With his Deutschen Requiem, Johannes Brahms found his own musical tone and expression. Out of a deep connection with the words and messages of the Bible and the spirit of Romanticism, based on the achievements of tradition, he composed an astonishing work in his early thirties in which he combined vocal and instrumental parts in such a way as to create a harmonious unity. He masterfully handled the choir and solo voices as well as the orchestra, with a multitude of hauntingly expressive moments that have secured the work a central place in churches and concert halls around the world since its composition in the 1860s.