Philippe Herreweghe (16.08.2011 - Live - Warsaw) FLAC

16 August 2011
21.00 Oratorio concert

The Church of the Holy Cross

Ilse Eerens (soprano) - Awarded first prize in the Euriade Vocal Contest in Kerkrade and in September 2004.



Andrew Foster-Williams (baritone) - Acclaimed throughout the press for his authoritative, sonorous and regal voice, has established himself as an exciting, young talent in the Classical Music world.

The Orchestre des Champs-Élysées

Collegium Vocale Gent & Accademia Chigiana Siena

Philippe Herreweghe (conductor) - Founder of the Collegium Vocale and Orchestre des Champs-Élysées.


PROGRAMME:
Johannes Brahms

    Ein Deutsches Requiem, Op. 45 for soprano, baritone, mixed choir and orchestra

About the programme [−]

Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted – with these words from the Sermon on the Mount according to the Gospel of St. Matthew, Brahms opens his exceptional work – German Requiem. These words contain the key to its concept: this is not a prayer for the salvation of departed souls as in a Catholic Requiem, but rather comforting words addressed to the living. These are Biblical words of comfort carefully chosen by Luther in his translation of the Old and New Testament, proclaiming faith in the afterlife and release from earthly misery.

German Requiem is the first work in which Brahms unites solo voices, chorus and orchestra with the organ. In this work, as observed by Clara Schumann, the prophetic words of Robert Schumann about the fledgling composer, written in his famous article Neue Bahnen: “when he points his magic wand at the massed forces of chorus and orchestra, a wonderful view of the mysteries of a spiritual world will be revealed”, came to pass.

There is some doubt concerning the titular words of German Requiem. The composer himself had doubts about the first when he wrote: The word “German” I would gladly replace with the word “human”. Neither should the term Requiem be taken literally: it was not used to denote a Mass for the dead, since the work has nothing in common with either the Catholic or Protestant liturgy. Rather it is an expression of the composer’s thoughts on passing, death, afterlife and suggested answers he discovered in the Bible where the misery of human existence is contrasted with hope for everlasting happiness. This very personal approach to the question of death is simultaneously universal and free of restrictions imposed by the theological doctrines of various Christian faiths. It is also acceptable to people with no religious affiliations – in his choice of texts Brahms deliberately avoids those with Christian connotations of salvation, freedom from sin and references to Christ. For many such a concept was controversial and Karl Reinthaler, Kapellmeister from Bremen with whom Brahms corresponded on the subject, found it difficult to accept. However the composer did not succumb to his suggestion of writing an extra movement of a more “religious” character.

With regard to the works origins, it is impossible to unequivocally state its source of inspiration. Undoubtedly an important impulse for undertaking the work was the death of Brahms’ mother in February 1865. On the other hand, thoughts on death and passing had intrigued him for many years, particularly after the attempted suicide in 1854 of his close friend Schumann which affected him deeply. Soon after he sketched fragments of Sonata for two pianos whose scherzo he later transcribed into the tripartite “funeral march” in the second movement of Requiem. Moreover, Schumann’s role was far greater as it was in his notes that Brahms found a project for a German Requiem which he subsequently took on. Its sketches were drawn as early as the 1860s.

The idea of setting funeral music to biblical texts was nothing new. On the contrary, it was deeply rooted in the German traditions of vocal music. Examples can be found in – Bach’s cantata Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit known as Actus tragicus and above all in works by Schutz which on the advice of Schumann, Brahms studied diligently: Cantiones sacrae, Geistliche Chormusik or Musikalische Exequien in which he found some of the texts for his own work; while in the musical layer of his Requiem particularly in the large-scale choral parts, there are strong echoes of early polyphony. Brahms’ masterly skills of exploiting counterpoint won him much admiration and he was seen as a worthy successor the masters of bygone epochs.

Initially Brahms planned a six-movement work with chorus and solo baritone. The first movement conveys hope and announces comfort, the second – with the said funeral march – the wretchedness of human existence (Each body is like straw) contrasted with hope for eternal happiness. In the next three there are returning texts spoken by the Psalmist about keeping faith with God and hopes of living in the “pleasant sanctuary” with the Lord of the Angels. The sixth movement (in final order) is the most dramatic and proclaims the resurrection of the dead to the sound of the “last trumpet” announcing not the judgement, but the transfiguration and triumph over death, crowned by a monumental choral fugue reminiscent of Handel. Like a clasp, the final movement closes the work with the words: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.

The performance of the first three movements in Vienna was rather unsuccessful however the meticulously prepared premiere of the work in its entirety (still six-movement) in the Cathedral of St. Peter in Bremen on Good Friday 10th April 1868 was a resounding success for the work and its composer.

Not fully satisfied, Brahms followed the suggestion of his old teacher Eduard Marxsen and composed an extra movement which he placed in fifth position: Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit (Now you mourn) with a wonderful soprano solo, without which the work would be unimaginable today – that glitters like a jewel against the background of the whole work. It also contains the most warmth and feeling as well as a reference to mother in the words of Isaiah: As a mother comforts you, so I shall comfort you. The first performance of German requiem in its complete version took place on 18th January 1869 in Leipzig’s Gewandhaus under the direction of Karl Reinecke. The work’s intensity of expression and a sense of a powerful religious experience left a huge impression on its listeners, aware of having participated in an epic event.

The general sentiments regarding the work’s greatness were echoed by Eduard Hanslick when he wrote: “Since the times of Bach’s Mass B minor and Beethoven’s Missa solemnis nothing has been written to compare with German Requiem”. The same can also be said today.

Grażyna Teodorowicz