Overture Magazine - 2015-2016 Season March-April 2016 | Page 19

cellos, is a variation of J.S. Bach’s chorale
tune “Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten”;
this rising-and-falling theme will reappear
many times in this movement. Equally
important is a three-note rising motive
in the soprano part, topping the chorus’
first entrance; this is the seed motive from
which the entire work grows. Despite the
heavy sorrow, there is a mood of calm
underlying this music, and the lighter
middle section, “They that sow with tears
shall reap in joy,” explains why.

A German Requiem is
actually a memorial to two
important people in Brahms’
life: his biological mo \