removal of the Judica me.

Traditionally, masses would be sung by a choir, often of monks, and several early people wrote Requiem masses. For instance, Gregorian chant is named for St. Gregory the Great, who revived chant in the Church. Plainchant requiems are still sung in some churches.

However, other composers began to write requiems, and eventually, some were written not so much for performance in church as for commemoration of the dead. In those days, music and religion were the center of life, and they met in "profane" sacred music, that is, sacred music not to be performed in church. Examples of "profane" requiems which still used the proper of a mass for the dead are Verdi's and Dvorak's.

Particularly after the Protestant reformation, some composers began to write requiems that did not use the propers of the mass. One of these is Brahms' magnificent German Requiem, which uses texts from the Bible. This caught on somewhat.

Requiem does not only refer to a mass or to music. Please don't say that as it's factually inaccurate. Please.

Stephan222 (talk) 18:03, December 9, 2014 (UTC)