Since its first complete performance in 1869 in Leipzig, Brahms’s German Requiem is, without question, one of the key works in the history of the oratorio. The reputation of the work is based not only on its unusually concentrated musical structure, but also on the original conception of the text: Brahms assembled important passages from both the Old and New Testaments in Luther’s translation so that thoughts on sorrow and consolation would obviously refer to one another. In contrast to many other oratorios of the 19th century Brahms places the choir, the voice of the community, in the center of this interdenominational celebration of the dead.
The source-critical edition is based on the first published edition of the score, which Brahms authorized.
Thanks to an arrangement by J. Linckelmann (Carus 27.055/50), it is possible to perform the work in smaller settings. Also available is an arrangement of the orchestral movement for two pianos (Carus 23.006/03).
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Composer
Johannes Brahms
| 1833-1897Johannes Brahms' study of musical tradition was of crucial importance to his output: he combined church modes, canonic technique, Baroque style and diction, Bach's counterpoint and Beethoven's thematic-motivic work with the harmonic and expressive achievements of Romanticism to form his own distinctive style. In this respect his choral songs and vocal quartets (e.g. the “Liebeslieder Waltzes” and “New Liebeslieder Waltzes”), often to folk song texts, in which a musical microcosm unfolds, are examplary. His “Deutsches Requiem”, available from Carus in several different versions, constitutes one of the most fascinating confessions of faith in the history of music. Personal details