Minear on Brahms' German Requiem

Thursday, January 7, 2010
Meditation:
LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.
Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity
    —Psalm 39:4-5 (KJV)
Quotation:
    [Johannes] Brahms chose his own texts [for his German Requiem] from Luther’s Bible to illustrate the Protestant conviction that man must hear and respond to God’s word in man’s own language, and that every believer must be free to deal with the Biblical text apart from priestly veto... For the word “German” he would gladly have substituted the word “human” because he was concerned to comment on “the primary text of human existence,” finding there, as in the Bible, the universal themes of suffering and joy.
    ... Paul S. Minear (1906-2007)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are the Father of all, and all belong to You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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