Duruflé himself wrote the following in a programme note for a concert in 1980.

This Requiem is composed entirely on the Gregorian themes of the Mass for the Dead. Sometimes the musical text has been respected in full, the orchestra intervening only to sustain or to comment on it; sometimes I was simply inspired by it or sometimes removed myself from it altogether... This Requiem is not an ethereal work which sings of detachment from earthly worries. It reflects, in the immutable form of the Christian prayer, the agony of man faced with the mystery of his ultimate end. It is often dramatic, or filled with resignation, or hope, or terror, just as the words of the Scripture themselves which are used in the liturgy. It tends to translate human feelings before their terrifying, unexplainable or consoling destiny. It represents the idea of peace, of faith, and of hope.

As Fauré had done, exactly sixty years earlier, Duruflé deviates from the traditional structure, and includes the Libera me Domine and In Paradisum. Also like Fauré, he omits the Dies Irae sequence in its traditional form, but uses some of the words from this sequence as they recur naturally in the Libera me Domine. Again like Fauré, he takes the final verse of the Dies Irae sequence and makes a separate movement from it – the Pie Jesu. The overall result is a much more peaceful and reflective work than, say, the requiems of Mozart or Verdi, where the long, angry and terrifying sequences of the Dies Irae are included. Other direct similarities to Fauré, whether conscious or not we do not know, are the inclusion of a mezzo-soprano solo for the Pie Jesu, and of a baritone solo in the third and eighth movements.

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INTROIT

Requiem æternam dona eis Domine
et lux perpetua luceat eis.
Te decet hymnus Deus in Sion
et tibi redetur votum in Jerusalem.
Exaudi orationem meam,
ad te omnis caro veniet.
Requiem æternam dona eis Domine
et lux perpetua luceat eis.

KYRIE

Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison.

DOMINE JESU CHRISTE

Domine Jesu Christe, Rex gloriae,
libera animas omnium fidelium
de functorum de pœnis inferni, et de profundo lacu.
Libera eas de ore leonis,
ne absorbeat eas tartarus,
ne cadant in obscurum.
Sed signifer, sanctus Michael,
repræsentet eas in lucem sanctam,
quam olim Abrahæ promisiti,
et semini ejus.
Hostias et preces tibi Domine laudis offerimus,
tu suscipe pro animabus illis,
quarum hodie memoriam facimus;
fac eas Domine, de morte transire ad vitam.
Quam olim Abrahæ promisisti,
et semini ejus.


 

Rest eternal grant unto them O Lord,
and let light perpetual shine upon them.
Thou O God art praised in Sion
and unto thee shall the vow be performed in Jerusalem.
Thou that hearest the prayer,
unto thee shall all flesh come.
Rest eternal grant unto them O Lord,
and let light perpetual shine upon them.

 

Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy.

 

Lord Jesus Christ, King of Glory,
deliver the souls of the faithful departed
from the punishments of hell, and from the deep lake.
Deliver them from the mouth of the lion,
may the abyss not swallow them up,
may they not fall into darkness.
But may the holy standard-bearer, Saint Michael,
lead them to that holy light,
which of old thou didst promise to Abraham,
and to his seed.
Sacrifices and prayers to thee O Lord we offer,
with praise, O receive them from the souls of those
whom we commemorate today;
make them O Lord to pass from death to life.
Which of old thou didst promise to Abraham,
and to his seed.