Critical Reception
Most critics have commented on the high level of craftsmanship displayed in the work, and have appreciated its quasi-classical structures (e.g. the third and sixth movements have fugues at their climax). But not all critics responded favourably to the work. George Bernard Shaw, an avowed Wagnerite, wrote that "it could only have come from the establishment of a first-class undertaker." Some commentators have also been puzzled by its lack of overt Christian content, though it seems clear that for Brahms this was a humanist rather than a Christian work.
Read more about this topic: A German Requiem (Brahms)
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