TITLE:
Requiem: Psychological, Philosophical, and Aesthetic Notes on the Music of the Mass for the Dead—Dedicated to the Victims of COVID-19 Worldwide
AUTHORS:
Vladimir J. Konečni
KEYWORDS:
Requiem Music, Requiem and Emotions, Dies irae, Mass for the Dead, Psychology of the Mass, Philosophy of the Mass, Aesthetics of the Mass, Orthodox Christian Liturgy, St. John of Damascus, St. John Chrysostom
JOURNAL NAME:
Art and Design Review,
Vol.8 No.2,
May
12,
2020
ABSTRACT: The article discusses the musical, psychological, philosophical and aesthetic essence of the Latin Requiem, the Missa pro defunctis, the Mass for the Dead. It examines in particular detail the famous Sequence Dies irae. Numerous Requiems up to the most recent ones are discussed and compared. Concepts from empirical aesthetics of Berlyne (1971, 1974) and Konečni (1979, 1982) are used to analyze the relationship between the hypothetical “power” of parts of the Mass (in psycho-aesthetic terms) and its effect on listeners. Historical reasons are examined for the difference in approaches to music for the services for the deceased between Western and Eastern Christian Churches (especially with regard to the use of instrumentation).