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In 1866 the composer Brahms was 33. He embarked on the writing of " A German Requiem ", a piece of music written to honour the late memory of two of the most important people in his life, his mother and his good friend Robert Schumann.

Brahms was a philosopher and an agnostic, the writing of a requiem from a secular perspective had not been attempted on such a scale before.

"A German Requiem" is a work of great emotional and spiritual depth, which encompasses all the torrid dimensions of grief whilst simultaneously "outing" it's secular roots through the posing of questions on mortality from a more modern perspective.

Brahms " A German Requiem" premiered in its final form in 1869. Accounts of the first performance recall how people; " wept openly after only a few minutes, at the sheer poetry, passion and honesty of the grief being depicted ". At the conclusion of the work; "the audience sat silently for a few seconds, as if they dared not break the cumulative spell of the music". It was a success then and to this day is considered one of the supreme masterpieces of the chorale repertoire.

After the end of "A German Requiem"'s first performance, somebody asked Brahms' dad what he thought of it.

"It's not bad" said Brahms' dad.