Meaning and Expression. The text for this movement of the Requiem Canticles is a portion of the traditional Latin Requiem Mass:

Stravinsky creates a solemn, devotional atmosphere with a slow-moving melody, an impressive, widely-spaced chord, and the chorale texture of the chorus. At the beginning of this vocal prayer, the melodic line rises from C♯ to D, then falls back. The prayer yearns upward, but has not yet arrived. At the end of the movement, it will rise from C♯ to D♯ and remain there.