24 March 2026

Dear Singers,

Complete this sentence in your head: Libera me.......in die........
Now sing it on a monotone.
Repeat this exercise with:  Quando.....sunt....terra  Bravo!
Did you separate the two T's in 'et terra' or did you elide them as we practised?  Repeat this exercise daily until next Tuesday.

Great progress this week, thank you. The Libera me chanting on page 117 is improving. It took everyone a while to bed down with the final section of Sanctus (from page 98), getting used to the two-in-a-bar pulse.
We explored dynamic range, focusing on the extremes (pp to ff) and exactly what is required when singing to make these effective. The Requiem is a gloriously Romantic and bold piece, made so by the harmonic language, expressive melodies and dynamics. Producing a good piano sound requires the attention to detail as forte, but on a smaller scale. Think of a large house. A small house requires exactly the same architectural and construction considerations. The proportions and outcome are different - but it's still a house, and not a tent or wigwam!! 

I flagged up the Workshop on April 18 -  see further information and links below.I am aiming to make this more of a 'come and sing' so that we can enjoy singing as much of the piece as we can, just stopping to iron out patches as necessary to build success. Do bring friends!  


WHAT WE DID ON 24.03.26
Libera me chanting (p117)
Sanctus - from bar 78. Everything is pp until p101. here, choir 2 (S T & B), please make the upbeat quaver entry on Hosanna  very crisp and on time so that the 'Ho' speaks clearly. Remember - quiet singing can often lose detail (see note above about wigwams....!) The observant will have noticed the use of accent marks (>) from bars 115 to 122. Please can everyone sing accented notes - ie, a little push on each note. Then to contrast, from  bars 123 to 131 sing more legato. In bar 135 there will def be a huge pause in the concert!!
We covered the quiet Dies irae bars on pages 30 to 34 - sounding excellent, staccato, really quiet and rather menacing.....
Lacrymosa 
This is starting to sound very lyrical and expressive - well done.
Where the choir sings alone (bars 657-661 and 677-679) mark these up to mp so they sound more confident, then you can enjoy them. 

TO ASPIRE OR NOT TO ASPIRE? A good question...
The words HOSANNA and HUIC should have a silent H (Osanna & OOic). This produces a crisper onset with an edge to the sound.

WHAT WE WILL DO ON 31.03.26
'Sing for your supper' Everyone is invited to come earlier and bring some supper to slurp, chew and talk over. Cake will be available to buy. Thank you Cindy for organising this.
This will be our last rehearsal before Easter - no session on April 7, leaving us 4 more plus the workshop.

Dies irae pages 17-28, then 34-37
Dies irae pages 120-129
Sectionals: T/B - pages 41 to 51 (dividing tenors); S/A - pages 64 to 71
Sing through Sanctus

By rehearsal's end we will have covered the whole piece,  sounding pretty confident about much of it. The workshop will support this to help boost this, with a few rehearsals left to bear down on all the joins and 'areas of concern'!

Ottimo lavoro e grazie a tutti
Pietro
 

WORKSHOP INFORMATION

Here’s the flyer and link to book places for our Verdi workshop on 18 April – please share with friends. For choir members – please book your place with Yvonne so that we don’t lose money via Ticketsource.

Ticketsource link is HERE

Here is a .pdf of the flyer for you to distribute electronically FLYER