Mack Wilberg’s
Requiem Mass

Mack Wilberg, musical director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir wrote his Requiem in pieces throughout the late 1990s. Unbeholden to traditional liturgy, Wilberg felt free to explore territory opened by other modern Requiem composers.

Requiem

  • Requiem æternam
  • Kyrie
  • I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes
  • How Lovely Is Thy Dwelling Place
  • O nata lux
  • The Lord is My Shepherd
  • I Am the Resurrection and the Life—Requiem æternam
Requiem æternam
Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine,
et lux perpetua luceat eis.
(4 Esdras ii.34-35)
Grant them eternal rest, O Lord,
and may light eternal shine upon them.
Kyrie
Kyrie, eleison!
Christe, eleison!
Kyrie, eleison!
Lord, have mercy!
Christ, have mercy!
Lord, have mercy!
Out of the deep
I will lift up mine eyes until the hills
From whence cometh my help.
My help cometh from the Lord
Who made heaven and eath.
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved
And he that keepeth will not sleep.
Behold, he that keepeth Isræl
Shall neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord Himself is they keeper.
The Lord is thy defense upon thy right hand
So that the sun shall not burn thee by day,
Neither the moon by night.
The Lord shall prosper thee from all evil.
Yea, it is even He that shall keep thy soul.
The Lord shall preserve they going out
And thy coming in
From this time forth for evermore.
(Psalm cxxi)
How Lovely Is Thy Dwelling Place
How lovely is Thy dwelling place, O Lord, O Lord of Hosts.
My soul longeth, yea, it fainteth for the courts of the Lord.
My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.
Yea, the sparrow hath found an house,
and the swallow a nest where she may lay her young,
Ev'n thine altars, O Lord of Hosts, my King and my God.
Blessed are they that dwell in thine house:
They are ever praising Thee.
Blessed are those whose strength is in Thee:
They go from strength to strength, appeareth before God.
(Psalm lxxxiv.1-5,7)
O nata lux
O nata lux de lumine,
Jesu redemptor sæculi.
Dignare clemens supplicum,
laudes preces que sumere.
Qui carne quondam contegi
dignature es pro perditis
Nos membra confer effici
Tui beati corporis.
O Light born from Light
Jesus Redeemer of the world.
Lenient, look down upon our supplication,
Our prayers and praise.
Thou that wast once flesh
Look down for the sake of those who are lost.
Bring us as members of Thy happy body.
The Lord is My Shepherd
The Lord is My Shepherd;
   therefore can I lack nothing.
He shall feed me in a green pasture,
   and lead me forth beside
   the waters of comfort.
He shall convert my soul,
   and bring me forth
   in the paths of righteousness,
   for his Name's sake.
Yea, though I walk
   through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
   for thou art with me;
thy rod and thy staff comfort me.
Thou shalt prepare a table before me
   against them that trouble me;
   thou hast anointed my head with oil,
and my cup shall be full.
But thy loving-kindness and mercy
   shall follow me all the days of my life;
   and I will dwell in the house of the
   Lord for ever.
(Psalm xxiii)
I Am the Resurrection and the Life
I am the Resurrection and the Life, saith the Lord.
He that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live;
And whosover liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
(John xi.25-26)
Requiem æternam
Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine,
Et lux perpetua luceat eis.
Grant them eternal rest, O Lord,
and may light eternal shine upon them.

In addition, the Tabernacle Choir recording of this requiem offers supplementary material (just as does Rutter's recording):

  • Ubi caritas et amor
  • Lord, When the Sense of Thy Sweet Grace
  • O Light of Life
  • Jesu, the Very Thought Is Sweet (Bernard de Clairvaux)
  • Let Peace Then Still the Strife