The Yr 12 ATAR Music Students have studied Requiem Masses as part of the Historical and Cultural Perspectives content of their course.
They will be looking at an Indigenous Requiem Mass titled “Eumeralla” which shares some of the traditional movements of a Requiem Mass such as the Kyrie Eleison and Dies Irae.
The students will be examining similarities and differences between this War Requiem for Peace and the Britten War Requiem which is their Designated Work.
The Eumeralla river flows through Gunditjmara country in southwest Victoria. It was here, 180 years ago, that war broke out between traditional owners and those who sought to dispossess them of their land. Combining moving poetry, four choirs, orchestra and the platform of the Requiem mass, a history of heartbreak and horror is revealed in this monumental work. With a fusion of Western classical tradition and First Nations culture, Eumeralla soars with resilience and reconciliation. Eumeralla is sung in dialects of the Gunditjmara people of southwestern Victoria. Eumeralla: a war requiem for peace.
Andrea Stimson
Director of Music
