Structure
Since Brahms inserted movement 5, the work shows symmetry around movement 4, which describes the "lovely dwellings" of the Lord. Movement 1 and 7 begin "Selig sind" (Blessed are), taken from the Beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount in 1, from Revelation in 7. These two slow movements also share musical elements, especially in their ending. Movements 2 and 6 are both dramatic, 2 dealing with the transient nature of life, 6 with the resurrection of the dead, told as a secret about a change. Movements 3 and 5 are begun by a solo voice. In the third movement, the baritone requests "Herr, lehre doch mich" (Lord, teach me); the choir repeats his words several times, making the personal prayer more general. In the fifth movement, the soprano and chorus sing different text, corresponding to each other. As opposed to Baroque oratorios, the soloists do not sing any arias, but are part of the structure of the movements. Almost all movements, with the exception of 4 and 7, connect different Bible verses, which lead from suffering and mourning to consolation. The very last word of the work is the same as the first: "selig" (blessed).
Read more about this topic: A German Requiem (Brahms)
Famous quotes containing the word structure:
“If rightly made, a boat would be a sort of amphibious animal, a creature of two elements, related by one half its structure to some swift and shapely fish, and by the other to some strong-winged and graceful bird.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Communism is a proposition to structure the world more reasonably, a proposition for changing the world. As such, we have to analyze it and, if we deem it reasonable, act upon it.”
—Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921–1990)
“There is no such thing as a language, not if a language is anything like what many philosophers and linguists have supposed. There is therefore no such thing to be learned, mastered, or born with. We must give up the idea of a clearly defined shared structure which language-users acquire and then apply to cases.”
—Donald Davidson (b. 1917)