Ein deutsches Requiem, Op. 45 (English: A German Requiem) is a large-scale work for chorus, orchestra, and soloists, composed by Johannes Brahms between 1865 and 1868. Ein deutsches Requiem is sacred but non-liturgical. It is comprised of seven movements, which together last 70-75 minutes, making Ein deutsches Requiem Brahms's longest composition.

Brahms assembled the libretto to Ein deutsches Requiem himself. In contrast to the traditional Roman Catholic requiem mass, which employs a standardized text in Latin, Ein deutsches Requiem derives its text from Martin Luther's German Protestant Bible.

Brahms's first known use of the title A German Requiem was in an 1865 letter to Clara Schumann in which he wrote that he intended for the piece to be "a sort of German Requiem". Brahms was quite moved when he found out years later that Robert Schumann had planned a work of the same name.Steinberg, 69 German refers primarily to the language rather than the intended audience. Brahms told Karl Reinthaler, director of music at the Bremen cathedral, that he would have gladly called the work A Human Requiem.Steinberg, 70

Although the Requiem Mass in the Catholic liturgy begins with prayers for the dead ("Grant them eternal rest, O Lord"), Ein deutsches Requiem emphasizes comforting the living, beginning with the text "Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted." A comparable sacred, humanist world view persists through the work.

This recording is a classic.

missing pt 10/23 from the winds

Truro Cathedral

SATB

MISSING