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Philips’ Philharmonisch Koor

Brahms - Muziek van troost
For the Love of Music
Thu 9 Nov ’23 20:15 uur


Philips' Philharmonic Choir
Mark van Platen and Ben Martin Weijand, piano
Elenora Hu, soprano
Sven Weyens, bass
Iassen Raykov, musical director

Brahms - Ein deutsches Requiem, op. 45
Brahms - Fest- und Gedenksprüche, op. 109

Thu 9 Nov ’23
20:15 uur

Music of consolation

'Selig sind, die da Leid tragen, denn sie sollen getröstet werden'. So begins Ein deutsches Requiem by Johannes Brahms. And that is immediately the heart of the piece. Not a traditional prayer to help the deceased achieve redemption. But music to help the bereaved bear the suffering. So it is music meant to comfort the living.

So the music was also not addressed to God - and thus in Latin - , but to the living and thus in German. Brahms chose texts from the Old and New Testament to help the bereaved accept death and ease their grief. Traditionally, the requiem begins with "Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine" (Give them eternal rest, O Lord). Brahms begins with "Selig sind, die da Leid tragen, denn sie sollen getröstet werden" (Blessed are those who grieve, for they will be comforted, Matthew 5:4). He used Martin Luther's translation of the Bible.

Also with text by Martin Luther are the Fest- und Gedenksprüche, a set of three motets for double choir. They are written in the Venetian double-choir style, with the two choirs alternately singing to each other, creating a kind of stereo effect.

The concert begins with these a cappella motets, followed by Ein deutsches Requiem, in the version Brahms himself wrote for four-hand piano.

 

For the Love of Music

This concert is part of the For the Love of Music project. Club life is an important social-cultural engine of our society. We think this is important and therefore we are happy to make our halls available to anyone who loves music: creators, artists and musicians from Eindhoven and the region.