Dashon Burton

Dinis Sousa 

Clara Rottsolk

Carmel Bach Festival


Brahms’ Requiem is the composer’s largest and most extravagantly scored work.

The Requiem also features some of the most beautiful choral/orchestral music in the repertoire. The opening chorus, “Blessed are they” exquisitely sets the tone for an evening of comfort, solace, and peace.

Brahms might have called the work a “Human Requiem,” as the composer’s empathetic sensibility and generous heart permeate all seven movements. Four movements are scored for chorus and orchestra while the third features a baritone soloist. The fourth movement is a peaceful pastorale, contemplative and serene. This music is exceptionally beautiful.

The fifth movement is a transcendent soprano solo accompanied by woodwinds, horns, muted strings, and the choir. The baritone soloist in the third movement sings of grief and doubt; the soprano’s text is of maternal consolation.

The moving final section is a delicate recapitulation of music from the beginning, and the Requiem reaches its peaceful conclusion with the same word with which it began: “Blessed.”

Brahms’ Requiem—unlike the requiems of Verdi, Berlioz, or Mozart—avoids fire and fury, instead offering comfort to the living. The seven movements use text from the Old and New Testaments to highlight timeless qualities of hope, rather than fear.

From its debut on Good Friday 1868, the German Requiem was instantly acknowledged as a masterpiece, and established Brahms’ reputation as a composer of international stature.

A Human Requiem