After the resounding success of the Fauré Requiem last year, Newbury Choral Society is staging the second of its short early evening concerts. This November the choice is Brahms’s Ein Deutsches Requiem, one of his most enduring and popular works. First performed fully in Vienna in 1868, it was a turning point in his career and made Brahms’s reputation.
The German Requiem contains some of the composer’s most haunting and poignant music. Concert-goers will no doubt be familiar with the fourth movement, “Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen” (How lovely are thy dwelling places), which forms what could be termed the emotional heart of the piece. Structurally, by making use of choral fugues in two of the seven movements, Brahms deliberately harks back to the form and spirit of Bach’s sacred choral works.
Brahms is considered to be the last great composer in the German classical tradition, stretching back through Beethoven, Mozart and Haydn to Bach. Although he was regarded as old-fashioned by admirers of Wagner and Liszt, for example, he was highly regarded by the public and many of his contemporaries.
We will be joined by Steve Bowey and Sue Garcia-Sierra on two pianos, baritone Alexander Bower-Brown and soprano Isabelle Haile who sang with us performing in the work, St Paul, in March 2023. We will be conducted by our brilliant musical director Joe Tobin.
We are looking forward to performing this work on Saturday 2nd November and would love you to be there to share a wonderful evening of music.
Tickets £12 (£5 under-16s) available online, or on the door until sold out.