A German Requiem

Two performances in Palma and Manacor this week. 

Johannes Brahms’ ‘Ein deutches Requiem’ is unusual in that it took text from the Lutheran Bible and not from the Catholic Requiem Mass.

Although clearly religious - the subtitle is ‘To Words from the Holy Scriptures’ - Brahms had not intended ‘A German Requiem’ to contain Christian dogma. That it on occasion did was due to others inserting the odd line in order to keep the clergy happy.

Composed between 1865 and 1868, the motivation for the work was probably the death of his mother in February 1865. The whole seven-movement version premiered in Leipzig in February 1869.

Written for orchestra, choir, soprano and baritone, the Balearic Symphony Orchestra will be teaming up with the University of the Balearic Islands Choir, Armenian soprano Maria Sardaryan and German baritone Thomas Müller Brachman for a performance of a work that was a great success at the time and which marked his arrival on the world stage.