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  • Noun

requiem

REK-wee-uhm

Context
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Mozart’s Requiem, or funeral music, is incredible in its ability to portray grief. This requiem, or musical piece which honored an Austrian nobleman’s wife who passed away, is one of the most popular musical pieces for a funeral ever written. In listening to the orchestral requiem or song for the dead, one is reminded of the entire spectrum of human emotion, and most listeners are moved to tears of grief.

Quiz: What is the purpose of a requiem?

  • To celebrate a national holiday.
  • To honor someone’s accomplishments.
  • To mourn someone who has died.

Memory Hook
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Return to Quiet When a requiem is performed for someone, we know that he has returned to everlasting quiet because he has died.

Examples
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  • The music is often fierce in its execution, but in essence it is a requiem for those who perished in that sudden inferno, and those who died trying to save them. — Rolling Stone
  • Garden is a quietly touching, achingly human requiem for the passing of a social order — one of those rare films that can make effective personal drama out of political chaos. — TIME

Word Ingredients
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re- back, again
quiet rested, stilled, calmed

A requiem is sung for those who have permanently gone to “rest,” that is, have gone “back” to the earth.

Word Theater
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Mozart's Requiem Mozart's final masterpiece was commissioned by Count Franz von Walsegg.
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Word Constellation
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Requiem