An harmonic analysis of the German requiem of Brahms Brahms crafted the structure of his German Requiem to bolster the impact of the disparate textual sources he had assembled. Lott presents what he considers the most important hermeneutical guide to the Requiem musical analysisin Chapter Five, explaining that Brahms set his The concert opens with a movement from Beethovens Tenth (yes, Tenth!) Even the instrumentation can be somewhat variable; although the score is marked for a contrabassoon anchor, Brahms reportedly preferred an organ. He knew exactly what he wanted, and is scrupulously precise in his directions on rhythm, dynamics, and phrase length. WebBrahms chose the texts that were dearest to him. Robert Shaw: (1) RCA Symphony Orchestra and Chorale, James Pease, Eleanor Steber (1947, RCA; 65'); (2) Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Richard Stilwell, Arleen Auger (1983, Telarc; 70'). Musical illustrations are performed on the violin and piano. Steven Ledbetter agrees that although the text belongs to no formal liturgy of any church, it "nonetheless represents a deeply felt response to the central problem of human existence.". The timings, both overall and of individual movements, are somewhat deceptive, as his fast sections are very rapid, while the slow portions tend to be quite measured. Others dwell more figuratively on the relationship of text and music, as when regarding the pedal point that accompanies the conclusion of the third movement as symbolizing the firmness of faith. The text that Brahms fashioned is derived from the Old and New Testaments as well as the Apocrypha, with all but the fourth movement a blend of these sources. Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem, Op. 45 "), and then launches into a massive C-major fugue in praise of God as the creator of all. Natasha Loges is the head of postgraduate programmes and professor of musicology at the Royal College of Music. The fourth movement, an interlude reflecting the contentment of living with God, begins and ends simply and serenely, bracketing a double fugue that emerges to expand upon the thought of praising God. No other piece of music captivated iconic conductor Robert Shaw more than the Brahms Requiem. Because Brahms chose his own text to express his personal sentiments, Musgrave says text and music go hand in hand in a way they cannot when a composer is assigned a text to work with. Following her separation from Brahmss father, the composers beloved mother Christiane died of a stroke, aged 76, in early 1865. I don't mean to be overly critical leaving aside comparisons to Furtwngler, this is a fine, compelling performance in its own right that underlines the score's drama and rises to a stirring, triumphant VI that leaves any thought of morbidity far behind. Brahms compiled passages from Luthers Bible for his 1868 Ein deutsches Requiem, texts that focused on comfort for the living rather than judgment and pleas for mercy on behalf of the deceased. Where does music begin? Sometimes he communicated these ideas through letters, many of them included in the 1996 Shaw biography, Dear People. I prefer the earlier one, if only for the massively potent timpani that galvanize the II climaxes (and suggest control-room manipulation drums just can't be that loud!). If he realized a certain passage was going to require a little more from the first altos, for example, hed assign some second sopranos to join them for a few measures. He was accused of micromanaging, but that couldnt be more wrong, says Mackenzie. On December 1, 1867 the first three movements were given in Vienna. You can unsubscribe at any time. Its greatest message, says Musgrave, is a message of comfort, especially apparent in the fifth movement soprano solo, which quotes Isaiah: I will comfort you as a mother would. Although Brahms did not like people asking him about it, Musgrave says everyone in the composers circle believed he wrote this movement for his own mother, who died in February 1868. From the outset, Mengelberg extends the logic of Brahms' musical architecture to a microcosmic scale, sculpting each phrase of the opening movement with constant swells of sound and adjustments of tempo to create mini-climaxes that animate the generally level terrain. After its official premiere in Bremen on Good Friday, 1868, Ein deutsches Requiem made Brahmss name, Musgrave told symposium participants. Legend has it that Elizabeth Schwartzkopf, who sings her comforting solo with ravishing nurture, selflessly sang along with the chorus sopranos to bolster their efforts. We got to the downbeat of O schne Nacht, and he started to cry. He was not so much setting texts as realizing them, he told symposium participantsa comment that inspired fellow faculty member Leonard Ratzlaff to chime in: This text is replete with tone painting, he said, citing the sudden key change in the sixth movement after the baritone sings in einem Augenblickin the blink of an eye. For Ratzlaff, who teaches choral conducting at the University of Alberta, it provided an object lesson for the conductors in the room: At some point, its important to have a micro look at the text, what it inspired the composer to write, harmonically and melodically., In the 1870s the Brahms Requiem received endless performances, says Musgrave, including premieres in London in 1871 and New York in 1877. Indeed, one of Bach's very first cantatas (his 1707 "Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit," now numbered 106), is believed to have been written for a funeral and has been cited as a miniature model for the German Requiem, as it combines isolated lines from the Psalms, Isaiah, Luke, Acts, Ecclesiastices, Revelations and a 1533 Reissner hymn into a beautifully integrated 20-minute meditation comprised of an instrumental prelude, choruses suffused with soprano, alto, tenor and bass solos and a concluding chorale. Nearly all the great Furtwngler concert recordings reflect his long leadership of the Berlin or Vienna Philharmonic Orchestras (and the corresponding familiarity and empathy of their musicians with his deeply personal and erratic style), and his results with foreign ensembles were mostly disappointing. On the one hand, performances in the local language would seem take the composer's desire for accessibility to its logical conclusion, enabling audiences to understand the words and better appreciate their musical settings. Indeed, Schumann had urged Brahms to "direct his magic wand where the massed forces of chorus and orchestra may lend him their power." Jessop considers it the pinnacle of craftsmanship in composition for chorus. One doesnt have time not to do that, she said of his meticulous planning. While conductors views often evolve over time, at first it seems hard to reconcile such radically different perspectives arising within a mere six years. By 1872 its text had been translated into English. WebThroughout the Requiem Brahms contrasts the transience of human existence with the eternity of God, and he is not shy about underlining the difference. WebAlbum: Songfacts: "A German Requiem, To Words of the Holy Scriptures," is a large-scale choral work composed between 1865 and 1868 by German composer Johannes Brahms. R. Kinloch Anderson cites the ghostly sound of the opening as proof of Brahms' sense of orchestral color and the patter of harp, flute and pizzicato violins as his sensitivity to specific words (in this instance accompanying mention of raindrops). The titles of most classical works are merely generic ("Symphony # 1 in C Major"), descriptive ("Scheherazade") or appended by others and often sadly inappropriate (the "Moonlight" Sonata). WebTo make a thorough study of these lessons is to became a better teacher or student, and also to became a more discerning musician. Later, he replaced the first movement Andante with Ziemlich langsam und mit Ausdruck (Quite slow and with expression), suggesting a weightier, more nuanced conception. The chorale lay at the root of the Requiem.. Scholars note that in 1636 Heinrich Schtz had composed a Teutsche Begrbnis-Missa ("German Funeral Mass") which he had described as "a Concerto in the form of a German Burial Mass" and which had used the same opening text as the German Requiem, but Brahms may not have known it. As conductors, we so often have to push singers to make the rhythm. WebIt is an oratorio, a choral setting of biblical texts, and has little to do with the Latin Requiem Mass. Fritz Lehmann, Berlin Philharmonic, St. Hedwig Cathedral Choir, Berlin Motet Choir, Otto Wiener, Maria Stader (1955, DG, 80'), Rudolf Kempe, Berlin Philharmonic, St. Hedwig Cathedral Choir, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Elisabeth Grmmer (1955, EMI, 76'). Recordings of Brahmss large-scale choral-orchestral works have to pass two acid tests: first, the balancing of massive structures so that the whole thing hangs together, neither rushing nor dragging;and secondly, the handling of texture, so that listeners can hear individual orchestral-vocal lines and timbres, but also enjoy the seamless fusion of the gigantic collective sound which give such works their meaning. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians construes the title mainly as a mandate to perform the work in the German language (although, ironically, the German Requiem is heard in translation far more often than any other religious work of comparable stature). It is both curious and disturbing that such an accessible work had to wait until 1947 for its first studio recordings clearly a sign of producers' low confidence in its commercial prospects. Reversing the harsh judgments of flat consistency in earlier Grove editions, he considers VI to "contain passages as expressively declamatory as anything in the 19th century." Brahms Vocally, Brahms is as exhausting a piece as a chorus is asked to sing, he told the video interviewer. The quotations and other factual information for this article are primarily derived from the following sources: Armin Zebrowski: "Brahms' German Requiem" (article in, R. Kinloch Anderson Karajan/Berlin (Angel SB-3838, 1977), William Mann Klemperer/Philharmonia (Angel SB-3624, 1961), Siegfried Kross Karajan/Berlin (DG 2707 018, 196x), Leonard Burkat Levine/Chicago (RCA ARC2-5002, 1977), Joseph Braunstein Bamberger/Hamburg (Nonesuch HB 73003 (1966), Karl Geiringer Haitink/Vienna State Opera (Philips 6769 055, 196x), H. Kevil Koch/Berlin RSO (Musical Heritage Society 3724/25, William S. Newman Barenboim/London (DG 2707 066, 1979), Walter Neimann Ormandy/Philadelphia (Columbia M2S 686, 1962), Robert Shaw Robert Shaw/RCA Symphony (RCA LM 6004, 1948), Andre Tubeuf and Alan Blyth Karajan/Vienna (EMI 61010, 1988), Robert Pascall Norrington/London Classical Players (EMI 54658, 1993), Steven Ledbetter Shaw/Atlanta (Telarc CD-80092, 1984), Robert Shaw Jessop/Utah (Telarc CD-80501, 1999), Patrick Lang Celibidache/Munich (EMI 56843, 1999), Martin Smith Gardiner/Orchestra Revolutionnaire (Philips 432 140, 1991), Eva Pinter Schuricht/Stuttgart (Hanssler 93.144, 2004), Roger Norrington his CD of the Brahms Symphony # 1 (EMI 54286, 1991). Shaws rehearsals for a 1990 Carnegie Hall performance of the Brahms Requiem, captured on video and screened at the symposium, begin with the opening notes, but not with the words Selig sind. Instead, the singers intone One and two and tee and four and, one and two and tee and four and, one and. The technique, count singing, is often associated with Shaw. By setting the final thought that "their works follow them" to the same music as the opening prayer for comfort (but with brighter orchestration), Brahms not only ties the conclusion back to the initial focus upon those who remain to mourn but envelops the entire work and, by implication, all human endeavor, fear and hope with the supreme consolation of a Divine embrace. While marginally more dramatic (the powerful chord that concludes III is sustained for an astounding 18 seconds; in Stockholm it was "only" 12), the Lucerne recording resisted even the extraordinary restoration efforts of Maggi Payne and remains sonically challenging, afflicted not just with poor fidelity but severe wow, overload distortion and noise that often overwhelms the music and precludes genuine appreciation. Singers were given numbers to represent their voice ranges, starting with 101 for the lowest bass, a tool Shaw used to adjust balances in advance, saving precious rehearsal time. His death on January 25, 1999 came just weeks before a planned recording session with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, which he had intended to conduct. Nor was Brahms likely to have known an obscure 1818 Deutsches Requiem that Franz Schubert had written for his brother. When his brother was killed, Frink says his mother told him, That should have been you, Robert. It tortured him the rest of his life., People close to Shaw would put up with his difficult side because, says Jones, we knew that there was a more profound exposure to the music and exposure to him that was possible. Craig Jessop remembers him as a towering intellect, the likes of which I had never encountered. The pace picks up in the last two movements, beautifully conveying the mourners healing. While others have invested the work with greater serenity, drama or spirituality, Klemperer leads with granitic force while avoiding the grimness that afflicts some of his late work, and his supreme poise triumphantly treads the thin line between objectivity and disengagement. In keeping with the two soloists' respective functions, the baritone aptly quakes with excitement, while the soprano is serene. WebA German Requiem, To Words of the Holy Scriptures, Op. Many accounts of this recording tend to apologize for the need to overcome post-war deprivations (excuse me while I dry my tears), but what emerges is a fine combination of beauty and fervor that radiates sincerity. The miniature score Brahms had long carried the idea of writing a requiem. By entering your details, you are agreeing to our terms and conditions and privacy policy. And in his 1997 biography, Jan Swofford degrades it as "too consistent in mood, without enough variety of texture, tempo and feeling to create the illusion of a satisfying story unfolding throughout.". (In contrast, Bach's secular 1727 "Funeral Ode" cantata, # 198, whose title suggests a more direct connection, is a diffuse treatment of a pompous ceremonial poem with far more musical than literary merit.). He also prefaces the German Requiem with a fine bonus Brahms' early Begrbnisgesang ("Burial Song"), a sensitive but rather routine setting for choir, brass and winds of a Lutheran hymn that speaks of eternal life, even while ending with a somber reminder of death's inevitability. Perchance through his title Brahms is modestly telling us that he did not purport to have created "the" definitive German requiem nor any other sort of authoritative proclamation, but rather sought to offer just one among infinite approaches toward understanding and grappling with the ultimate mystery of life and accepting the inescapable tragedy of our mortality. The last movement to be added the fifth, in which a solo soprano sings of a mother's comfort is generally attributed to the memory of Brahms' mother, but less as an immediate response to her death than a later tribute. What impresses me now, as an older man, is seeing Shaw free to float, to make a vocal line. In the first movement, theres a big A and a coda. Even the pastoral IV surges with a radiant spirit and strongly assertive choral singing. It was important for us to make things as easy as possible, because he could be extremely hard on himself. For a taste of Furtwangler's magic in modern sound, Barenboim comes quite close, with nearly identical tempos, beautifully shaped phrases, thundering climaxes (with hugely imposing timpani Furtwangler reportedly asked his timpanist if he was playing as loudly as he could and when assured that he was demanded that he play even louder), and deep spirituality he invests the mourners' opening with a wondrous sense of longing by stretching each phrase and magnifies the explosive triumphant outbursts of the climaxes with deeply serious preparatory passages. Each movement is appreciably slower, often strikingly so the opening sprawls to 1210 compared to 925 in his 1943 NBC broadcast, and the finale to 1305 vs. 940 in 1943. As Shaw pondered his own translation in 1999, Jessop assumes his motivation must have been the same as it was 40 years earlier when he created an English version of Bachs St. Matthew Passion. For many, this is the expressive heart of the work, recalling Brahmss own tragic loss. Bruno Walter, New York Philharmonic, Westminster Choir, George London, Irmgard Seefried (1956, Odyssey LP, Sony CD, 63'). Although Brahms did not point to the precise source, Ochs decided he was referring to Bachs chorale Wer nur den lieben Gott., Moving to the nearby piano, Musgrave played the tune in question, familiar to Lutherans as the hymn If thou but suffer God to guide thee. The comparison was convincing. Some may regard Toscanini's manner as a model of sophistication and integrity, mostly refusing to inject himself into the splendor of the music itself and enabling its structure to emerge in our minds, but it may strike others as too impersonal and abstract; I tend to prefer a more proactive approach that directly communicates a deeper range of human feeling. Beyond the expected mixed reaction from pro- and anti-Wagner partisans, for whom Brahms soon would become a symbol of conservative tradition, the performance ended in disaster, when the percussionist apparently mistook a dynamic indication in the score as ff and drowned out the concluding third movement fugue with a deafening pedal point. Indeed, nearly all prior musical requiems (including the famous ones of Mozart, Cherubini and Berlioz), and most that would follow (Verdi, Dvorak, Faure, Britten) used the standardized Latin text of the Catholic mass for the dead. Brahms responded that hed deliberately omitted such passages. Thus, when it was suggested that Brahms add references to Christ as the central point of the Christian faith, he responded: "I have chosen one thing or another because I am a musician, because I needed it." Brahms' compilation of texts reflected his own religious tenets. 2012-2023, Chorus America. Although Brahms had al-ready worked on A German Requiem, his While Katherine Fuge and Matthew Brook are not the most distinctive soloists, they integrate beautifully into an ensemble characterised by creamily smooth strings and the Monteverdi Choirs strong but agile sound. During this period of his career, Brahms was paying close attention to Bach, Schtz, and the Lutheran choral tradition. Yet the title Johannes Brahms bestowed upon his Ein Deutches Requiem ("A German Requiem") conveys a world of genuine meaning. Her research interests include German song, concert history, 19th-century performance practice and gender studies, with a particular focus on the lives and music of Brahms and the Schumanns. Johannes rushed home but was too late to see her. WebA Conductor's Analysis of Johannes Brahms's Ein Deutsches Requiem, Opus 45 - Sep 06 2022 Brahms's "Ein Deutsches Requiem" - Aug 13 2020 Brahms's Requiem the present study will contribute an Schenkerian account of musical processes that are integral parts of the work's philosophical dialectic. With the sixth movement we reach the dramatic climax. Yet he achieved a magnificent German Requiem with these Stockholm forces, undoubtedly due to the special rapport developed during his wartime visits to the neutral Sweden, which had provided his only contact with music and emissaries of the free world. More generally, Abendroth tends to approach the work schematically, inflating tempos and dynamics to reflect the immediate degree of excitement or repose at any given moment. Classical Notes - Classical Classics - Brahms' German In the notes to his recording, Gardiner asserts that he attempted to eschew a standard smooth approach in favor of the Baroque devices that Brahms, more than any other composer of his time, studied, cherished and assimilated, including dissonance, cross-rhythms and syncopation, and in particular Schtz's speech- and dance-derived rhythms. A large chorus can be a mucilaginous mess. So any gain in comprehension is offset by a loss of musical suitability. Brahms's setting is framed by an instrumental prelude and postlude. 45, German Ein deutsches Requiem, requiem by Johannes Brahms, premiered in an initial form December 1, 1867, in Vienna. Brahms once stated it would be as well to call the work A Human Requiem. What was going on in Brahmss life and work at the time he wrote the Requiem? The piece unfolds patiently and beautifully, with due attention to detail instead of the customary blur of growly bass, movement I begins with its joined quarter notes articulated just enough to add rhythmic support to the coalescing haze. WebAbstract: Johannes Brahms was the first composer to claim the requiem genre without utilizing the Catholic Missa pro defunctis text. He must have been preoccupied with it for a long time. 45 (German: Ein deutsches Requiem, nach Worten der heiligen Schrift) by Johannes Brahms, is a large-scale work for chorus, orchestra, and a soprano and a baritone soloist, composed between 1865 and 1868. Brahms - German Requiem - Programme Notes - Choirs The intense concentration and focus of this 1943 Toscanini concert is the converse of Mengelberg's more intuitive interpretive approach. Karajan applies his trademark polish, but without lapsing into the slickness that would tend to dominate his later work.
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