Plácido Domingo, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and Sarah Brightman at the world premiere of Lloyd Webber's Requiem
It was a new venture for Lloyd Webber, the composer of numerous musicals, to create a piece of traditional classical music. The music mixes Lloyd Webber's melodic and pop-oriented style with more complex, sophisticated, and at times even austere forms.
Since then the work has been rarely, if ever, performed live.
Pie Jesu
The best-known part of Lloyd Webber's Requiem, the "Pie Jesu" segment, combines the traditional Pie Jesu text with that of the Agnus Dei from later in the standard Requiem Mass. It was originally performed by Sarah Brightman, who premiered the selection in 1985 in a duet with boy soprano Paul Miles-Kingston; a music video of their duet was created as well.[4] The performance by Brightman and Miles-Kingston was a certified Silver hit in the UK in 1985.[5] Brightman later rerecorded the track for her Classics album in 2001.
The Pie Jesu was voted number 91 in the Classic 100 Twentieth Century countdown in 2011 on the Australian ABC Classic FM radio station.
In his Requiem, Lloyd Webber combined the text of the traditional Pie Jesu with that of the version of the Agnus Dei formerly appointed to be used at Requiem Masses:
Pie Jesu, (×4) Qui tollis peccata mundi, Dona eis requiem. (×2)
Pious Jesus, Who takes away the sins of the world, Give them rest.
Agnus Dei, (×4) Qui tollis peccata mundi, Dona eis requiem, (×2) Sempiternam (×2) Requiem.
Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world, Give them rest, Everlasting Rest.
As is usual, Lloyd Webber did not set the Gradual and Tract texts of the Mass. He divides the Sanctus between two movements, including the Hosanna part with the Benedictus. He does not set the Agnus Dei separately, but rather combined the text of Pie Jesu, a motet derived from the final couplet of the usual Dies irae, with that of the Agnus Dei, commonly heard later in the standard Requiem Mass. He includes a text from the burial service, Libera me.
