What then does heaven offer us? The possession of God, and the unceasing task of praising Him.
Our business there will be the unending Alleluia.
Our business there will be the unending Alleluia.
— John Mason Neale
From highly skilled Levitical musicians of old to living composers, the church has been setting the psalms to music for nearly 3,000 years. Within this vast treasury, musicians have provided many settings to be tasted, some to be chewed, and a few to be digested again and again. Please join me to discover why Psalm 84 (vss. 1–2, 4) by Johannes Brahms (from A German Requiem, Opus 45) is among the few.
Martin Luther describes the theology of Psalm 84:
The 84th psalm is a psalm of comfort. It praises God’s Word highly over all things and exhorts us to gladly give up all good things—glory, power, joy, and whatever we desire—that we may hold onto God’s Word. And if we should be like the doorkeeper, that is, the least of those in the temple, this would still be far better than to sit in the castles of the godless. For God’s Word (the psalmist says) gives victory, salvation, grace, glory, and all good things. Oh, how blessed are those who believe this and then keep it!
(Reading the Psalms with Luther, p. 200)
As you survey the complete text of Psalm 84, you will discover how the psalmist teaches us to long for the courts of the Lord (vss. 1–2), to rejoice that even the sparrow has found a home in God’s house (vss. 3–4), to bless those who rejoice in the highways to Zion (vss. 5–7), to behold the face of God (vss. 8–9), and to long for a day in God’s house (vss. 10–12). Most pertinent to the musical setting by Brahms, however, is verse 4: “Blessed are those who dwell in your house, they will always be praising you.” From the sons of Korah to Jesus Himself to the saints still on this earth, the faithful pray this psalm as they stand in God’s presence now, all the while longing to join in the unceasing task of praising God in eternity. As one precious gem in our treasury of song puts it,
Jerusalem, thou city fair and high, Would God I were in thee!
My longing heart fain to thee would fly, It will not stay with me.
Far over vale and mountain, Far over field and plain,
It hastes to seek its fountain / And leave this world of pain.
(The Lutheran Hymnal [TLH] 619, st. 1)
The longing to leave this world of pain and enter eternal life is foundational to Brahms’s A German Requiem. Most works with the word “requiem” in the title use the traditional Latin text, with several sections proclaiming the final judgment of God as the great day of wrath, often with orchestral fireworks and multiple brass choirs, especially among Brahms’s contemporaries. Brahms’s setting, his most lengthy work and his only large oratorio-like composition, is very different in its language (German)., its source (Scripture alone) and especially in its message (consolation). Robert Summer, who prepared choirs to perform this work under Robert Shaw, describes the text, which Brahms himself arranged from Luther’s German Bible:
The overall textual and philosophical emphasis is upon man’s acceptance of death which leads to triumph over death. In a letter to his friend [Karl] Reinthaler, Brahms admitted that he would have preferred calling the work A Human Requiem rather than A German Requiem--a Requiem for all mankind.
(Choral Masterworks from Bach to Britten, p. 77)
The text of the Brahms Requiem, then, is a remarkably coherent progression of Scripture passages in German. While there is some thematic overlap with the traditional Latin text, Brahms’s text is no small departure (some would say a revolution) from previous and contemporary settings of the Mass for the Dead. As R. Allen Lott has recently demonstrated, Brahms’ text “adroitly summarizes the unique Christian view of death, grief, and an afterlife” (Brahms’s A German Requiem, p. 2).
The psalm-setting explored in this column is central to this most comforting work, both in its context and in its content. Regarding context, is the fourth of what eventually became a seven-movement work for chorus, two soloists, and orchestra, making Psalm 84 (i.e., selected verses from Psalm 84) the central movement of the work. Regarding content, the concept of being blessed by God is an important theme to this most unique choral masterwork of consolation for the living. Being blessed by God in Christ, in this life and in the next, is especially prominent in the first, fourth, and seventh movements, thereby serving as the “book ends” and the centerpiece of A German Requiem. As you listen to what might as well be the sound track for heaven itself, notice how the music changes to paint the text throughout the movement, and yet, it is unified by multiple statements of “How lovely are your dwellings, Lord of Sabaoth!”
The psalm-setting explored in this column is central to this most comforting work, both in its context and in its content. Regarding context, is the fourth of what eventually became a seven-movement work for chorus, two soloists, and orchestra, making Psalm 84 (i.e., selected verses from Psalm 84) the central movement of the work. Regarding content, the concept of being blessed by God is an important theme to this most unique choral masterwork of consolation for the living. Being blessed by God in Christ, in this life and in the next, is especially prominent in the first, fourth, and seventh movements, thereby serving as the “book ends” and the centerpiece of A German Requiem. As you listen to what might as well be the sound track for heaven itself, notice how the music changes to paint the text throughout the movement, and yet, it is unified by multiple statements of “How lovely are your dwellings, Lord of Sabaoth!”
| 0:01 | Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen Herr Zebaoth! |
How lovely are your dwellings Lord of Sabaoth! |
| 1:18 | Meine Seele verlanget und segnet sich nach den Vorhöfen des Herrn; |
My soul longs and faints for the courts of the Lord. |
| 1:50 | Mein Leib und Seele freuen sich in dem lebendigen Gott. |
My body and soul rejoice In the living God. |
| 3:03 | Wohl denen, die in deinem Hause wohnen, |
Blessed are they that in your house, do dwell, |
| [Wie lieblich . . .] | [How Lovely . . .] | |
| 3:24 | die loben dich immerdar | they praise you evermore. |
| [Wie lieblich . . . ] | [How lovely . . . ] |
The flute’s opening four-measure descending phrase in E-flat major is echoed in its inversion by the opening soprano line, as if the courts of God’s unending praises in heaven are being echoed on earth. The words “My body and soul” are accompanied by instrumental figures (fps), which seem to depict the longing of the heart of the blessed to enter the courts of the Lord. The words “they praise you evermore” introduce a pair of motifs, as one voice proclaims the eternal praise of the Trinity in stately figure, while a second voice introduces a fugato section. At 4:09, the flute echoes its opening phrase, but this is no mere recapitulation. The vocal line is expanded and the sense of longing for the courts of the Lord is unmistakable. The instrumental ritornello brings everything back down to earth, where the living must remain until God calls them from their labor, but not without a sense of having blessed in God’s presence.
Brahms was notoriously self-critical, and his early opinion of this movement was no exception. He sent a copy to Clara Schumann (1819–1896) in the spring of 1865, along with a note that might evoke a smile from the modern reader: “[This movement] is probably the weakest part of the said German Requiem, but . . . it may have vanished into thin air before you come to Baden [for her next visit].” Well, what to say? Thank God for Clara’s most objective and insightful opinion of this movement, having only seen the score: “The chorus from the Requiem pleases me very much, it must sound beautiful.” And after actually hearing the entire Requiem in 1868, she said, “[It] has taken hold of me as no sacred music ever did before” (Michael Musgrave, Cambridge Music Handbooks: Brahms: A German Requiem, pp. 5, 9).
One faithful Lutheran layman in the Midwest echoed this sentiment when, after hearing this movement sung as a choral voluntary in the sanctuary pictured at the top of this column, he said to a friend sitting next to him, “Now that’s heaven!”
Brahms was notoriously self-critical, and his early opinion of this movement was no exception. He sent a copy to Clara Schumann (1819–1896) in the spring of 1865, along with a note that might evoke a smile from the modern reader: “[This movement] is probably the weakest part of the said German Requiem, but . . . it may have vanished into thin air before you come to Baden [for her next visit].” Well, what to say? Thank God for Clara’s most objective and insightful opinion of this movement, having only seen the score: “The chorus from the Requiem pleases me very much, it must sound beautiful.” And after actually hearing the entire Requiem in 1868, she said, “[It] has taken hold of me as no sacred music ever did before” (Michael Musgrave, Cambridge Music Handbooks: Brahms: A German Requiem, pp. 5, 9).
One faithful Lutheran layman in the Midwest echoed this sentiment when, after hearing this movement sung as a choral voluntary in the sanctuary pictured at the top of this column, he said to a friend sitting next to him, “Now that’s heaven!”
Unnumbered choirs before the shining throne / Their joyful anthems raise
Till heaven’s glad halls are echoing with the tones / Of that great hymn of praise
And all its host rejoices, And all its blessed throng
Unite their myriad voices / In one eternal song.
(TLH 619, st. 8)
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Extra Choral Credit: Exploring Brahms’s A German Requiem with Robert Shaw
In the 1990s, the late choral conductor, Robert Shaw, held a series of Carnegie Hall Choral Workshops, which are now available for public viewing online. The following links take you to the entire workshop in two parts, which contain over 150 minutes of viewing, listening, and learning on the Brahms’s Requiem. I think you will find, however, that time passes rather quickly when Robert Shaw is leading the rehearsal. Included are rehearsal excerpts, comments by Robert Shaw and other musicians, and a few brief clips from the performance in Carnegie Hall.
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