# Schumann Requiem, Op. 148



## mossyembankment (Jul 28, 2020)

I love Schumann, but this is not a genre I listen to often. I am listening through now for the first time - I find it beautiful and moving so far. I can't recall ever seeing this piece discussed on this board. Do people have opinions?


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Does anyone know why he wrote it?


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## Highwayman (Jul 16, 2018)

Tbh I think this is not one of his better works. Of course it has its moments and deserves some recognition but there are also some bad moments. I distinctly remember disliking the _Dies Irae_ for instance. I prefer the C minor Mass from the same period which is a more reliable work.


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## mossyembankment (Jul 28, 2020)

Only description I could find of the composition process:


After the Schumanns moved to Dusseldorf towards the end of his life, Schumann became interested in the musical forms of the Catholic church, and the Mass and the Requiem also satisfied the streak of mysticism that was present throughout his life, though in greater or lesser proportions depending upon circumstances. 
Like Mozart, he was composing a Mass for the dead during a time of illness and other hardships, and he expressed his fears that it was his own Requiem that he was writing. During Schumann's stay in the asylum after his suicide attempt, this was one of the compositions that he continued to work upon. The manuscripts show numerous revisions, far more so than in most earlier manuscripts, indicating his struggles to adequately capture his musical ideas and suggesting his mental agitation. Most of the writing is introverted (as in the Requiem for Mignon); the images are not of a priest celebrating the Requiem Mass, but of a man contemplating his own death. 
It was not published or performed until eight years after his death, and today is one of Schumann's more neglected works, though critics vary in their opinions about how justified this neglect is. He did not exercise his gift for musical innovation, and in fact, much of it looks backwards. The Domine Jesu Christe and the Sanctus reflect Bach's influence, in the way that fugues dominate these sections, and the opening of the Agnus Dei, with its plaintive use of the strings to suggest an almost overwhelming, uncomprehending grief, suggests the opening of Mozart's Requiem. Again like the Requiem for Mignon, it uses the solo voices sparingly, except for the Qui Mariam absolvisti section of the Ingemisco, which has a limpid melodiousness reminiscent of his lieder. 
However, there are also sections that show he was still capable of a poetic musical expressiveness, if not vibrant new creativity. The Sanctus is appropriately majestic and stately, and the Dies irae, though taking a more internalized approach than Verdi's terrifying writing in his own Requiem Mass, evokes the same sense of fear of the inevitable Day of Judgment.


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## RobertJTh (Sep 19, 2021)

I just listened to the whole work, which was unknown to me (I knew about its existence of course, but never bothered with it).
Always nice to have one of those score videos available, those give you more insight in the work than is possible with just a single listening session. Though the performance here is a tad provincial.






Stylistically I find it rather anonymous, if I didn't know it's by Schumann, I wouldn't have guessed. Most of the music is rhythmically stiff and declamatory, and it doesn't display much melodic or harmonic inventiveness (though the clash between Db major and D major at the beginning is surprising). I hear more influence from Cherubini and Michael Haydn than from Mozart.
The requiem is clearly written as a concert piece, since Schumann's treatment of the sacred text is completely unliturgical. That makes that it pretends to be something that it clearly isn't - a choral masterpiece, suited for concert performance. Take Michael Haydn's wonderful requiem, which certainly served an important model for Schumann's: it never pretends to be more than just liturgical "musica usualis", and therein lies its greatness. Schumann aims higher, but with less success.


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## mossyembankment (Jul 28, 2020)

Thanks for this analysis - it’s certainly a bit above my head, especially since I don’t know much about choral works in general, but it is helpful context for understanding where this work stands. I definitely agree that it’s difficult to hear any “Schumann-isms,” at least any that I recognize.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Here’s my favourite Schumann requiem


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