About 3 weeks ago, we played Brahm's German Requiem in the Filharmonija with Jan Hübner conducting and one of his choirs that he directs in Germany. The whole week of rehearsing, hanging out with Jan, and the two vocal soloists was great fun and musically exquisite. It was very intriguing to finally play this piece because I did a 10 page research paper comparing the Brahms, Verdi, and Berlioz requiems in my undergrad. Time for a succinct fascinating music history lesson... This paper, that I wrote, basically explains how the Brahms Requiem is one-of-a-kind when it comes to the genre of requiems. A quick overview of why: 1. Uses Text from Bible, rather than traditional Latin Requiem text 2. Was not commissioned to write it, Brahms wanted to 3. Is about hope for the non-deceased rather than a prayer for the dead To read the full paper click here . BUT! Don't judge too hard because I was a sophomore in college when I wrote this paper ;) However, I discovered more wh
The Professional Bowtied Bassoonist