In times of shared grief, requiems have offered solace

By E.B.

THE CORONAVIRUS has changed the lives of billions of people around the world. Confined to their homes, people have been unable to work or socialise as normal; some who have lost a loved one have been barred from attending funerals and forced to arrange “virtual wakes” instead. Once the pandemic is under control, many will feel the need to properly honour their relatives, friends and countrymen. A public commemoration of the victims of the virus, with music, would be a poignant way of doing so.

Composers have often written new music to pay tribute to the victims of tragedies. After a gunman killed 16 children and a teacher in the Scottish town of Dunblane in 1996, James McMillan wrote “A Child’s Prayer”, a choral composition. In 1959 Krzysztof Penderecki wrote “Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima”, an orchestral piece. But it is requiems that are best suited to communal mourning.