Celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the Brahms Requiem

Johannes Brahms's mother died in February of 1865, a few months before Brahms turned 32. lt's possible that her death inspiredEin Deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem), though Brahms's lingering feelings over Robert Schumann's death nearly a decade earlier may also have provided motivation. It took Brahms three years to complete the work. Its debut in 1868 was a success and marked a turning point in Brahms's career.

We celebrate the 150th anniversary of the completion of this masterwork. Written to comfort the survivors of the departed, the Brahms Requiem is a contemplative exploration of human mortality.

Brahms's Requiem, which contains seven movements, deviates from the traditional Roman Catholic liturgy, which begins with prayers for the dead ("Grant them eternal rest, O Lord"). Brahms's Requiem instead focuses on the living, beginning with the text "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted," from the Beatitudes.

This theme recurs in five of the seven movements. The term "German" in the title refers primarily to the language in which theRequiemis sung. Brahms told Carl Martin Reinthaler, director of music at the Bremen Cathedral, that he would have gladly called the work "Ein menschliches Requiem" or, "A human Requiem."

Ein deutsches Requiem is indeed that, and it remains one of the most beautiful and emotionally satisfying works ever composed.

Christina PIer Jordan Wilson

American soprano Christina Pier has been hailed byOpera Newsfor her “big, gleaming soprano and impressive coloratura,” and has received great critical and audience acclaim for her work on opera and concert stages.
A 2003 Grand Finals Winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Ms. Pier’s opera engagements include the title role in Ariadne auf Naxos with Virginia Opera; Donna Anna inDon Giovanni with Santa Fe Opera, Sarasota Opera, Nashville Opera, and Eugene Opera; Pamina in Die Zauberflöte with Florida Grand Opera; the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro with Minnesota Opera; Marguerite in Faustwith Eugene Opera and Florida Grand Opera; and Micaëla with the Princeton Festival and Florida Grand Opera.
On the concert platform, appearances include Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with the North Carolina Symphony and Rochester Symphony; Handel’sMessiah with the Indianapolis and Winston-Salem Symphonies; Verdi’s Requiem with the Charlottesville Symphony; Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the Colorado Symphony; Mozart’s Requiem with the Charlotte Symphony and Eugene Symphony; Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang and selections from Beethoven’s Leonore with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra; Mozart’s Great Mass in C-minor with the Alabama Symphony; and Ravel’s Shéhérazade with the Hartford Symphony. She has also performed Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Roberto Abbado, recitals under the auspices of the George London Foundation, and concerts with the World Youth Orchestra in Italy and at the General Assembly Hall of the United Nations in New York. She appears as a soloist on a recording of Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem, with David Hill and the BBC Singers on the Naxos label.
Ms. Pier is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards including the George London Foundation Award, Sullivan Musical Foundation Award, two Charles A. Lynam Awards, and two Palm Beach Opera Competition Awards. Originally from Flagstaff, AZ, Ms. Pier received a BM and MM in voice at Indiana University where she studied with Virginia Zeani. She is currently an Artist in Residence at Catawba College, and a Guest Lecturer at University of North Carolina, Charlotte.
Dr. Jordan Wilson is pleased to have recently moved back to his home state of North Carolina, having joined the Music department at Wingate University. Originally from the Raleigh area, he received both a BM in Vocal Performance and Music Theory and an MM in Vocal Performance from the Eastman School of Music. As an avid recitalist, while he attended Eastman he was the 2010 winner of the Jessie Kneisel German Lieder competition. Dr. Wilson also received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Vocal performance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
While there, he also studied linguistics, and has research interests in the intersection of linguistics and singing in several languages. Dr. Wilson previously served on the faculty of Missouri Southern State University in Joplin, Missouri. He can be heard on recordings with Eastman Opera Theatre, Wolftrap Opera, and the Rochester Symphony Orchestra, among others.