Forthcoming
Performances
Singing at a wedding
at St Mary's Church, Thirsk
Tickets are usually available for concerts in advance from White Rose Books, Thirsk, The Thirsk Tourist Information Office, choir members or at the door
A German Requiem (Ein deutsches Requiem)
by Johannes Brahms
Saturday, 4th April 2020 at 7:30 p.m.
St. Oswald’s Church, Sowerby
Brahms often said that the word “German” could be replaced by “human” in the title of this beloved and ground-breaking masterpiece which was premiered with tremendous success in Liepzig in 1869. The seven movements, which are musically linked both by a three-note motive and a Bach-like chorale fragment, move the listener from sadness and grief towards comfort and peace. The best-known movement, How Lovely Are Thy Dwellings, forms the central core of this journey. The work was possibly written either in memory of Robert Schumann or the composer’s mother and the beautiful and often emotionally sumptuous music explicitly captures the meaning of the text, carefully selected by Brahms from both Old and New Testaments as well as the Apocrypha.
The Mowbray Singers are conducted by Trevor Wilson and their performance of the Requiem will be accompanied by Brahms’ own piano duet arrangement, played by Margaret Rush and Evelyn Wilson. Sung in English, this is how the work was first performed in England in 1871.
You can also find our concerts listed in
the North Yorkshire Music & Arts Events Diary at www.st-cecilia.org.uk
