During his most productive period as an opera composer, Camille Saint-Saëns also wrote sacred works, among which his "Oratorio de Noël" has enjoyed great worldwide popularity. The colorful and opulently orchestrated "Messe de Requiem" was composed in 1878 in Bern. The composer dedicated it to his patron, Albert Libon. We have published this edition both with its larger orchestral forces and to enable perfomances of the "Requiem" in slightly reduced scoring (without losing the special characteristics of the work), in a version with a smaller orchestra consisting of 11 winds, two harps, organ and string instruments. The full score reproduces the Urtext of the "Requiem" with its original scoring, whereas the performance material is presented and conceived so to enable it to be performed either in the original orchestration or the version with reduced forces.
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