His death on January 25, 1999 came just weeks before a planned recording session with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, which he had intended to conduct. Nowadays, systematic building of discipline is far less common, and so is the irascible, cantankerous kind of conductor Shaw could sometimes be. Beyond the expected mixed reaction from pro- and anti-Wagner partisans, for whom Brahms soon would become a symbol of conservative tradition, the performance ended in disaster, when the percussionist apparently mistook a dynamic indication in the score as ff and drowned out the concluding third movement fugue with a deafening pedal point. The requiem emerged from a decade of turmoil. Some of my colleagues think Im crazy, admits Musgrave, but Im convinced Ochs was right. The recording is somewhat crude and uncomfortably poised between clear vocals and hazy instrumentals. Thus, when it was suggested that Brahms add references to Christ as the central point of the Christian faith, he responded: "I have chosen one thing or another because I am a musician, because I needed it." The fourth movement is tidily sung, but it is the orchestra that truly shines here, each timbre emerging, glowing from the overall texture, whether high winds, or rounded brass. Nearly 30 years later, Brahms asked his publisher to remove the metronome marks from the score, saying that good friends had persuaded him to add them. Robert Shaw considers the result "a most sensitive gleaning of the Christian scriptures of a profound, loving and most personal order its own argument and its own organism" whose "spirit lies in the selection, not just the treatment, of the text." Martin Emmis has noted its broad structural symmetry, in which the central movements IV and V convey the key theme of consolation; II, III and VI move from images of death and despair to triumph and hope; and I and VII close the circle by blessing both mourners and the departed with common text in the same key. A choral introduction of meandering harmonies searches for earthly stability ("We have no continuing city, but we seek one to come"), the baritone raises the prospect of resurrection ("Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not sleep "), the chorus excitedly proclaims victory ("Death, where is thy sting? For Shaw, rehearsal time was precious. Thus, Armin Zebrowski infers from the fourth movement's blessing of those who dwell in the house of the Lord a reciprocal meaning of God dwelling within us and thus giving rise to true peace, which, in turn, magnifies the significance of the tranquil musical setting. Perhaps by refusing to take a point of view, Toscanini suggests an inherent complexity to Brahms' conception, which contains both elements; while others vary their readings to convey both aspects in the appropriate sections, Toscanini's consistency leaves much to the imagination, making us work harder than we might wish to infer the emotional content. While sorting through Schumann's estate, Brahms came upon a bare reference to a German Requiem and felt compelled to take up the task. It was important for us to make things as easy as possible, because he could be extremely hard on himself. April 10, 1868. WebNot surprisingly, the title of Requiem has at times been called into question, but Brahms stated intention was to write a Requiem to comfort the living, not one for the souls of the Brahms humbly suggests that all we can do is accept our unavoidable fate while life goes on for the benefit of the living, who must make the most of their brief time and pass along their deeds, findings, thoughts, hopes and wisdom as others have done before them. At the time, Shaw wrote, Bachs first concern was to affirm and quicken a faith. He adds that Celibidache was inspired by his Zen belief system and by the philosophy of Plotinus, for whom the highest aspiration was a state of profound passivity, in which inner perception transcends logic and rational knowledge. But when sprawled over 80 minutes and without the special touches of a Furtwngler, Abendroth or Bernstein it tends to just drag more than fascinate. With steady tempos and intense moderation, it's hard to characterize this reading, but that's intended as a high compliment. According to Craig Jessop, another faculty member, No one conducted more performances of the Requiem or lavished more care on it than Robert Shaw. The former music director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and current dean of Caine College of the Arts at Utah State University. Johannes Brahms's many masterpieces have a confidence and ebullience, an irresistible lyricism and melodic charm, and show no sign of losing their appeal more than 120 years after his death. Perhaps in an on-going effort to plumb its depths, Brahms reportedly covered his copy with annotations. Because she was associated with Shaw for so long, she feels a responsibility to help younger conductors understand why we revere this man so. James Levines 2004 recording with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra would reinforce that view it is dirge-like without grandeur, unrelentingly static. Brahms' selection of texts afforded a unique opportunity. Shaws rehearsals for a 1990 Carnegie Hall performance of the Brahms Requiem, captured on video and screened at the symposium, begin with the opening notes, but not with the words Selig sind. Instead, the singers intone One and two and tee and four and, one and two and tee and four and, one and. The technique, count singing, is often associated with Shaw. Indeed, during rehearsals Brahms asserted a desire for even more openness: "I would happily omit the 'German' and simply say 'human.'". From the opening notes of this 1995 performance, we know that this will be a serious, dignified experience, characterised by a large-scale choral-orchestral sound and spacious, grand tempos. Similarly, the Andante con moto of the final movement was replaced with Feierlich (ceremonially) regardless of how it is done, it remains challenging even for experienced choirs. Shaw's brisker pace itself provides sufficient vigor to obviate a need for overt dramatizing, although he accelerates the proclamation of victory swallowing death in VI to a white heat, which further underlines its climactic role in the overall structure, and leads logically into a steadfast rendition of the following fugue praising God the Creator, as if to emphasize the inevitability of that thought. To Musgrave, the familiar fourth movement, Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen, seems an odd man out. Did Brahms compose it at an earlier time? Jessop apprenticed with Shaw during the 1980s, and stepped in to conduct the 1999 recording of Shaws Requiem translation in the wake of Shaws death. Yet even in the 20th century, Specht castigated its fugues as "petrification of rough-hewn themes" and as "music for the eyes" that doesn't move the soul, even while conceding that "never before had the departed been sung to rest with a lullaby of such solemnity and consoling beauty." Let's begin by exploring these, together with some others that follow the paths blazed by the pioneers. Mengelberg had no qualms about performing the German Requiem during World War II in its intended language (albeit in an occupied country) but, while Toscanini's 1937 BBC concert had used the original text, perhaps to assuage anti-German feeling at the height of the War his New York concert was in an English translation (although the following year he would lead a broadcast concert of Beethoven's Fidelio in the original German). The build-up to the climactic cry that all flesh is as grass leaves the listener broken, before the visceral relief at the major-key reassurance which follows. The worst thing you can do is start by trying to sing a piece on pitch. He was not so much setting texts as realizing them, he told symposium participantsa comment that inspired fellow faculty member Leonard Ratzlaff to chime in: This text is replete with tone painting, he said, citing the sudden key change in the sixth movement after the baritone sings in einem Augenblickin the blink of an eye. For Ratzlaff, who teaches choral conducting at the University of Alberta, it provided an object lesson for the conductors in the room: At some point, its important to have a micro look at the text, what it inspired the composer to write, harmonically and melodically., In the 1870s the Brahms Requiem received endless performances, says Musgrave, including premieres in London in 1871 and New York in 1877. The fidelity is only fair, but it far outstrips Furtwngler's other extant recording at the 1947 Lucerne Festival (with Hans Hotter and Elizabeth Schwartzkopf, also on Music & Arts). The German Requiem bears the distinction of having had no less than three premiere performances. Perhaps the key observation was by Alec Robertson, who called it "a flawed work" for the very reason that "one is left asking questions that cannot be answered." Shaws longtime personal assistant, Nola Frink, was by his side as he struggled to find the right syllable for every note. While some may find this 1961 recording too woolly, Klemperers handling of tempo and pace reveals a profound, deeply impressive sense of architecture. and then plunges into a magnificent choral fugue assuring that "the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God." After a long hiatus, the sporadic recording history of the German Requiem resumed in curious fashion in 1955, when two mono LP sets were recorded at the same location by the same orchestra and chorus but released on competing European labels. Indeed, while the Catholic requiem begins with a blessing for the dead, here death is not even mentioned until the penultimate movement, nor are the dead themselves addressed until the finale. Hans Gal recalled that Brahms first heard Beethoven's Ninth Symphony at about the same time and was overwhelmed with its monumental ideas and treatment. From the very outset, the German Requiem has found favor, both with choral societies (especially amateur ones), who appreciated its relatively undemanding technical requirements and stamina, and with audiences, who undoubtedly welcomed its warm messages of comfort and hope. It was his love for this art form. More generally, Abendroth tends to approach the work schematically, inflating tempos and dynamics to reflect the immediate degree of excitement or repose at any given moment. A guide to Brahmss A German Requiem and its best recordings, Journalist and Critic, BBC Music Magazine. The performance itself faithfully follows Shaw's own interpretations. 2012-2023, Chorus America. Herbert von Karajan: (1) Vienna Philharmonic, Vienna Singverein der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, Hans Hotter, Elizabeth Schwartzkopf (1947, EMI; 75'); (2) Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Singverein, Eberhard Waechter, Gundula Janowitz (1964, DG, 76'); (3) Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Singverein, Jos Van Dam, Anna Tomowa-Sintow (1977, Angel LP, 76'). But he didnt want us to know much about it. An 1865 letter to his dear friend Clara Schumann provides the first recorded evidence of its existence. WebThis book is intended to help those who are contemplating performing or studying the Brahms Requiem. Brahms, whose religious views were complex and skeptical, Four years later, this magnificent work fulfilled the prophecy of Brahmss genius made by Claras husband Robert in 1853. Although his earlier recordings had been in German, Shaw often advocated translations and opted for one here, but in deference to Brahms' own use of the Lutheran Bible he felt that "a version in English would need roots in language as deep as those in music, and as exalted in beauty," and thus turned to "our noblest linguistic heritage" the King James Bible, to whose words he adhered as closely as possible, although some syllables are stretched or repeated to fit the music. Even so, the earliest roots of the German Requiem extend back to Brahms' great mentor, the influential composer/critic Robert Schumann, who had published a glowing article hailing Brahms as a musical genius shortly after meeting him in 1853. This becomes evident at the very outset, as Abendroth, like Furtwngler, begins in shadowy mists but then leaves subtlety behind by turning the subtle <> markings of the second set of "selig sinds" at measure 29 into major sonic swells. Musgrave teaches graduate-level courses in critical editing at the Juilliard School, and one of his contributions to a new edition of Brahmss complete works will be the Requiem. The second movement the most overwhelming, almost Verdian number begins with an exquisite weariness, evoking the dragging feet of slowly processing mourners. For answers to those questions, Shaw would have sought someone with the expertise of yet another symposium faculty member, musicologist Michael Musgrave. WebThe analysis has been made from the vocal score, with a piano accompaniment arranged from the orchestral parts, as published by G. Schirmer. Nearly all the great Furtwngler concert recordings reflect his long leadership of the Berlin or Vienna Philharmonic Orchestras (and the corresponding familiarity and empathy of their musicians with his deeply personal and erratic style), and his results with foreign ensembles were mostly disappointing. Even so, by distending the first and last movements to an even greater extent than the others, Lehmann suggests a complete mantle of peace descending on both mourners and deceased, albeit without the underlying sense of living that is an central component of Brahms' conception. And in his 1997 biography, Jan Swofford degrades it as "too consistent in mood, without enough variety of texture, tempo and feeling to create the illusion of a satisfying story unfolding throughout.". For Brahms work on the German Requiem was cathartic; he told friends upon its completion: "Now I am consoled. The harmonic progression and sarabande-like rhythm evoke the Requiems second movement funeral march. As Andr Tubeuf quipped, Vienna may have lacked everything at the time except music. Karajan's first two stereo Berlin Philharmonic remakes (he made yet another with the Vienna Philharmonic (1985, DG), which I haven't heard sorry, but even I have my limits) are quite similar, hovering between profundity and aloof abstraction. Aged 32 at the time, his output up to this point had consisted largely of solo piano works and chamber music one notable exception was his First Piano Concerto which, after an underwhelming premiere in Hanover in 1859, had gone on to enjoy a better reception elsewhere. WebLSU Digital Commons | Louisiana State University Research What's in a name? By 1872 its text had been translated into English. The full work was first heard in Leipzig on February 18, 1869, completed by the lovely new fifth movement. Eduard Hanslick, who ultimately would bestow upon the work the supreme praise of being a worthy successor to Bach's B Minor Mass and Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, likened the ending to "rattling through a tunnel on an express train" and wrote: "After long expanses of delicately lyrical, poetic music, the piece seemed to end by clubbing the audience about the head." Perhaps the most direct model was Bach, who set each of his 295 Church cantatas as a series of recitatives, arias, choruses, chorales and sinfonias (instrumental interludes) to a selection of Biblical texts, poetry and hymns intended to reflect and expound upon a teaching or concept. Brahms's setting is framed by an instrumental prelude and postlude. But from the vantage of the complexity and cynicism of the seemingly insoluble problems of our current world-view, is that really a problem or more a hallmark of sophistication? Indeed, the performers sound like they had something important to prove to assert the intrinsic and abiding musicality of their culture. With respect to dynamics, Brahms appeared to favor a wide range, asking that the first vocal entry be as soft as possible, although the score is merely marked p. As for his preferred size of the performing forces, Brahms worked with a wide scale, ranging from lean provincial ensembles to festival choruses many hundred strong, although he ordered 200 vocal parts and 12 of each string part for the Bremen premiere, thus suggesting a far smaller orchestra than choir (Norrington uses 64 of each). The piece unfolds patiently and beautifully, with due attention to detail instead of the customary blur of growly bass, movement I begins with its joined quarter notes articulated just enough to add rhythmic support to the coalescing haze. All you can do is use musical instincts and question, Musgrave acknowledged. No other piece of music captivated iconic conductor Robert Shaw more than the Brahms Requiem. In the first movement, theres a big A and a coda. I don't mean to be overly critical leaving aside comparisons to Furtwngler, this is a fine, compelling performance in its own right that underlines the score's drama and rises to a stirring, triumphant VI that leaves any thought of morbidity far behind. For me, his mature confidence not only imbues the text with an appropriate nobility and assurance but compels appreciation for Brahms' achievement, inviting us to infer what we will from this fine, attentive presentation of the composer's materials. These two historically-informed recordings bring us squarely to the question of the performance characteristics that Brahms would have wanted to hear. That wakes up peoples listening skills., As he watched the rehearsal video, Jessop experienced renewed appreciation for count singing. Sometimes he communicated these ideas through letters, many of them included in the 1996 Shaw biography, Dear People. Take away the text. Christiane Karg (soprano), Matthias Goerne (baritone); Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra/ Daniel Harding. The stillness and tranquillity of the final movement brings a satisfying sense of closure and healing. Brahms once stated it would be as well to call the work A Human Requiem. WebSummary. Although Brahms had al-ready worked on A German Requiem, his WebThis page lists all sheet music of Ein Deutsches Requiem, Op. This really is Shaw's third and final recording having prepared it, he died shortly before the actual sessions, which then were realized by his colleague. Yet others plumb Brahms' compilation for even deeper meaning. Regardless of their means and intentions, the Gardiner and Norrington readings bridge past and present and are compelling evidence, if any indeed is needed, that Brahms' German Requiem speaks with as much force to new generations as to his own. One of the most fascinating consequences of the composer's free selection of his libretto is the variety of interpretations his text has stimulated. Take, for example, the opening phrase, "Selig sind." At the time of World War II, Shaw was a New York playboy, according to Frink, and his brother was a military chaplain. However, circumstances were increasingly troubled at home in Hamburg. Thus, George Bernard Shaw sniped that the German Requiem was fit for a funeral home and the 1873 Musical Times echoed that "the Philharmonic concert hall is not the place for a funeral service." Indeed in terms of tempos alone this is quite possibly the most sizable variance among all known Toscanini performances of any given work. Brahms was an intensely private man; he left no written credo, and we will never know exactly what his religious beliefs were. He was confirmed in the Lutheran church as a youth and knew the bible thoroughly; it would remain a key source of inspiration for him throughout his life. George London adds a fine but subtle human touch as a bass, he has to strain at the very top of his range and thus magnifies the struggle expressed in the text written for a baritone. The most palpable point of distinction is with the far more prevalent Catholic requiem Mass. Take the fundamental issue of timing Brahms provided metronome indications for the Bremen premiere, but he later had them removed, and in any event they are far faster than any conductor is willing to accept thus, for the 158-bar common-time first movement he specified 80 quarter notes to the minute, which would yield a performance of just under 8 minutes; Gardiner takes 9:50 and Norrington 8:48, while among traditional conductors the fastest are Walter's 8:52 and Shaw/RCA's 9:15; the average hovers between 10 and 11. One of the last sections they worried over was the final movement: Blessed are the dead that they rest now from their labors and that their works follow after them. To this day, Frink cant listen to those words and that music without thinking of Shaw. I used to say, My job is to get the water ready for him to walk on. I nearly drowned many times. Jones remembers that even a little thing like stumbling over a name would cause him to take it out on us. Murgrave even questions the relationship of the fifth movement to Brahms' late mother, and suggests that it was simply too personal and intimate to have been given public exposure until after the success of the rest of the work had been assured. Jones learned from Shaw that this systematic building of discipline and attention to detail are essential, because such efforts can result in an unrivalled beauty and clarity of sound. Requiem is a poem sequence composed over a twenty-year period; it includes four sections of introduction, ten numbered central parts, and two epilogues. WebTo make a thorough study of these lessons is to became a better teacher or student, and also to became a more discerning musician. Three movements were trialled unsuccessfully in Vienna, but some listeners recognised that it was perhaps too austere, too Bach-Protestant for the pleasure-loving Viennese. It opens with a solemn march in time (derived from the slow scherzo of the abandoned symphony), lightens with hope, proclaims the word of God in bold unison, and ends in varied radiant assertions of "ewige Freude" ("everlasting joy"). Robert Shaw rehearsing the Atlanta Symphony at Carnegie Hall. In the meantime, in addition to isolated movements, two exceptional concerts had been recorded, although not released at the time. It was not immune from the 19th century temptation to find specific fanciful references in place of musical allusion; thus, biographer Richard Specht writes of the opening: "One has the impression of seeing a tranquil procession of white-clad women walking slowly past sacred pools toward a chapel ."