Funeral Ikos

Composer: TAVENER, Sir John
  • Tavener composed this piece for unaccompanied choir in 1981.1
  • The text of Funeral Ikos is taken from the Orthodox Church’s service for the burial of priests, translated into English by Isabel Hapgood.2 Text available here. 
  • The Tallis Scholars performed the work’s premiere in Keble College, Oxford, and subsequently recorded it on their album Russian Orthodox Music.3
  • This work is among the first of Tavener’s many sacred works influenced by Orthodox chant. He began to dip deeply into that style in 1981 with this piece and The Great Canon of St Andrew of Crete.4
  • “Ikos” is a term for an Orthodox hymn intended for a specific liturgical occasion. 

Sources

  1. Ivan Moody, “Tavener, Sir John,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed September 30, 2021,  https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000027569.
  2. Ivan Moody, “Funeral Ikos,” Hyperion (2014), accessed September 30, 2021, https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dw.asp?dc=W15162_GBADM8400032.
  3. Ibid.
  4. Moody, “Tavener, Sir John,” Grove Music Online

Cut IDs

21373 21597