Hollywood composer writes Mass for his mother

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Stephen Edwards plays piano during a duet with his mother, Rosalie, during his youth. (Stephen Edwards)

Kimberly Winston Religion News Service | May. 13, 2017

Most sons send their mom a card or maybe some flowers for Mother's Day. Film composer Stephen Edwards, a Catholic, wrote his mom a requiem Mass, complete with 50-voice children's choir, a 100-voice adult choir and 50 musicians.

Oh, and he got it performed at the Vatican and it aired on Italian television.

This weekend, "Requiem for My Mother," an hour-long documentary about Edwards, his mom and the staging of the requiem, airs on most PBS stations. Edwards, who is 55 and has scored dozens of films and television shows, talked with RNS about his mother, Rosalie, who died somewhat suddenly of ovarian cancer in 2006. He talked about how writing a requiem — a musical Mass for the dead — helped him both honor her and move beyond his grief. The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The year 2006 was not a good one for you. You lost your mom, your dad and both of your dogs. How did writing a requiem help you deal with that?

I think when my mom, Rosalie, died I was just so helpless. There was just nothing I could do. Her downhill spiral was a pretty quick one. So for me to express my feelings of loss and anger and sadness and all those pent-up emotions that come into play when you lose someone, I turned to music, I turned to the thing I do. I wanted to give something to someone who gave me so much. She gave me life and was my first musical muse. She introduced me to everything from Bach to the Beatles to Broadway shows. There was music in the house all the time. So my reason for doing this was to give something back to her and to have my own cathartic experience to deal with the loss of her.

https://www.ncronline.org/news/media/hollywood-composer-writes-mass-his-mother