COVER
(see attached pdf)
Cover image: Johannes Brahms in 1853
In memory of Janet Williams
The Choir is dedicating this performance to the memory of Janet Williams.
At 10.30 on Thursday 10 February 2011 I took a phone call telling me that Janet had died in the earlier hours of the morning. She had been ill since the autumn with a cancer which it became apparent was not treatable. A couple of hours later the choir gathered for its regular rehearsal to continue working on the Brahms Requiem which it had at that stage been rehearsing for several weeks. The first words we were due to sing were the sopranos’ dramatic declaration at start of the closing movement: ‘Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord’.
Janet would have enjoyed this multi-layered coincidence in her own bright, thoughtful but not unduly reverential way. She had sung in the soprano section of the choir for several years, occasionally taking small solo parts, most recently one of the three treble parts in Britten’s Antiphon in our concert at St Mary and St Giles last April. I first knew her in Opera Milton Keynes to which she contributed enthusiastically, and when her working hours permitted she asked to join the choir. Self-effacing about her talents, she was in fact a good reader and had a sweet and poised voice of some charm. She was serious and curious about music too and often fed me background information about repertoire we were learning and sometimes challenged me with unexpected enquiries. It was her prompting that led me to the less frequently performed of Mozart’s Vesper settings which we sang last term: I felt it was a great shame that she was in the event not well enough to take part in the performance.
It could not have been more appropriate that this term the choir was preparing the Brahms Requiem when the news of Janet’s death came through. The work aspires to comfort those who mourn and it did that for us, as it has through the generations since its first performance. Some members of the choir contributed the opening movement to Janet’s memorial celebration and we now dedicate today’s performance to her memory.
If you wish to make a voluntary contribution in memory of Janet, she has asked that you donate to Willen Hospice, whose Hospice at Home team cared for her in her final weeks. Their website at permits both online and Gift Aid donations.
Bill Strang
Ein deutsches Requiem, Op. 45
Johannes Brahms (1833−1897)
Angela Caesar soprano
David Kirby-Ashmore baritone
John Byron and Anna Le Hair piano duet
It is misleading to associate Ein deutsches Requiem with the bearded old Brahms of popular iconography. He wrote it when he was still fairly young – no longer youthfully androgynous, but nevertheless only 33 when he started and turning 35 when he completed it by adding an extra movement for soprano soloist.
His motivation for writing it is not entirely clear. It may have been the descent into madness of his champion and mentor, Robert Schumann, and his death in 1856. Schumann’s wife, Clara, thought it was the death in 1865 of Brahms’s own beloved mother, Christiane. Probably it was some sort of cumulative combination of the two, but the famously tight-lipped composer gave no clue.
What is clear, however, is that he wished to create a work which would be a comfort to the bereaved. He was emphatic that his Requiem was ‘in no way whatsoever’ a substitute for the liturgical performance of the Roman Catholic Requiem Mass which, in any case, he found too pre-occupied with punishment and retribution: rather it was conceived as a concert piece. There is a precedent of a kind, however, in the Musicalische Exequien(Funeral Music) of Heinrich Schütz: composed for the exequies of a German prince and published in 1636, this draws on chorale tunes and an individual selection of texts including passages from Revelation and Proverbs, and is sung in German. The music of Schütz was neglected after his death and Brahms was one of the first to revive it. As conductor of the Vienna Singakademie, he gave performances of works by Schütz and J.S. Bach in 1863-4. His own Requiem subscribes to this same distinctively Protestant tradition: he made his own selection of texts from Luther’s Bible of 1534 which, as well as being an exemplar of unorthodoxy, retains something of the same cultural status in Germany as the King James translation of 1611 does in English-speaking countries.
The Requiem, however, is far from being an early work, although it is the one which made his reputation, both in Germany and abroad. At Opus 45 it falls about a third of the way through his published works. It is preceded by sonatas, variations and waltzes for piano solo and duet, several dozen songs, some thirty unaccompanied choral works for female, male and mixed voices, a handful of lightly accompanied choral works and some chamber music. He was therefore already an accomplished explorer of piano textures and an experienced manipulator of choral resources. However, he was still in the middle of the famously long gestation period of the First Symphony (1855–76). The only fully-fledged purely orchestral work to precede the Requiem is the First Piano Concerto: even the St Anthony Variations, Op. 56, in both its guises, piano duet and orchestral, comes after the Requiem, as do the Liebeslieder waltzes, Op.52 for four voices and piano duet. It is interesting that the correspondence around the Requiem reveals his uncertainties about some aspects of the orchestral writing (and over-scoring in places betrays his anxiety about how to make it work) but he seems to have had no qualms about the vocal writing – as indeed he had no doubts about his choice of texts.
The performance history of the Requiem is slightly complex. The first three movements were performed in Vienna on 1 December 1867 with only mixed success (as the notes on Movement 3 below will explain). The following Good Friday, 10 April 1868, the whole Requiem was given in the cathedral at Bremen: at this stage it consisted of six movements. In the succeeding weeks the aria for soprano was added: in this now familiar form it received its première at the Leipzig Gewandhaus on 18 February, 1869, followed quickly by numerous performances in other German towns. Soon Brahms came under pressure from his publisher, J.M. Rieter-Biedermann, to produce a piano-duet version which would increase its accessibility and further enhance its popularity. This version received its first performance on 7 July 1871 at a private gathering in the house in Wimpole Street, London, of Sir Henry Thompson, a notable surgeon and polymath. It was directed by Brahms’s friend, Julius Stockhausen, who also sang the baritone solos; the accompaniment was played by Lady Thompson, an accomplished musician, and the composer Cipriani Potter, still lively and enthusiastic in his eightieth year.
Without remotely claiming that the piano-duet version of the Requiem is superior to the original, orchestrated version, it is nevertheless notable that it is very skillfully written for the keyboard, with the assurance of its composer’s practised keyboard technique.Brahms was himself an excellent pianist and a regular concert performer, who undertook concert tours with the violin virtuoso Joseph Joachim and the singer Julius Stockhausen at around the time he was writing the Requiem.
Acknowledgement is made to The New Novello Choral Edition.
The English translation provided in this programme is taken from the King James version of the Bible.
1. Selig sind, die da leid tragen
Selig sind, die da Leid tragen, denn sie sollen getröstet werden.
Die mit Tränen säen, werden mit Freuden ernten.
Sie gehen hin und weinen, und tragen edlen Samen, und kommen mit Freuden und bringen ihre Garben.
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Matthew 5:4
They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. Psalm 126:5–6
The emphasis of the texts which Brahms specially selected is on the comfort of the bereaved rather than, as in the Catholic Requiem Mass, on the salvation of the departed (‘Requiem aeternam’ – grant them eternal rest) and certainly not on judgment and the punishment of the wicked (‘Dies irae’ – Day of wrath).
The scale is expansive, so this opening movement alone lasts some 10 minutes. However, the form is basically a simple ternary structure, inasmuch as anything by Brahms can ever be described as simple: in this case a vocal re-working of the instrumental introduction is nested in the middle of the middle section.
This instrumental introduction is said to have been based on the Lutheran chorale ‘Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten’ (‘Who all his will to God resigneth’). The chorus master and composer Seigfried Ochs relates in his autobiography (1922) that Brahms himself told him that the whole Requiem was, essentially, founded on ‘a well-known chorale’ which Ochs subsequently identified. The resemblance can certainly be seen in the opening measures and also in the vocal theme of the second movement.
Also notable, in relation tothe main key of the movement F major, is the choice of D flat major, the archetypal flattened sixth beloved of nineteenth-century composers, for the contrasting middle section.
2. Denn alles Fleisch es ist wie Gras
Denn alles Fleisch es ist wie Gras, und alle Herrlichkeit des Menschen wie des Grases Blumen. Das Gras ist verdorret und die Blume abgefallen.
So seid nun geduldig, lieben Brüder, bis auf die Zukunft des Herrn. Siehe, ein Ackermann wartet auf die köstliche Frucht der Erde und ist geduldig darüber, bis er empfange den Morgenregen und Abendregen.
Aber des Herrn Wort bleibet in Ewigkeit.
Die Erlöseten des Herrn werden wieder kommen und gen Zion kommen mit Jauchzen; ewige Freude wird über ihrem Haupte sein; Freude und Wonne werden sie ergreifen, und Schmerz und Seufzen wird weg müssen.
For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away. 1 Peter 1:24
Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. James 5:7
But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. 1 Peter 1:25
And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Isaiah 35:1
It is to be expected that a funeral march will be in the minor mode (here B flat minor) but less obvious that it might be in triple time. This opening material was the first music in the Requiem to have been written, inasmuch as it was originally conceived as the ‘slow scherzo’ of the two-piano sonata/symphony, now lost, which Brahms began to write in 1854 as his first attempt to commemorate his friend and mentor, Robert Schumann. The present piano duet version of the Requiem therefore represents the nearest we have to knowing what the original composition may have been like. In the meantime, other parts of it had found their way into the massive First Piano Concerto, which was completed in 1858.
The vocal version is presented as a simple unison melody. Jan Swafford cites it as a prime example of a distinctive type of Brahmsian minor theme evoking death – ‘hollow and archaic… the Brahmsian equivalent of the old Gregorian funeral chant, the ‘Dies Irae’’.
It is curious that, having avoided setting the text of the ‘Dies irae’, Brahms should have adopted a melody which, through its insistence on the minor third, nevertheless manages to suggest the ancient plainsong which has haunted and fascinated other composers:
A more lyrical section in the major mode (‘therefore be patient’) and a reprise of the gloomy opening ‘march’ lead to a short but forthright transitional passage (‘But the word of the Lord endureth for ever’) which transforms the mood to one of optimism when ‘the ransomed of the Lord shall return with singing’ – which they do in a variety of imitative and dramatic textures in the first of three Handelian fugal climaxes.
3. Herr, lehre doch mich
Herr, lehre doch mich, daß ein Ende mit mir haben muß, und mein Leben ein Ziel hat, und ich davon muß.
Siehe, meine Tage sind einer Hand breit vor dir, und mein Leben ist wie nichts vor dir. Ach, wie gar nichts sind alle Menschen, die doch so sicher leben.
Sie gehen daher wie ein Schemen, und machen ihnen viel vergebliche Unruhe; sie sammeln und wissen nicht wer es kriegen wird.
Nun Herr, wes soll ich mich trösten? Ich hoffe auf dich.
Der Gerechten Seelen sind in Gottes Hand und keine Qual rühret sie an.
Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is: that I may know how frail I am.
Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity.
Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.
And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee. Psalm 39:4–7
But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and there shall no torment touch them. Wisdom of Solomon 3:1
This movement follows a similar trajectory to the preceding one, but the drama is increased by the introduction of a further protagonist, the baritone soloist. It too begins in a sombre minor key, soloist alternating with chorus in contemplation of their mortality.
Temporary relief comes in a section in the major mode (‘Verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity’) before further anguished questioning ‘And now, Lord, what wait I for?’
A transformational passage (‘my hope is in thee’) leads to a magnificently affirmative fugue ‘the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God’. Brahms’s musical concept for this closing section is extremely unusual and bold: the entire fugue is played out over a tonic pedal point intended to illustrate the constancy of ‘the hand of God’. Given that a fugue depends in no small measure on the principle of tonal contrast, this device is counterintuitive musically, and the chromatic nature of the theme, and the complex harmony that it engenders, are doubtless partly intended to counterbalance this unyielding bass line.
In the orchestral version this pedal point is expressed by the timpanist as well as the lowest string and brass instruments. Unfortunately, in the first performance, which comprised only the first three movements, the over-enthusiastic timpanist all but drowned out the chorus, to the great puzzlement of the audience, and the displeasure of the critic Hanslick who described the experience as being like ‘the sensations of a passenger rattling through a tunnel in an express train’.
In our, hopefully more successfully judged, performance we will take a short pause at the end of this movement.
4. Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen
Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen, Herr Zebaoth!
Meine Seele verlanget und sehnet sich nach den Vorhöfen des Herrn; mein Leib und Seele freuen sich in dem lebendigen Gott.
Wohl denen, die in deinem Hause wohnen; die loben dich immerdar.
How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts!
My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.
Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee.
Psalm 84:1,2,4
This movement shares the simple lyrical poise of the opening movement. With its triple metre and charming, characteristically mid-nineteenth-century harmony, in the piano-duet version it approaches the mood of some movements in theLiebeslieder waltzes. More than any other movement in the Requiem, it has enjoyed a separate existence as a concert piece and an anthem in church services.
5. Ihr habt nunTraurigkeit
Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit; aber ich will euch wieder sehen, und euer Herz soll sich freuen, und eure Freude soll niemand von euch nehmen.
Sehet mich an: ich habe eine kleine Zeit Mühe und Arbeit gehabt und habe großen Trost funden.
Ich will euch trösten, wie einen seine Mutter tröstet.
And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. John 16:22
Behold with your eyes, how that I have but little labour, and have gotten unto me much rest. Ecclesiasticus 51:27
As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you. Isaiah 66:13
This movement was added after the first, otherwise complete, performance and was thus the last part of the Requiem to be written. The conductor of that performance, Karl Rheinthaler, the organist and musical director of Bremen Cathedral, was a student of theology as well as a musician. He was not happy that a requiem performed in church on Good Friday should lack any reference to the redeeming role of Jesus Christ and wrote to the composer at some length identifying a point at which an appropriate text might be introduced: his recommendation was John 3:16 ‘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’. Brahms’s reply is tactful but firm: he ‘knowingly and intentionally dispensed with such passages’ but no doubt included many others ‘because I am a musician, because I needed them’ – in other words, because artistic considerations were paramount. But his answer has wider implications than that – he eschewed some texts because he was writing for humanity as a whole, not for a particular constituency. In fact, he was wrestling with the fact of death and the mystery of existence as a secular, sceptical, modern man. Indeed, despite the Requiem being rooted in German Protestant tradition, Brahms also wrote to Rheinthaler that ‘as regards the title I should gladly have left out German and substituted Human’.