'This has to be written all by oneself' is what Schumann is supposed to have said to his first biographer after the completion of the Requiem. Thus began a reception history of the work created in 1852 before the outbreak of depression and fatal disease that was characterised by prejudices.

It is impossible to tell what prompted the protestant Schumann to compose a Catholic requiem. With regard to music history, the mysterious, yet fascinating Requiem in the rare D flat major mode forms the c...