Choral Union and Orchestra to Perform Brahms Requiem

The 260-member choral union and the 90-member symphony orchestra will present two performances of the Johannes Brahms masterpiece Ein Deutsches Requiem in April. The concerts will be held Friday, April 20, and Saturday, April 21, at 8:15 p.m. in Ford Hall. Lawrence Doebler, professor of music, will conduct; soprano Patrice Pastore and baritone Randie Blooding will be the featured faculty vocal soloists. Both performances are free and open to the public.

Presenting a major work with the orchestra every four years, the choral union is composed of the Ithaca College Chorus, Choir, and Women’s Chorale. Music professors Janet Galván and Grant Cooper prepared the vocal ensembles and orchestra, respectively, in rehearsals.

"The German requiem is Brahms’s largest work in any medium," writes Steven Ledbetter, program annotator for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. "Not only did he establish himself as a mature composer in the eyes of his contemporaries; he also wrote one of those special works that singers return to with as much delight as audiences."

Ein Deutsches Requiem was composed between 1865 and 1867. In 1868 Brahms added a movement featuring a soprano solo as a tribute to his deceased mother. The resultant seven-movement requiem is unique in that its text uses Martin Luther’s German translation of the Bible instead of the traditional Latin. The biblical passages Brahms chose form a moving meditation on the brevity of life, focusing on consolation and omitting the traditional "Dies Irae" (day of judgment) movement found in many other requiems

In 1997 the choral union and the orchestra presented Bloch’s Sacred Service. In 1992 they performed Verdi’s Requiem. For more information call Alex Dippold in the School of Music at 274-3717.