The Bach Choir: A German Requiem

Programme

Brahms’s German Requiem charts a journey through grief to hope, in music that has brought solace to generations of listeners.

Rather than the usual Latin Requiem Mass, Brahms chose to set his own selection of passages from the Bible. His message is one of steadfast faith, and comfort and compassion for those who mourn. Balancing movements for the full chorus and orchestra with beautiful solos for baritone and soprano, the work culminates in a magnificent choral fugue.

Paving the way for Brahms’s masterpiece, The Canticle of the Sun by trailblazing American composer Amy Beach (1867 – 1944) sets a prayer by St Francis of Assisi. Beach’s music brings St Francis’s timeless words vividly to life, invoking God’s blessing on ‘Brother Sun and Sister Moon’, the Earth and all God’s creatures.

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Solemn Prelude was commissioned for the Three Choirs Festival in 1899, premiered to critical and audience acclaim – and then lost. In 2021 the original score was tracked down in the British Library, and the Philharmonia gave the work its long-overdue second performance. It’s a lush Romantic work, leavening the solemnity of its title with gorgeous long-breathed melodies.

The Bach Choir and the Philharmonia Orchestra are regular partners, filling the Royal Festival Hall with their ‘electrifying… inspirational music making’ (Bachtrack).