The German Requiem is one of the world’s most famous requiems, even though it does not set the customary requiem text to music. Brahms did not want to follow the Latin Catholic funeral mass, addressing the Last Judgment’s terror and sinful human beings’ redemption through death on the cross. His attention, on the contrary, was on Biblical texts that focus on human transience and comfort: comfort to the bereaved and comfort to all who fear death.

To some extent, it could be called the epitome...