This evening at 7.30pm, my wife sings in the Brahms German Requiem at the West Road Concert Hall in Cambridge. She sings with the Cambridgeshire Choral Society. This is a splendid work and well worth hearing. Tickets are available on the door.
Se also https://sites.google.com/site/cambschoral/
Most of the Requiem was written around 1868. It is so sad that some 50 years later Germany, the UK and many other countries were busy killing each other in millions in WW1. I am still convinced we all drifted into WW1 not realising what it was going to be like.
This Brahms choral work towers above the madness of WW1, 50 years away still when written. To this day I think of Germany as a cultured and great nation. WW1 and WW2 were aberrations that sadly can affect any nation depending on who is in power. That is the tragedy of all wars.
The music of Brahms, Wagner and many others reminds us that music has the power to transcend human frailty and tower over us putting wars into true perspective: after the fighting should come true peace and reconciliation.
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