All-Saints Vespers 2024
A Service of Remembrance & Celebration
Featuring Requiem for the Living by Dan Forrest
Presented by the Covenant Choir and Orchestra and soloists
Sunday, November 3 at 5:00 pm
(Prelude begins at 4:45 pm)
In the service, through various readings, poetry, scripture and music we experience hope, reflection, healing, celebration, peace and joy.
The music to be featured at this beautiful service will be Requiem for the Living by Dan Forrest. The work was written in 2013 and was the work featured at our 2015 All-Saints Vespers service. It has been one of the most requested works for a repeat presentation.
“A Requiem, at its core, is a prayer for rest- traditionally, for the deceased. The five movements of Dan Forrest's Requiem for the Living, (2013), however, form a narrative just as much for the living, and their own struggle with pain and sorrow, as for the dead. The opening movement sets the traditional Introit and Kyrie texts- pleas for rest and mercy- using ever increasing elaborations on a simple three-note descending motive. The second movement, instead of the traditional Dies Irae, sets Scriptural texts that speak of the turmoil and sorrow which face humanity, while yet invoking musical and textual allusions to the Dies Irae. This movement juxtaposes aggressive rhythmic gestures with long, floating melodic lines, including quotes of the Kyrie from the first movement. The Agnus Dei is performed next (a departure from the usual liturgical order) as a plea for deliverance and peace; the Sanctus, following it, becomes a response to this redemption. The Sanctus offers three different glimpses of the "heavens and earth, full of Thy glory", all of which develop the same musical motive: an ethereal opening section inspired by images of space from the Hubble Space Telescope, a stirring middle section inspired by images of our own planet as viewed from the International Space Station, and a closing section which brings the listener down to Earth, where cities teem with the energy of humanity. The Lux Aeterna which then closes the work portrays light, peace, and rest- for both the deceased and the living.”
-Dan Forrest
The service will celebrate the lives of those who have passed with a special reading of the names of our church family and friends who have passed in the last year.
How to have the name of a loved one included in the program:
Please submit one name per form. You may submit multiple names, but use a separate form for each. All forms are due by Sunday, October 27. The sooner the better. A fillable PDF can be found below by clicking ‘Vespers Fillable Form’.
Additional Information:
Our annual All Saints Vespers service is made possible in large part through generous financial donations. While there is no specific charge to submit names for the program or attend the service, we greatly appreciate any financial donation you would like to offer. Donations may be made by check payable to The Neighborhood Church with "Vespers" in the memo line. You can also visit our website at https://www.ncpve.org/givenow and select ‘Vespers Service’ from the dropdown menu. Office hours are Tuesday through Thursday from 10am to 3pm if you’d like to drop by to participate. Reach out to anne@ncpve.org with questions.