Pie Jesu by Andrew Lloyd Webber

My notes on Pie Jesu by Andrew Lloyd Webber in preparation for performance. Diction, blending, historical backdrop and my interpretation of blending pipe organ, piano, choir and soloists for performing this piece reverently in a worship setting.

Pie Jesu is a motet that is a part of some composers’ musical settings of the Requiem Mass

The words combine paraphrases of the final verse of the thirteenth-century poem Dies Irae and the seventh-century Agnus Dei:
Pie Jesu Domine, dona eis requiem. Dona eis requiem sempiternam.
(“O sweet Lord Jesus, grant them rest; grant them everlasting rest.”)

The Pie Jesu by Andrew Lloyd Webber I am preparing is scored for soprano soloist, boy soprano soloist, SATB choir and organ. For organ stops we are using flute and string registers with a full, flutey pedal. Not completely liking solo organ, and not completely liking the arrangement on piano I have added an improvised accompaniament to the organ in the French Impressionistic style of Erik Satie. (Ala “Gymnopedies”). I have also wanted triangle but was vetoed by my choir, who felt a triangle was a little schmaltzy (we just finished our Advent season and perhaps used the Triangle one too many times!)

To me the boy soprano is the crucial player in this arrangement. I have worked with our boy soprano soloist on keeping an even dark pronunciation, to project through the sanctuary ran the piece a good 20 times with the soprano so he could get used to keeping his notes solid while standing next to a seasoned soprano vocalist. The choir is blended with a light airy sound to match the organ. The end result is a deep breathy pad sound of organ and choir, strong high treble duet sequences with the soprano and boy soprano duet, and I have added my piano interpretation to add movement to the organ pads and to add nuance between vocal passages.

During soloist passages I prefer to let the soloists take the reign of the phrase tempo, I lock things back down at the entrance of the choir. I like this piece slow, slower than Andante. Around 40bpm (Yes, forty beats ber minute). Sub-dividing the eight notes is important to keep the groove flowing, and my additional piano part added sixteenth notes in parts to help the movement not seem so much like a dirge.

Pronunciation: I don’t know how accurate it is, but I don’t care for a hard “g” in Agnus Dei; I prefer a Spanish “n” as in “onion”. It also brings me great pain to here “Dei” pronounced “Day-ee”, since we are not singing Old MacDonald had a farm. Prefer to here “deh-ee”, a “deh” as in “debt” or “death”. So final pronuncation is “Ah-nyoos Deh-ee”. Same approach to “Pie”, I try to avoid “pee-ay”; that “ay” sound is so ugly in the English language. Try for more of “Pee-yeh” with a dark treatment to “yeh”. Stay dark when singing Latin. To me that’s a major key to choir blending. Just one voice reaching for those midwestern “ays” can ruin the blend, so be a taskmaster in this area.

The end result? I am proud to say I am having trouble getting my choir to come in on their entrances because they get so lost in the beauty of the sound. I hold no grudge, this piece is THAT beautiful. A friend played me the Pie Jesu version with Sarah Brightman (I’m told that was the version I heard) and although her voice is second to none, the arrangement had such a large swell with rising strings and cybmal crash in the middle that I was jarred back to the reality that I was listening to a piece by a theater composer. I don’t think this piece needs the added drama. Particularly if performed in a worship setting I feel that an understated performance will have a powerful effect on your congregation.

I have been told the lyrics are a prayer of rest for those fallen in war. I don’t know how accurate that is, but the lyrics ARE from the Dies Irae. This is a poem of the end of times spiritual warfare, so to call it a song for soldiers is not stretching too far. I like the idea that this song is for eternal rest to those who have fallen in battle and I think the performance notes written here will do that concept an optimum of justice.

Complete Dies Irae Poem on Wikipedia

ORIGINAL DIES IRAE MELODY FROM 13th CENTURY:

(Click for full resolution)

USE IN CATHOLIC LITURGY:
Those familiar with musical settings of the Requiem Mass—such as those by Mozart or Verdi—will be aware of the important place of the Dies Iræ in the liturgy. Nevertheless it fell foul of the preferences of the “Consilium for the Implementation of the Constitution on the Liturgy”—the Vatican body charged with implementing (and indeed drafting) the reforms to the Catholic Liturgy ordered by the Second Vatican Council. The architect of these reforms, Archbishop Annibale Bugnini, explains the mind of the members of the Consilium:

[T]hey got rid of texts that smacked of a negative spirituality inherited from the Middle Ages. Thus they removed such familiar and even beloved texts as the Libera me, Domine, the Dies Iræ, and others that overemphasized judgment, fear, and despair. These they replaced with texts urging Christian hope and giving more effective expression to faith in the resurrection
DIES IRAE means DAY OF WRATH
The Day of Judgement from the centre panel of the Memling Triptych in Gdańsk.
(Click for full resolution)

PIE JESU BY ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER

The Pie Jesu from the Requiem by Lloyd Webber was originally performed by Sarah Brightman, who has performed it many times throughout her career; and has rerecorded the track for her Classics album in 2001. Charlotte Church has also recorded it on her best-selling debut album, Voice of an Angel. The Andrew Lloyd Webber version has also now been performed by Angelis, a group of young choir children.