Description: The German Requiem is Brahms' largest work, written for orchestra, chorus and two soloists. It made Brahms an international name, and the scope and technique of the composition brought him not only a new audience but also comparison with Bach and Beethoven. In the past fifty years it has found new critical support as an original and progressive work. This detailed study examines its history and controversial reception, analyzes its textual and musical structure, and discusses performing traditions from Brahms' time until the present.
Review Quotes: "Well illustrated and documented, with an ample slected bibliography and index, this is the best English-language discussion of the subject since the long passage in Donald Francis Tovey's Essays in Musical Analysis v. 5 (1937)." M. Meckna, Choice