Program Notes

Robert Schumann was the most influential person who ever came into the life of Johannes Brahms. It was Schumann who hailed Brahms in print as the “savior of German music” when the young composer had only just begun his life’s work. It was to Schumann that Brahms looked when he was searching to establish not only the technique of his compositions, but also the philosophical basis on which they were founded. And it was the Schumann family, first Robert and later his wife, Clara, who provided encouragement, constructive criticism and affection to Brahms throughout his life. It is no surprise, then, that Brahms was deeply moved by the premature death of his mentor in 1856, the first profound grief to fall upon his life.

Schumann encouraged Brahms to write in the grand forms of the great Classical composers in order to continue the revered traditions of Mozart and Beethoven that Schumann believed were being swept away by the flood of meretricious music created by the legion of third-rate composers, most now long forgotten, of the mid-19th century. Brahms began a symphony the year after Schumann’s death with a view toward fulfilling his charge, but that project did not result in its intended aim. Though Brahms abandoned the symphony, he used the music of the opening movement in his first orchestral work, the D minor Piano Concerto. The slow movement of the Symphony was resurrected as a choral work in 1861 and provided with the text, Denn alles Fleisch es ist wie Gras (“For all flesh is as grass”); it served as the germ from which A German Requiem grew. It is possible that Brahms may have been influenced in this transformation by an idea credited to Schumann, one that he did not live to realize — the writing of a work of the Requiem type based on a German text rather than on the traditional Latin liturgy of the ancient Roman Catholic Mass for the Dead. With a view towards erecting a musical monument to Schumann, Brahms assembled a text appropriate to such a composition from the Lutheran Bible in 1861, but that memorial then lay dormant for several years.

It was the death of another loved one that moved Brahms to resume activity on his Requiem. Brahms, a confirmed bachelor, was extraordinarily fond of his mother. When she passed away in February 1865, it marked the beginning of a period of sadness and mourning for him, one result of which was an unsettled wandering through many places in central Europe. Another product of this experience was that it spurred him to resume work on the unfinished Requiem, which, with the death of his mother, could become a memorial both to her and to Schumann. He completed the six sections of his original conception by August 1866, and added another movement eighteen months later for soprano soloist specifically occasioned by the death of his mother: Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit (“Ye now have sorrow”). A line of its scripture, “I will see you again,” tells of the touching personal message that this music carried for the composer.

Though Brahms was raised in the beliefs of German Protestantism, he was not a religious man. He did not bother with the church, and confessed in the last year of his life to his biographer Max Kalbeck that he had never believed in life after death. His knowledge of the Bible, however, was thorough, and he continued to enjoy the comfort that reading it provided him throughout his life. When he chose the texts for his Requiem, he took the greatest care to eschew dogmatism, avoiding passages mentioning the name of Christ. Rather than a specifically sectarian document, he saw the work as a universal response by a sensitive soul to the inevitability and sorrow of death, and he even noted that he would be happy if the word “Mankind” could replace the word “German” in the title. (The title as it stands does not denote any nationalistic intent but simply recognizes the fact that the text is in Brahms’ vernacular tongue rather than in liturgical Latin.) Brahms’ use of the language of the people rather than the ancient tongue of the Catholic Church is not just an incidental fact in the effect of this composition, but is part of its conceptual basis, as Karl Geiringer explained in his study of the composer: “The Latin Requiem is a prayer for the dead, threatened with the horrors of the Last Judgment; Brahms’ Requiem, on the contrary, utters words of consolation, designed to reconcile the living with the idea of suffering and death. In the liturgical text whole sentences are filled with the darkest menace; in Brahms’ Requiem, each of the seven sections closes in a mood of cheerful confidence or loving promise.” This is a work meant for people rather than for God.

The moving nature of A German Requiem is attested by its continuing popularity. Following its premiere in Bremen in 1868, there were fully two dozen performances of the work in European cities within the next year alone. It was the composition that won international fame and some economic security for Brahms, and its success enabled him to quit his labors as conductor and piano soloist to devote himself to composition. It launched a series of works for chorus and orchestra (the Alto Rhapsody, Song of Destiny, Rinaldo) that not only stand among the great 19th-century music for voices, but that also served as harbingers of the instrumental compositions he was to write beginning in 1873 with the Haydn Variations and continue with the symphonies and concertos of his later years.

As with all of Brahms’ works, this one shows meticulous construction in its overall structure and proportions. Walter Niemann offered this view: “The first half — the first through the third movements — is devoted almost entirely to earthly suffering, lamentation and mourning over the transitoriness and nothingness of human life, rather than to the consolation and the everlasting bliss of the redeemed. In the second half — the fourth through the seventh movements — mourning is gradually transformed, passing through the stages of pious faith, consolation, and joy in the living God, to celestial bliss and triumphant resurrection.” Most of the movements exhibit a tripartite organization in which the text and music of the opening section reappear to round out the form. The overriding mood of the work is one of comforting resignation rather than of visions of supra-human worlds. Only in the sixth movement is any of the terror of the Dies Irae (“Day of Wrath”) of the Latin Requiem present, and this is quickly supplanted by the quiet benediction of the closing movement. Brahms’ A German Requiem, a work of grand scope and surpassing excellence, is rich in a substance that never wavers from its purpose of sharing a universal experience through the incandescent beauties that only music can provide.

- Dr. Richard E. Rodda



Selig sind, die da Leid tragen,        Blessed are they that mourn;
denn sie sollen getröstet werden.        for they shall be comforted.
Die mit Tränen säen,        They that sow in tears
werden mit Freuden ernten.        shall reap in joy.
Sie gehen hin und weinen,        They that go forth and weep,
und tragen edlen Samen,        bearing precious seed,
und kommen mit Freuden        shall come again with rejoicing,
und bringen ihre Garben.        bringing their sheaves with them.


Denn alles Fleisch es ist wie Gras        For all flesh is as grass,
und alle Herrlichkeit des Menschen        and all the glory of man
wie des Grases Blumen.        as the flowers of the grass.
Das Gras ist verdorret        The grass is withered,
und die Blumen abgefallen.        and the flowers fallen away.
So seid nun geduldig, lieben Brüder,        Be patient, therefore, brethren,
bis auf die Zukunft des Herrn.        unto the coming of the Lord.
Siehe, ein Ackermann wartet auf        Behold, the husbandman waiteth
die köstliche Frucht der Erde        for the precious fruit of the earth,
und ist geduldig darüber,        and hath long patience for it,
bis er empfahe        until he receive
den Morgenregen und Abendregen.        the early and the latter rain.
So seid geduldig.        So be patient.
Denn alles Fleisch es ist wie Gras ...        For all flesh is as grass ...

Aber des Herrn Wort bleibt in Ewigkeit.        But the word of the Lord endureth forever.
Die Erlöseten des Herrn werden wiederkommen,        And the ransomed of the Lord shall return,
und gen Zion kommen mit Jauchzen;        and come to Zion with songs
Freude, ewige Freude wird über ihrem Haupte sein;        and everlasting joy upon their heads:
Freude und Wonne werden sie ergreifen,        they shall obtain joy and gladness,
und Schmerz und Seufzen wird weg müssen.        and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.


Herr, lehre doch mich, dass ein Ende        Lord, make me to know mine end,
mit mir haben muss, und mein Leben        and the measure of my days, what it is;
ein Ziel hat, und ich davon muss.        and I must journey toward it.
Siehe, meine Tage sind eine         Behold thou hast made my days as an
Handbreit vor dir,                handbreadth;
und mein Leben ist wie nichts vor dir.        and mine age is as nothing before thee:
Ach, wie gar nichts sind alle Menschen,        verily, every man at his best state
die doch so sicher leben.        is altogether vanity.
Sie gehen daher wie ein Schemen,        Surely every man walketh in a vain shew;
und machen ihnen viel vergebliche Unruhe;        surely they are disquieted in vain:
sie sammeln und wissen nicht,        he heapeth up riches,
wer es kriegen wird.        and knoweth not who shall gather them.
Nun Herr, wes soll ich mich trösten?        And now, Lord, what is my hope?
Ich hoffe auf dich.        My hope is in thee.
Der Gerechten Seelen sind in Gottes Hand        The souls of the righteous are in God’s hand,
und keine Qual rühret sie an.        and there shall no torment touch them.


Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen,        How amiable are thy tabernacles,
Herr Zebaoth!        O Lord of hosts!
Meine Seele verlanget und sehnet sich        My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth
nach den Vorhöfen des Herrn;        for the courts of the Lord:
mein Leib und Seele freuen sich        my heart and flesh rejoice
in dem lebendigen Gott.        in the living God.
Wohl denen, die in deinem Hause wohnen,        Blessed are they that dwell in thy house:
die loben dich immerdar!        they will still be praising thee.


Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit;        Ye now have sorrow;
aber ich will euch wieder sehen        but I will see you again,
und euer Herz soll sich freuen,        and your heart shall rejoice,
und eure Freude soll niemand von euch nehmen.        and your joy no man shall take from you.
Ich will euch trösten,        I will comfort you
wie einen seine Mutter tröstet.        as one comforted by his mother.
Sehet mich an: ich habe        Behold with your eyes,
eine kleine Zeit Mühe und Arbeit gehabt        how that I labored but a little,
und habe grossen Trost funden.        and found for myself much rest.


Denn wir haben hie keine bleibende Statt,        For here we have no continuing city,
sondern die zukünftige suchen wir.        but we seek one to come.
Siehe, ich sage euch ein Geheimnis.        Behold, I show you a mystery;
Wir werden nicht alle entschlafen,        we shall not all sleep,
wir werden aber alle verwandelt werden;        but we shall all be changed,
und dasselbige plötzlich in einem Augenblick        in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,
zu der Zeit der letzten Posaune.        at the last trumpet:
Denn es wird die Posaune schallen        for the trumpet shall sound,
und die Toten werden auferstehen unverweslich,        and the dead shall be raised incorruptible,
und wir werden verwandelt werden.        and we shall be changed.
Dann wird erfüllet werden        Then shall be brought to pass
das Wort, das geschrieben steht:        the saying that is written,
Der Tod ist verschlungen in den Sieg.        Death is swallowed up in victory.
Tod, wo ist dein Stachel?        O death, where is thy sting?
Hölle, wo ist dein Sieg?        O grave, where is thy victory?
Herr, du bist würdig        Thou art worthy, O Lord,
zu nehmen Preis und Ehre und Kraft,        to receive glory and honor and power:
denn du hast alle Dinge erschaffen,        for thou hast created all things,
und durch deinen Willen        and for thy pleasure
haben sie das Wesen und sind geschaffen.        they are and were created.


Selig sind die Toten,        Blessed are the dead
die in dem Herren sterben, von nun an.        which die in the Lord from henceforth:
Ja, der Geist spricht,        Yea, saith the Spirit,
dass sie ruhen von ihrer Arbeit;        that they may rest from their labors;
denn ihre Werke folgen ihnen nach.        and their works do follow them.