Brahms - Ein deutsches Requiem | St Andrew Camerata

Composed between 1865 and 1868. Ein deutsches Requiem (Op 45)comprises seven movements; Brahms's longest composition. The idea of a requiem seems to have occurred to the young artist in 1854, after a suicide attempt by his newfound compositional father figure, Robert Schumann, who died in 1856. According to an early biographer, Max Kalbeck, Brahms discovered the title “Ein deutsches Requiem” among manuscripts left by Schumann.This is sacred but non-liturgical work, and unlike a long tradition of the Latin Requiem, A German Requiem, as its title states, is a Requiem in the German language. Rather than dwelling on the judgment of the deceased, Brahms seems intent on consoling those left behind. It was Brahms who originated the term “human requiem,” in a letter to Clara Schumann, Robert’s widow.

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) himself made a piano transcription of the orchestral parts of his magnificent Requiem. The arrangement for two players allows a degree of intimacy, precision and contrapuntal clarity that cannot be achieved in the orchestral version; this is the version we will perform for you with Calum Robertson and Morley Whitehead at the piano. Our soprano soloist will be Gillian Robertson with the baritone soloist Sean Webster.