Titanic Requiem

Titanic Requiem

Text - Wolfgang Kater; traditional Requiem Introit (in italics)

     Chorus: Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine:

Olympians, they called you, born of Abraham's plains,

Peened, forged and cast by Ulster's pride.
You, middle child, blessed with beloved grace,

Upheld your charges on smooth glassy seas,

     Chorus: Et lux perpetua luceat eis.

The snow of Moses pressed to stone,

Gently caressed your starboard flank,

Passing the bitter sponge by your lips,

Your clockwork Calvary commencing,

As you sank shrieking to the black abyss.

     Chorus: Te decet hymnus in Sion et tibi redetur votum in Jerusalem:

Fathom for soul you spiralled down,

To thunder softly into primordial mud,

For Challengers and all who have fallen

Out of sea or sky, forevermore,

Your shattered hull still points the way.

     Chorus: Exaudi orationem meam,

Rest in peace, oh my beloved,

Your still-born sister will comfort you,

On her side half a world away,

While Olympic bravely soldiers on,

To die dismantled on Scotland's shore.

     Chorus: Ad te omnis caro veniet.

Are we condemned on our marbled globe?

The warnings ring out crystal clear.

Ice-fields loom large in our dark night,

Yet we press on. Full Steam Ahead!

To meet our fate in that cold pink dawn.

     Chorus: Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, Domine

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Lyrics and programs notes

The Titanic Requiem, an accessible 21-minute work, combines the traditional Mass for the Dead with a tender eulogy to the Titanic by inventor/instrument builder and Titanic researcher Wolfgang Kater. Mr. Kater has been fascinated by the demise of the great vessel and, drawing on his background in architectural structure, has over the years constructed many models of the Titanic from pencil length to piano length. He was particularly interested in the hot boilers and what must have happened when the near freezing Atlantic waters engulfed them in a matter of seconds. Rober Ballard’s underwater findings came to him as confirmation rather than surprise.

I wrote the Titanic Requiem a few years back for a very small SATB church choir – one person per part - in Ormstown, Quebec. A fine local string quartet performed the accompaniment, along with the solo cellist who performed the solo 'soul’ of the Titanic. In this instance a single double bass provided the low noise of the huge engines of the great ship, and a local soprano soloist did the piece great justice.  The Titanic Requiem has been performed a number of times since; I was thrilled to conduct one of them in a concert marking the end of a thirty plus year career at the Faculty of Music (now the Schulich School of Music) of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. This is the version featured in the current YouTube video clip and the Titanic Requiem CD. On this occasion no less than five double bases emulated the reverberant hum of the Titanic’s enormous engines.

Two particularly memorable performances were those directed by Erica Phare in the ominous ‘inverted ship’ hall of HMC Donacona in Montreal, and that directed by Susan Quin in the great Basilica in St. Johns, Newfoundland, in the graveyard of which were buried many of the Titanic’s dead. The entire choir arrived on stage in period dress, carrying period luggage. On this occasion the engine ‘hum’ was performed on the mighty pipe organ, which was dramatically turned off just as the piece ended. The effect was breathtaking.

The choral music for the Titanic Requiem is in two styles. The ancient Jewish Requiem aeterna text is set for the choir in ‘traditional’ modal harmony; as well, there are some sections of the requiem mass that call for modest choral and instrumental improvisation- all very accessible to performers and audience alike. These passages alternate with highly melodic, though bi-tonally accompanied solo verses of Mr. Kater’s evocative poem.  There is considerable symbolism at work- from the improvised sections echoing the considerable and unfortunate improvising of emergency measure as the ship rapidly sank, to the foreboding suggested by the tritone relations ship between the right and left hand (C and F#) of the piano accompaniment of the poem setting. The choral parts are in straightforward four voices, with occasional doubling at high points. It is simple enough for a county church choir to perform, yet sufficiently sophisticated for a highly trained community, institutional or professional chorus - and their audiences! - to appreciate.

It turns out that the instruments chosen for the Titanic Requiem are exactly those on board the Titanic on its maiden and only voyage- two violins, a viola, two cellos and a double bass (or alternatives), which along with a piano and a soprano, performed in a variety of combinations. 

View Titanic Requiem Score Excerpt