Spring Concert 2012 - Brahms' Requiem

About The Conductor

Dr. Donald Stafford has been associated with the musical life of Cherokee County for more than three decades. He completed a Bachelor of Church Music degree at Shorter University and a Masters in Music from the University of Michigan, double majoring in music history and choral conducting. He later completed a Doctor's Degree in Choral Music Education at Florida State University. Before retiring, Dr. Stafford was Director of Choral Activities in the Cherokee County and Hall County school systems. He sang under the baton of Robert Shaw with the Atlanta Symphony Chorus and Chamber Choir for a number of years, performing in Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, and numerous halls throughout Europe. He is currently the Director of Music for the Canton First United Methodist Church and is an adjunct Professor of Music at Reinhardt University. Dr. Stafford directed the first performance of the Cherokee Chorale in December of 1988. He also directed the Chorale's debut performances at Biltmore Estate in Asheville, N. C. and Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg, Virginia.

About The Program

When we hear the term "Requiem" we usually think of the Latin funeral Mass for the dead. The intent of the Requiem Service is to offer up prayers on behalf of the person who is departed but Brahms chose to make his Requiem entirely different. The text of his Requiem is not about the transmigration of the soul, but mortality in general, and directed more to those dealing with grief and sorrow and doubt. The opening text is taken from the Beatiutudes in the Bible, "Blessed are those who morn, for they shall be comforted." Instantly we know that Brahms is concerned more with the bereaved and less with the deceased. Brahms does not concern himself with the "Dies Irae" or the horrors of the last judgement found in the Latin Requiem. His approach focuses on faith in the Resurrection, and the text was chosen by Brahms from the Old and New Testament and from the Apocrypha. It has very little in common with the traditional Requiem but it is a masterpiece of exceptional vision and it established Brahms as a major composer of international stature.

Brahms never revealed whether his Requiem was written in memory of his mother or not, but we do know that she died in 1865 and in 1866, at the age of 33, Brahms began serious work on his Requiem. Prior to this he had made sketches of some of the movements but never completed any of the work. The formal structure of the overall work consist of a seven movement arch with the music of the brightest comfort at its center. The first and last movements echo each other in conveying blessings, first upon the mourner and finally upon the dead. The second and sixth movements are the darkest and consequentially the longest. The third and fifth movements feature soloists in meditations, the baritone in movement two seeking hope, the soprano in movement five bestowing it. Nestled in the middle is the beautiful and serene chorus, "How Lovely Is Thy Dwelling Place".

In the first movement,the text is taken directly from the Sermon on the Mount, "Blessed are they that morn for they shall be comforted". The first three notes in the soprano introduce a tiny musical cell that recurs in many different forms throughout the work, sometimes in major, sometimes in minor and occasionally in retrograde or reverse. The sombre mood at the beginning of the movement is transformed into reassuring comfort by the end of the movement.

Brahms introduces what appears to be a funeral chant at the beginning of the second movement. One writter has called it "Brahmsian Gregorian Chant" :) The chant eventually builds to a loud and forceful death march all the while underpinned with a pulsating beat inviting inescapable fate but with soaring beauty. There is a lighter central episode that provides a brief respite from fate but ultimately the death march returns with even greater fervor. Ultimately a very energetic fughatto (fugue like) section concludes the movement. The text, "Howbeit the Lord's word abideth forever", tansfigures darkness into light and culminates this movement in a grand conclusion.

The third movement is a rich blend of solo baritone recitative in dialog with the chorus. The soloists ask "In what can I hope?" and the reply comes from the chorus, "My hope is in Thee". The line quickly grows in power to a radiant climax and a double fugue, one fugue subject in the orchestra and another in the chorus all over an omnipresent D "pedal point" that permeates the entire fugue creating considerable tension during the fugue but providing an unshakable foundation for the final resolution.

While the third movement creates a considerable amount of tension, the fourth is a beautiful serene pastorale that takes the listener to another world. It is a gentle and sweet mid-point to the entire work and is the essence of tranquillity. "How Lovely Is Thy Dwelling Place" is music of exceptional beauty and is, for good reason, the most familiar passage from the entire score.

The fifth movement is the last movement that Brahms added but it completes the symmetry of the entire work. It is a sublime soprano solo with choral accompaniment and muted orchestra. In the third movement the baritone sung of grief and doubt and in this movement the soprano solist sings of maternal consolation and peace. Many believe that in the soprano soloists Brahms was hearing the consoling voice of his departed mother telling her son that all is well.

The baritone returns in the sixth movement bringing with him some of the uncertainties that we heard in the third and the chorus invokes assurance by asserting life's victory over death and taunting "O death where is thy sting?" The excitement extends into a powerful fugue where the first three notes are yet another version of the opening three note motif from movement one but now in reverse. In this final climatic fugue Brahms builds tremendous energy, not through the usual theatrical effects but through overwhelming harmonic energy.

In the end Brahms seems to say what can we do but accept the inevitable? His acceptance is not one of resignation, rather a blessing for the dead. The somber orchestra sound of the opening are now brighter, it seems that the questions are now answered. The final section of the movement is a subtle and sometimes masterful reworking of the opening movement. Here we have sopranos soaring to a brilliant high A (we hope) as the harp enters implying that the gates of heaven are perhaps nearby. The harp starts with low appegios that rise to an ethereal conclusion over the choruse's final peacful and conclusive murmur "blessed".