Requiem by Eleanor Daley: Introit | The Choir of St. Paul's | Feast of All Souls

Choir of St. Paul's; Emily Shafer, soprano soloist Susan Jane Matthews, director Eleanor Daley's Requiem was sung live at the All Souls' service on Sunday, November 10, 2024 In her consoling and provocative Requiem, Canadian composer Eleanor Daley (b. 1955) sets traditional Requiem texts juxtaposed with poetry from The Sound of the Birds by Carolyn Smart (b. 1952) and a Russian benediction. "Do not stand at my grave and weep," attributed to Mary Elizabeth Frye, centers the hope that our loved ones are alive in God, and among us as the birds, the wind, the stars. In the final movements, the profound sorrow of the loss of a loved one – “a night without song” - is embraced by the joyful welcome of a choir of angels. Introit Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine. Rest eternal grant to them, O Lord. ~ Missa pro defunctis Each night I listened for your call, when your call stopped I held my breath, suspended, I’d grow accustomed to a dialogue with silence, then wait for the sounds of night. You, dying, and I but witness to the end. ~ The Sound of the Birds, Carolyn Smart (b. 1952)