RUSSIAN REQUIEM

For boy soprano, mezzo-soprano, bass, boys’ choir, mixed choir and orchestra

Russian

Requiem

A large-scale requiem by Lera Auerbach on Russian Orthodox sacred texts and poetry by Russian authors, dedicated to the victims of intolerance and repression.

Year 2007
Duration 85′
Scoring Soloists · Choir
Orchestra
Publisher Boosey & Hawkes
/ Sikorski
Official Russian Requiem Site Complete Libretto Boosey & Hawkes / Sikorski Score and Rental Material Abbreviations PDF

Dedication

Dedicated to the victims of intolerance and repression.

Commission

Commissioned by Bremer Musikfest, Philharmonische Gesellschaft Bremen, and Festival de Música Religiosa de Cuenca.

World Premiere

14 September 2007. Bremen — Elzbieta Ardam, mezzo-soprano; Nikita Storoyev, bass; Estonian Boys’ Choir; Latvian State Choir; Bremen Philharmonic Orchestra; Markus Poschner, conductor.

Movements

  • 1. Prelude — Forgive Us, O Lord

  • 2. Not Under the Foreign Skies

    Anna Akhmatova

  • 3. The Scream

    Zinaida Gippius

  • 4. A Prayer for the New Martyrs of Russia | The Stars of Death

    Anna Akhmatova

  • 5. Forgive Me, O Lord

    Psalm 50

  • 6. Pray for Me

    Anna Akhmatova · Joseph Brodsky

  • 7. Lord, Thou Hast Been My Dwelling Place

    Psalm 90/91

  • 8. Grant Them Rest with the Saints

    Zinaida Gippius

  • 9. Interlude. Memory Eternal

    Anna Akhmatova

  • 10. The Night. Prayers for the Dead

    Alexander Blok · Viktor Sosnora

  • 11. Almighty God Shall Rise and Judge

    Gavriil Derzhavin

  • 12. It Is Good That There Is No Tsar

  • 13. Troparions — Eternal Rest

  • 14. I Will Be, O Russia, in Your Dreams

    Irina Ratushinskaya

  • 15. The Country of Slaves, the Country of Masters

    Mikhail Lermontov · Alexander Pushkin

  • 16. Prisoner’s Prayer to the Guardian Angel

  • 17. That Which Has No Name

    Georgy Ivanov

  • 18. My Soul — Memory Eternal

    Boris Pasternak · Osip Mandelstam · Psalm 90

Work Information

Full Title
Russian Requiem
Scoring
For boy soprano, mezzo-soprano, bass, boys’ choir, mixed choir and large orchestra.
Year
2007
Duration
85′
Text
Holy Anthems combined with poetry by Russian authors: Anna Akhmatova, Alexander Blok, Joseph Brodsky, Gavriil Derzhavin, Zinaida Gippius, Georgy Ivanov, Mikhail Lermontov, Osip Mandelstam, Boris Pasternak, Alexander Pushkin, Irina Ratushinskaya, and Viktor Sosnora.
Instrumentation
3(=picc, afl).3(=corA).3(=bcl).3(=dbn)-4.3.3(btrbn).1-timp-perc: tgl/flex/crystal glasses/crot/BD/cyms/tam-t/gong/t.bells/glsp/2vib/b.marimba)-hp-pft-cel-org(ad lib.)-str CD/ringing of bells.
Abbreviations PDF
Commission
Commissioned by Bremer Musikfest, Philharmonische Gesellschaft Bremen, and Festival de Música Religiosa de Cuenca.
World Premiere
14 September 2007 — Bremen; Elzbieta Ardam, mezzo-soprano; Nikita Storoyev, bass; Estonian Boys’ Choir; Latvian State Choir; Bremen Philharmonic Orchestra; Markus Poschner, conductor.
Dedication
Dedicated to the victims of intolerance and repression.
Publisher
Published by Boosey & Hawkes / Sikorski.
Territory
This work is available from Boosey & Hawkes / Sikorski for the world.
Rental
Score and rental materials: Zinfonia.

Memory, Poetry, Repression

Russian Requiem joins Russian Orthodox sacred texts with the voices of poets whose work bears witness to oppression, spiritual endurance, and the fragile responsibility of memory.

The idea of the work emerged during Lera Auerbach’s residency in Bremen. The composer has described the concept as her own response to a “blank canvas” offered by the Bremen Festival, later connected to the city’s history with Brahms’s Ein Deutsches Requiem.

For Russia, its poets have been its conscience and the voice of truth.

The work does not treat the Russian poetic tradition as ornament or quotation. The poets are central: they become the human record through which liturgy, lament, judgment, exile, prison, prayer, and remembrance are brought into a single monumental form.

  • MemoryThe work engraves historical suffering into a living act of remembrance.
  • PoetryRussian poets become witnesses, mourners, judges, and guardians of conscience.
  • PrayerOrthodox sacred texts frame lament as invocation, repentance, and hope.
  • RepressionThe requiem confronts oppression across different times and forms.

Poets and Text Sources

The libretto brings together Russian Orthodox liturgical texts, prayers for the departed, the Service to the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia, psalm texts, folk material, and poems by major Russian writers across centuries.

  • Anna Akhmatova
  • Alexander Blok
  • Joseph Brodsky
  • Gavriil Derzhavin
  • Zinaida Gippius
  • Georgy Ivanov
  • Mikhail Lermontov
  • Osip Mandelstam
  • Boris Pasternak
  • Alexander Pushkin
  • Irina Ratushinskaya
  • Viktor Sosnora
Boosey & Hawkes / Sikorski logo

Publisher and Materials

Published by Boosey & Hawkes / Sikorski. Score and rental materials are available through Zinfonia. The official project site includes additional background, libretto, and media resources.