Brahms--Ein deutsches Requiem Brahms's monumental Ein deutsches Requiem has engaged audiences and critical musicians alike from the time of its premiere.   Perhaps one of the reasons for the immediate and enduring popularity of the Requiem is the care that Brahms took to create a specifically nonsectarian religious work. Malcolm MacDonald has written that the text which Brahms chose from Martin Luther’s German translation of the Bible, "essentially addresses the feelings of the bereaved, in a consolatory meditation on the common destiny of the dead and the living."   During rehearsals for the premiere of the work in its first version at the Bremen Cathedral, Karl Martin Reinthaler, who was preparing the chorus, wrote to Brahms to express his concern that no specific reference to Christ's redemptive purpose was contained in the Requiem. Brahms's reply makes it clear that the omission was intentional:

As regards the title, I will confess I should gladly have left out "German" and substituted "Human." Also that I knowingly and intentionally dispensed with passages such as St. John's Gospel Ch[apter] 3 verse lb ("For God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life").

Audiences have found that Brahms's message of comfort for the living transcended religious dogma and spoke on a personal level whatever the listener's spiritual beliefs.

Most of Ein deutsches Requiem was written with intense effort in the two years that followed the death of his mother on February 2,1865. By April of that year he had sent what were to be the first and fourth movements of the Requiem Clara Schumann, internationally acclaimed pianist, widow of the composer Robert Schumann, and Brahms’ lifelong friend and confidante. While Brahms never confirmed that his mother's death was the primary motivation for composing a work that he hoped would have transcendent meaning, Clara Schumann stated that her circle all assumed that the death of Christiane Brahms was indeed the composer's inspiration.

Whatever the motivation, intentions alone do not create an enduring masterpiece. Brahms's skillful choice of text, brilliant macrocosmic construction, and attention to details of melodic design, complex counterpoint, long-range harmonic tension, and superb orchestration, however, do combine to fulfill Robert Schumann's prophecy that when Brahms "waves his magic wand where the power of great orchestral and choral masses will aid him, then we shall be shown still more wonderful glimpses into the secrets of the spirit-world."

The overall form of Ein deutsches Requiem proceeds from the character created when Brahms assembled and arranged his texts. An overall arch or palindrome is embodied in the seven-movement structure. The middle of the palindrome, "Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen" (fourth movement, "How amiable are thy tabernacles"), is a lyric and joyful vision of all who "reside in the courts of the Lord." By placing this movement at the center of the work, Brahms reinforces the idea that his Requiem will celebrate a living spirit rather than mourn the passing of the corporeal vessel of that spirit.

Working outward, one finds the texture of the third and fifth movements defined by the prominent place given to the soloists, The second and sixth movements share a monumental character that results from the powerful sonorities used and the driving force created by harmonic tension. The prayerful and contemplative nature of the opening chants "Selig sind, die da Leid tragen" ("Blessed are they that mourn"} is mirrored in the final chorus "Selig sind die Toten" ("Blessed are the dead"). One also hears an exact recall of one of the most important motifs from the opening chorus in the final measures of the closing chorus. And finally, Brahms manipulates this setting of Revelations 14:13 to repeat the word "selig" so that the last word of the Requiem is the same as the first, completing the palindrome unequivocally.

Turning from the overall design, one finds a wealth of inspired detail. The range of compositional methods that Brahms employs is nothing short of awe-inspiring for professional musicians and audiences alike. A description of some of the more important formal, harmonic, and melodic ideas found in each of the movements follows:

I    "Selig sind, die da Leid tragen"

Brahms creates a structure, relatively static harmonically, that incorporates a ritornello (a recurring instrumental motive) into a motet-like chorus. The character of repose and prayer associated with music a cappella (for choir alone--in its original sense "in the chapel") permeates both this and the final recapitulatory chorus.

The orchestration of the first movement is noteworthy for excluding the violins. Cellos in three parts and divided violas present the opening ritornello over string basses to create a rich sonority that complements the ideals of both comfort and mourning. That ritornello leads to the homophonic opening choral presentation, which will be recalled in the last movement. The opening textual statement is followed by a sudden shift to the key of D-flat as the chorus sings "Die mit Tränen säen, werden mit Freuden ernten" ("They that sow in tears shall reap in joy"}. The musical ideas associated with that text are presented twice, with the ritornello marking the verses, before the initial choral statement returns.

II.   "Denn alles Fleisch, es ist wie Gras"

The second movement opens with a march that defines the presentation of the text "All flesh is as grass...the grass withereth...." The march’s forward movement pairs with a powerful harmonic design that features the brightening effect of switching from the minor to the major mode. The opening B-flat minor march is interrupted by the optimistic description of the farmer who waits for the rain to nourish his crops. That optimism is marked by the shift to G-flat major. An even more powerful transformation of modes occurs at the words "Aber das Herrn Wort," where the shift from B-flat minor to B-flat major is accompanied by triumphant brass signaling the final polyphonic chorus of praise "Die Erlöseten des Herrn."

III.   "Herr, lehre doch mich"

Brahms employs his soloists quite differently than one had come to expect in a Requiem Mass setting of the 18th or 19th century. Rather than integrate a solo quartet into a large, symphonically conceived structure as Haydn and Beethoven did, Brahms presents his soloists in a more personal manner, treating each as if they were singing orchestrated Lieder. Each phrase that the soloist sings in this movement is followed by a presentation of the same material by the chorus, intensifying the effect. The final fugue is preceded by one of the most beautiful moments of the Requiem.The text "My hope is in thee" is set in slowly rising triplet figures that build to a powerful climax, launching a fugue on the text "But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God."

IV.   "Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen"

The central movement is perhaps the most direct in its presentation of material and emotions. Similar in style to many of Brahms’ vocal quartets, this movement transfigures the charms of a Brahms lied to create a comforting elegy.

V.    "Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit"

The fifth movement was added in 1869, after the premiere. A simple song structure in ABA form supports a lyrical melodic figure in the soprano solo line. The sense of repose may have seemed necessary to Brahms to set up the enormous statement that follows in the sixth movement.

VI.   "Denn wir haben hie keine bleibende Statt"

In this overwhelming description of victory over death, Brahms' use of long-range harmonic planning rivals that of Beethoven in the Fifth Symphony. The opening is in the key of C minor but rarely settles into that key: the ear is left wanting to hear its final "resting place," the tonic chord, as the chorus sings "Here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come." That the word painting is intended becomes clear as the movement progresses.

The baritone solo describes the mystery of the resurrection of the dead, moving into the rather distant key of F-sharp minor. At the words "We shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye" the key changes, abruptly modulating through a powerfully orchestrated G major chord to the first completely unambiguous appearance of C minor as the chorus sings, "Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" However, this turns out to be only a preliminary pronouncement of redemption. The final taunting line flung at death, "Wo ist dein Sieg?" ("Where is thy victory?"), sung in fortissimo chords over the entire orchestra, turns out to be merely an introduction to a C-major fugue of praise to the God who has created all things. Nearly 150 measures long, the fugue is a marvel of perfection that thrusts us forward into both the spiritual and the harmonic "resting place" the composition has been seeking from the first two chords.

VII.  “Selig sind die Toten"

The final movement completes the overall palindromic form of Ein deutsches Requiem while bringing us the final rest sought at the beginning of the previous movement. "Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them": Brahms' choice of text and the character he creates in this motet-like setting bring the work full circle, There is a return to the opening key of F major, and the text is powerfully reminiscent of the opening movement.

Notes ©2006 by Patrick Gardner