Selig sind, die da Leid Iragen

Johannes Brahms
( 1833-1897)
Chorus: Selig sind, die da Leid Iragen
Chorus: Denn alles Fleisch es ist \Vic Gras
Baritone Solo and Chorus: Herr, Ichrc doch mich
Chorus: Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen
Soprano Solo and Chorus: Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit
Baritone Solo and Chorus: Denn wir haben hie keine bleibende Stall
Chorus: Selig sind die Toten
Ein deutsches Requiem, Op. 45
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
pe,jormed by
Loraine Sims, soprano
Paul Huybrechts, baritone
The Choirs of Pittsburg State University
and Choristers from the Four-State Region
The Southeast Kansas Symphony
Susan Marchant, conductor
0000
We extend specialthallks to the people of First United Methodist Church
for hosting this afternoon's cOllcert.
"Where the text is concerned, I want to confess that I would happily omit
even the word 'German' (in the title) and simply set 'Human' ..."
• Brahms ill a leiter to Karl Reill/haler
£in deu/sches Requiem (A German Requiem) had a long and somewhat involved birth. Brahms
mentioned the piece in letters to Clara Schumann as early as 1865, but likely did not begin
composition until 1866. Scholars have long sought a reason for Brahms's decision to write a
requiem at all, especially since he was then only in his thirties, hardly an age at which one might
be expected to have felt enough of the world's cares 10 tum to such a weighty subject.
Brahms had had a childhood that was far from idyllic, however, having grown up in straitened
circumstances, and he spent most of his adulthood helping to support his parents and his older
sister, Elise, who suffered from ill health throughout her life. The second child of surprisingly
mismatched parents (Johanna Christiane, a humble, crippled seamstress descended from
gentility, was seventeen years older than Johann Jakob, an ardent but limited musician known to
his fellow players as a cheerful "blockhead"), Brahms and his siblings never knew luxury, or
indeed anything approaching it, but the conventional wisdom that he spent his youth in sordid
surroundings, playing the piano for prostitules in sailors' bars, has since been challenged by
more recent scholarship. The neighborhoods in which he grew up, while many of them later
descended into slums, were at the time solidly working class, although the family's living
quarters were usually extremely cramped and unprepossessing. His parents recognized the
boy's musical talents at an early age, and money was found to give him piano, cello, and hom
lessons. as well as a thorough academic education. He in tum contributed to the family's
income after leaving school by giving piano lessons himself, performing in local restaurants,
and in arranging music for local bands, but probably not in brothels at all, as his respectable
mother at least would certainly have balked at such a thing. Financial worries finally drove his
parents apart, which distressed Ihe young man greatly, as he was close to both his parents but
especially adored his mother, and he worked unsuccessfully toward a reconciliation between his
parents until his mother died in 1865.
Her death date is surely not coincidental when one considers Brahms's decision to write a
requiem, but there had been an earlier bereavement in his life when he lost his friend and
chlll11pion, Robert Schumann, first to madness, and then to death in 1856. Brahms's adoration
of Clara Schumann is well known, but he was nonetheless devoted to her husband, as they were
to him. He helped to support Clara and the children while Robert was institutionalized, and
while their love was (probably) never fulfilled, they remained the closest of friends to the end of
their lives. It seems probable, then, that the Requiem was influenced by the deaths of both his
mOlher and Schumann.
It could perhaps be argued that A German Requiem isn't really a requiem at all, as Brahms does
not use the ancient Catholic text anywhere in his setting. Instead, he chose his own texts from
the vernacular German supplied by Martin Luther's translation of the Bible and the Apocrypha.
What is particularly striking about Brahms's choice of texts (beyond his thorough knowledge of
scripture) is that he completely eschews any references not only to judgment, damnation and
suffering, bUI also to Christ, speaking instead of God's love and redemption, without naming
Christ as the vessel of that redemption -. indeed, the closest he comes to acknowledging Christ
is in selecling the text for the first movement from the Beatitudes and the fifth from the Gospel
of John, without identifying the speaker in either case. Brahms was a deeply spiritual, ifnot
conventionally religious, man, and something of a dichotomy, being shy, introverted, and given
to melancholy ("] never laugh on the inside," he once confessed), yet often autocratic, and
generally quite stubborn. Raised a Lutheran, and always deeply private about his faith, he came
to consider himself an agnostic, and his inlerest was not in constructing yet another bombastic,
hellfire and brimstone warning, but rather a work that celebrated God's grace, a solace not for
the dead, but concerned rather with comforting the living, left behind to mourn.
The Requiem was composed in stages, with a performance of the first three movements in
Vienna in December of 1867. 11 was hardly an unqualified success. The first two movements
apparently were well received, but the third movement was, in Brahms's words, "soundly
hissed," due largely, apparently, to the zeal of the timpanist, who misread the musical direction
and repeatedly smashed his low D with such abandon that he managed to obliterate the rest of
the orchestra. The complete work (minus the fifth movement) was triumphantly redeemed in a
perfonnance on the Good Friday of 1868 in Bremen, with Brahms himself conducting, and
Clara Schumann was deeply moved: "".the Requiem has taken hold of me as no sacred music
ever did before ... 1t was ajoy such as I have not felt for a long time." The fifth movement,
which speaks of being comforted by God as one is comforted by a mother, was first performed
privately in September of 1868, and many people have assumed that it was directly inspired by
the death of Brahms's mother, although Brahms denied this. Surely, however, we can assume
that his closeness to his gentle mother played a hand in the tender way he chose 10 shape the
movement, as perhaps did his grief over his inability to reach her deathbed in time after
receiving news of her stroke. The first full public performance of the Requiem as it now stands
was in Leipzig in February of 1869, and it set Brahms firmly on the path of international
stardom.
There is perhaps some correlation between Brahms's German Requiem and a more traditional
requiem selling, at least loosely. The musical motive from the first movement's "Selig sind, die
da Leid tragen" ("Blessed are they that have sorrow") returns for the final statements of "Selig
sind die Toten" ("Blessed are the dead") of the seventh movement, helping to create a sense of
overall unity. Brahms also gives a great deal of anention to the Last Trumpet ("tuba mirum" in
Latin, older letzten Posaune" in German), although Brahms moves the placement from the
second movement (the threatening "Dies irae" of the Requiem) to the sixth movement, and for
Brahms the trumpet call is more triumphal than menacing. Some scholars align the lyrical "Wie
lieblich sind deine Wohnungen" ("How lovely are your dwellings") with the respite of the
"Sanctus" ("Holy, holy, holy"), as both stand in central positions and the Sanctus tends to be a
moment that allows composers of blood and thunder settings to contemplate instead the ethereal
joys awaiting the redeemed. Further, Brahms's Requiem, although not intended for liturgical
use, shares texts with both the Lutheran and Anglican funeral services. The structure of the
entire work forms an arch. The first and seventh movements are easily identified with each
olher, given the similarity of their texts of blessing and the shared musical material given to
those lexts. The second and sixth movements, the two longest movements of the work, each
move from darkness to light, both tonally and textually. The third and fifth movements
introduce soloists, the baritone and soprano respectively, and both are movements dealing with
the idea of comfort -- the baritone troubled, anxiously seeking; the soprano serenely offering
assurance. The fourth movement, the most deeply beloved and most often excerpted, is the
crown of the arch and brings the first moments of unalieviated joy, its long lines themselves
fonning soaring arches.
The rather unusual scoring of the first movement contributes to its dark richness, for the violins.
clarinets, and much of the brass are omitted entirely, while the violas and cellos are divided (in
a letter to Clara, Brahms described it as being "without violins but accompanied by a harp and
other beautiful things"). Another feature of the first movemenl •. very well hidden indeed •• is a
brief quotation of the old Gennan chorale "Wer nur den lieben Gott l~J3t walten" (usually
translated as "If thou but suffer God to guide thee"), which will appear much more clearly in the
second movement. Brahms himself remarked to Siegried Dchs, "If you can't hear it, it doesn't
mailer much," which is fortunate, as it is not only introduced as a fragment in the opening
orchestral bars, but also in the major, rather than the minor, mode, so that even those who know
the old chorales well could be forgiven for missing the reference entirely.
The music of the second movement of the Requiem is a funeral march, ominous and foreboding,
propelled inexorably forward by the martial insistence of the timpani. The choir enters in a
stark unison statement, finally unfolding the chorale hinted at in the opening movement. The
music shifts to a gentle Uindler as the text speaks of the patience of the farmer, who waits for
the precious fruit of the earth as the soul longs for the coming of the Lord, while the Ollie and
harp dance lightly, like larks singing after the rain. The mood darkens as the funeral march
returns, but the word of the Lord bursts forth triumphantly, and the redeemed leap fOT\vard
toward Zion in a vigorous, athletic march.
The third movement begins bleakly, the baritone contemplating mortality and oblivion in short,
faltering phrases. The chorus clamors insistently for reassurance, but after a brief, breathless
pause, a statement of hope erupts into a jubilant fugue (the same fugue, with its thirty·six
measures of pedal point D, Ihat the timpanist trounced so thoroughly in that fateful first
performance). The juxtaposition of the channing waltz of the fourth movement serves as the
pivot point, as the entire work now subtly shifts away from doubt and toward joyous
consolation.
This consolation is immediately apparent in the soprano solo of the fifth movement, which is in
many ways the most profoundly personal through its almost mystical lyricism. The sixth
movement is again brieny darker, echoing to the resigned tramping of pilgrims' feet as they
travel, homeless, yet expectant, for they know that death is not the end. And indeed, when the
last trumpet breaks forth, they can proclaim exultantly that death is subservient, death is
vanquished -- death, in fact, can be mocked with impunity, and the joyous momentum sweeps
forward into a magnificently regal fugue.
The final movement is an act of consecration, spinning out long placid lines of benediction over
the dead who now rest in the Lord, as the opening motive returns at the last to close the
Requiem with a final, peaceful blessing that encompasses all under its sheltering wings.
Kathryll Parke
Movement J
Selig sind, die da Leid tragen
Denn sie sollen getrostet werden.
Die mit Tranen saen,
werden mit Freuden ernten.
Sie gehen hin und weinen
und tragen edlen Samen,
und kommen mit Freuden
und bringen ihre Garben.
[Selig sind ... ]
Blessed are they that have sorrow,
they shall be comforted.
They that sow in tears,
shall reap injoy.
They go forth and weep
and carry precious seed
and come with joy
and bring their sheaves with them.
[Blessed are they ...]
Texts: Matthew 5:4
Psalms 126:5-6
Movement 2
Denn alles Fleisch es iSI wie Gras
und aile Herrlichkeit des Menschen
wie des Grases Blumen.
Das Gras ist verdorret
und die Blume abgefal1en.
So seid nun geduldig, lieben BrOder,
bis auf die Zukunft des Herm,
Siehe. ein Ackermann wartet
auf die kostliche Frucht der Erde
und is geduldig dartiber,
bis er empfahe
den Morgenregen
und Abendregen.
[Denn alles Fleisch...]
For all flesh is as grass
and the splendor of man
is like the flower of the field.
The grass withers
and the Oower falls.
So be patient, dear brothers,
until the coming of the Lord.
See how the farmer waits
for the precious fruit of the earth
and is patient for it
until he receives
the early rains
and the later rains.
[For all flesh ...]
Aber des Herrn Wort
bleibet in Ewigkeit.
Die Erloseten des Herrn
werden wieder kommen
und gen Zion kommen mit Jauchzen;
ewige Freude wird tiber ihrem Haupte sein,
Freude und Wonne werden sie ergreifen,
und Schmerz und Seufzen wird w.eg mtissen.
Yet, the word of the Lord
stands forevermore.
The redeemed of the Lord
shall return
and come to Zion with rejoicing;
eternal joy shall be upon their heads,
they shall obtain joy and gladness
and pain and suffering shall flee away.
Texts: I Peter 1:24
James 5:7
I Peter 1:25
Isaiah 35: I0
Movemem 3
Herr, lehre doch mich,
daB ein Ende mit mir haben muB,
und mein Leben ein Ziel hat,
und ich davon muB.
Siehe, meine Tage sind
einer Hand breit vor dir,
und mein Leben ist wie nichts vor dir.
[Herr, lehre doch mich ... J
Ach, wie gar nichts sind aile Menschen,
die doch so sicher leben.
Sic gehen daher wie ein Schemen,
und machen Ihnen viel vergebliche Unruhe;
sie sammeln, und wissen nicht
wer es kriegen wird.
Nun, Herr, wes soil ich mich trosten?
Ich hotTe auf dich.
Der Gerechten Seelen sind in GoUes Hand,
und keine Qual riihret sie an.
Lord, let me know
that I must have an end,
that my life has a leon,
and that I mUSI pass on.
See, my days are
as a hand's breadth before you
and my life is as nothing before you.
[Lord, let me know ...]
Truly, all men that still walk the earth
are hardly as anything.
They go hence like a shadow
and all their noise comes to nothing;
they heap up their wealth
but do not know who will inherit it.
Now, Lord, how shall I find comfort?
I hope in you.
The righteous souls are in the hand of God,
and no tonnent touches them.
Texst: Psalms 39:4-8
Wisdom 3:1
Movement 4
Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen,
Herr Zcbaoth!
Meine Seele verlanget und sehnet sich
nach den Vorhofen des Herrn;
mein Leib und Seele freuen sich
in dem lebendigen GOtl.
Wahl denen, die in deinem Hause wohnen,
[Wie lieblich ...]
die loben dich·immerdar.
Wie lieblich ... ]
How lovely are your dwellings,
Lord ofSabaoth!
My soul longs and faints
for the courts of the Lord.
My body and soul rejoice
in the living God.
Blest are they that dwell in your house,
[How lovely... ]
they praise you evermore.
[How lovely... ]
Text: Psalms 84: 1,2,4
Movemem 5
You now have sorrow,
Ihr habl nun Traurigkeit;
but I will see you again,
aber ich wi II euch wiedersehen
and
your heart shall rejoice,
und euer Herz soli sich freuen,
und eure Freude soil niemand VQCl euch nehmen. and your joy shall no man take from you.
Look on me:
Sehet mich an:
For a short time I
Ich habe eine kleine Zeit
have had sorrow and labor
MOhe und Arbeit gehabt
and have found greal comfort.
und habe groBen Trost funden.
I will comfort you
Ich will euch trosten,
as one whom a mother comforts.
wie einen seine Mutter trostet.
Texts: John 16:22
Ecclesiasticus 51 :35
Isaiah 66: 13
Movement 6
Denn wir haben hie keine bleibende Statt,
sondem die zukilnftige suchen wir.
Siehe, ich sage euch ein Geheimnis:
Wir werden nichl aile entschlafen,
wir werden aber aile verwandelt werden;
und dasselbige plotzlich. in einem Augenblick,
zu der Zeit der letzten Posaune.
Denn es wird die Posaune schallen,
und die Toten werden auferstehen unverweslich,
und wir werden verwandell werden.
Dann wird erfilllet werden
das Wort, das geschrieben stehl:
Der Tad ist verschlungen in den Sieg.
Tad, wo ist dein Stachel?
Holle, wo ist dein Sieg?
Herr, du bist wurdig
zu nehmen Preis und Ehre und Kraft,
denn du hast aile Dinge geschaffen,
und durch deinen Willen haben sie
das Wesen und sind geschaffen.
For we have no abiding city,
but we seek one to come.
Behold, I tell you a mystery:
We shall not all sleep,
but we shall all be changed;
and that quickly in a moment
at the sound of the last trumpet.
For the trumpet shall sound,
and the dead shall be raised incorruptible,
and we shall be changed.
Then shall be fulfilled
the word that is written:
Death is swallowed up in victory.
Death, where is your sting?
Hell, where is your victory?
Lord, you are worthy
to receive praise and glory and power,
for you have crealed all things,
and by your will were they
created and have their being.
Texts; Hebrews 13:14
1 Corinthians 15: 51-52,54-55
Revelation 4: 11
Movement 7
Selig sind sie Toten, die in dem Herrn sterben
von nun an.
Ja, der Geist spricht, daB sie ruhen von
ihrer Arbeit;
denn ihre Werke folgen ihnen nacho
[Selig sind die Toten ... ]
Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord
from now on.
Indeed, says the Spirit, that they rest from
their labors,
for their works follow after them.
[Blessed are the dead ... ]
Texl: Revelation 14: 13
11 is a special joy to welcome back to Pittsburg today's soloists, both of whom have shared
their artistry with us in years past during their tenure as members ofthe voice/acuity at
Pittsburg State University.
Loraine Sims has achieved critical acclaim for her "vibrant, bell·like soprano"lI.s well as her
"wann intimacy, engaging passion and casual artistry." She is an active recitalist whose voice
has been described as "remarkably versatile, ranging from delicate lyricism to dramatic power,"
and her repertoire includes a broad range of songs and arias from the Baroque through
Contemporary periods as well as a variety of selections from the American Musical Theater
tradition. Recent perfonnances include an appearance at the 2004 National NATS Convention
in New Orleans singing Schubert's Der Hirt aufdem Felsen and a solo recital appearance on the
"Music at S.. John's" Concert Series in Thibodaux, LA this spring. Other engagements this
season have included recitals and/or masterclasses at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, the
Conservatory of Music and Drama at the Dublin lnstirute of Technology, Minnesota State
University, Gustavus Adolphus College (Minnesota), and Drury University (Missouri), and the
University of Southern Mississippi.
Honors for Ms. Sims include the national finals in the National Opera Association Vocal
Competition and the international semifinals in the prestigious Concert Artist Guild
Compelition. Her early vocal training is from Southeastern Oklahoma State University and
Southwest Texas State University, and she holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Vocal
Performance from Louisiana State University.
Dr. Sims conlinues a successful teaching career as an Assistant Professor of Voice at Louisiana
State University. Her prior faculty positions were at Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg,
Kansas; Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, Louisiana; and Southeastern
Oklahoma Stale University in Durant, Oklahoma. She is a member of the Music Teachers
National Association (MTNA), the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), and
the current Louisiana Governor of NATS.
Paul Huybrechts, adjunct assistant professor of vocal arts in the Thornton School of
Music at the University of Southem California, is equally at home on the concert,
operatic, and theatrical stages. He has performed as a recitalist and orchestral soloist
throughout the United States and Europe and in leading roles with companies including
Arizona Opera, Opera Southwest, and Baton Rouge Opera. Dr. Huybrechts earned his
MM degree in vocal arts at USC, studying under Thomas Cleveland and Charles Roe. He
earned his DMA degree at Louisiana State University, studying under Robert Grayson
and Martina Arroyo. While working on his doctorate, he compiled an extensive catalogue
of twentieth·century Flemish art songs.
Before accepting his appointment at USC, he was assistant professor and director of opera
theater at Auburn University followed by several years as associate professor and chair of
the voice department and director of opera theater at Pittsburg State University in
PittSburg, Kansas. During his years in Kansas, he was active as a soloist with the Early
Music Consort of Kansas City.
Along with leaching and perfonning, he was program director and on-air host at KRPS classical
public radio as well as on-air host on K-Mozart in Los Angeles. Dr. Huybrechts is also a frequent
pre-concert lecturer for orchestras and concert series in the Los Angeles area.
Kimberly Abels
Cheri Avery
Keira Bedore
Casey Brown
Kaye Brownlee
Carrie Campbell
Mary Cash
David Chamberlain
Paul Cope
Tammy Crepinsek
Kayla Culley
Jason Curran
Gail Deatherage
Will Demings
Jesus Diaz
Jessica Dick
Toni Dobratz
Jessica Dold
Joyce Elliot!
William Elliott
Will ElnifT
Michael Fenech
Lucinda Fortney
Bryan Ganer
Jennifer Ganer
Veronika Garini
Rebecca Garren
Lisa Gerstenkorn
Shane Gibson
Rebekah Grieb
Kathy Hall
Brian Hargrave
Kimberly Hanns
Mary Jo Harper
Drew Hayes
Adam Heitland
Timothy Henderson
Megan Hizey
Katherine Hockman
Kristin Humbard
Ryan Hunter
Erik Hyde
Erin Jackson
Kathreen Johnson
Carrie Kesler
Ryan Key
SCOlt Kincaid
Henry Kost
Shelli Larrison
Susan Laushman
Cody Leal
Hsiao- Wen Lee
Danielle Leivian
Kristen Livingston
Jeffrey Luton
Amy Mason
Norma McCaslin
Mary Helen McCloud
Greg Melching
Kenton Mobley
Ginger Niemann
Robin Nobles
Patrick O'Halloran
Krista Ohmie
Maija Ornmark
Brett Palmer
Kathryn Parke
Elizabeth Perrey
Andrew Pierce
Crystal Pihl
Cathy Porter
Markel Porter
Robert Reno
Amanda Richards
John Ross
Karrie Ross
Harrison Rowland
Cynthia Rucker
Zia Ryu
Elisha Samuel
Terry Schirk
Breana Sheffler
Karen Shepherd
Ashley Shinn
Jacquelyn Slater
Carol Sloan
Herndon Snider
Ruth Snider
Paul Spivey
Angela Stansberry
ScOIl Sternberger
Renay Stuhlsatz
Yu·Wen Tang
William Vance
Brandon Wade
EJ. Willard
Anna Wishall
Jeffrey WOlfington
Jason Wright
Marti York
Violin I
SelimGiray
Ben Davis
Blair Croan
Alyssa DePew
Darla Oaks
Flute
Emily Elkins
Christa Weber
Violin II
Calina Ciotlaus
Rebecca CUller
Amanda Reehl
Sonre Parrish
Linda Vollen
Miranda Grimmer
Marilyn Layden
Bruce Daniel
Oboe
Ann Knipschild
Russell Jones
Viola
Catalin Lari
Kate Stoker
Byron Pike
Gene Vollen
Paul Carlson
Cello
Necati Giray
Manha Baxter
Kristen Grimmer
Jessica Bjorgaard
Carolann Martin
Bass
Cameron Schmitz
Richard Samford
Harp
Demaris Gaines
Demaris Herrera
Organ
Laurel Mason
Piccolo
Kathy DeGrave
Clarinet
Ryan Lovell
Steve Petty
Bassoon
Danica Robbins
Megan Gabehart
Horn
SCOIt Conner
Jessica Jones
Jean Klassen
Jennifer Petty
Trumpel
Matt Carter
A.J. Metzger
Trombone
Terri Houston
Quentin Gilkey
Lucas Warford
Tuba
Zach Gipson
Timpani
Mall Esau