Brahms's German Requiem is different from other requiems. First, it more closely resembles an oratorio, as it does not make use of the text for a mass, and second, it is in German rather than Latin. And although the composer compiled the libretto from Luther's German Bible as well as from apocryphal texts, the atheism espoused by the free-thinking Brahms was practically public knowledge. "Such a great man! Such a great soul! And he believes in nothing!” his friend Antonín Dvořák once declared regretfully. Nevertheless, grief and tragedy often make believers out of unbelievers: the first sketches of the German Requiem were made in 1856, coinciding with the death of Robert Schumann, and after a long hiatus, Brahms returned to the composition in 1865, after losing his mother. Progress was a slow process, but the end result brought the composer world fame. The archaicising Begräbnisgesang (Funeral Song), composed for choir and wind instruments in 1858, is often regarded as a forerunner of the German Requiem. Analysts say this work also commemorates Schumann's death, like the Piano Concerto in D minor, and the text from Michael Weisse's songbook evokes the image of a funeral.
Joining the Concerto Budapest orchestra this time will be the Purcell Choir and well known soloists Klára Kolonits and Nikolay Borchev, and György Vashegyi, a highly influential conductor of early music in Hungary, thus guaranteeing that we will be able to get to know this esteemed Romantic oratorio from a new perspective.

Presented by: Concerto Budapest