Requiem

As late as 1830, Robert Schumann described himself as ‘religious without religion’. Nevertheless, in 1852, he composed within four months not only Missa sacra but also his Requiem, a touching work which unfortunately is only seldom performed.

It may well be that the external reason for their creation was the obligation, inherent in his new position in Düsseldorf, to write two church music pieces a year. But Schumann turned to the topic of religion internally as well. In a letter to August Strackerjahn from January 1851 he wrote: ‘To devote his powers to religious music probably remains the artist‘s ultimate
goal.’ In this work, he combined the ‘sacred dignity of the old music with the
rich ornamentation of the newer one’. As in Missa sacra, the free handling of the liturgical text is conspicuous.