JOHANNES BRAHMS. — Composer, born in Hamburg on 7 May 1833, died in Vienna on 3 April 1897. Among his many compositions of a religious character (Ave Maria for chorus and orchestra, Funeral Song for chorus and wind instruments, Marienlieder for mixed chorus, Psalm 13 for chorus, various motets, a canon-shaped Mass, spiritual songs, organ music) his German Requiem for soloists, chorus and orchestra, op. 45, composed in Zurich after his mother’s death, is celebrated. This work has nothing in common with the liturgical Requiem of the Catholic Church; it is a funeral cantata on a German text drawn from the Bible, and in its final form consists of seven movements which, through sorrow, trial, sin and redemption, sadness and hope, express the yearning of faith in the joy of universal resurrection.
BRAHMS, JOHANNES
Bibl.: C. Bellalgue, Un grand musicien conservateur: Le Requiem Allemand de J. B., in Revue des Deux Mondes, 5 (1898), pp. 933-44; E. Evans, Handbook of the Vocal Works of B., London 1912; P. Landormy, B., 2nd ed., Paris 1921; A. V. COHEN, HERMANN, J. B., Leipzig 1933; H. Kretzschmar, Das deutsche Requiem, Leipzig [n.d.].