Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem is a masterpiece of nineteenth century choral music. Although it evolved in response to Brahms’s loss of his mentor, Robert Schumann, and later his mother, it is not a traditional requiem for the dead. Instead, Brahms selected his own texts from Luther’s translation of the Bible to create a work which would comfort the mourners, those left behind.
Powerful and dramatic in the first half, when its subject is the transience and frailty of human life, it has a most beautiful central movement followed by an exquisite soprano solo accompanied by the chorus, written in memory of his mother, and ends with words of blessing for the dead.
Mozart’s Bella mia fiamma, addio! features recitative and aria for soprano and orchestra.
Mahler’s Rückert Lieder was composed in 1901-1902 and first performed, together with the Kindertotenlieder, in 1905 under the composer’s direction. It comprises settings of poems by the German poet, translator and Professor of Oriental Languages, Friedrich Rückert. Each song has its own distinct subject: the feeling in the presence of a loved one; the contentment of solitude; the dangers of loving for superficial reasons; the tormented thoughts of a sleepless night walker.