Having considered writing a Requiem for many years, Martin finally became obsessed with its creation only shortly before his own death. A Calvinist Protestant, he had turned to Roman Catholic texts earlier (as in his Mass of 1922-1924), but was now taken with the Requiem setting, in order to accept death, to make peace with it, to view it straight on with all the fears... that it conveys. The Requiem was completed in 1973, the composer died the following year. In Paradisum, deducant te angeli. D