The genre accompanied him for almost his entire creative period: the 23-year-old Johannes Brahms wrote the Sacred Choral Song op. 30 in 1856, the Five...

The genre accompanied him for almost his entire creative period: the 23-year-old Johannes Brahms wrote the Sacred Choral Song op. 30 in 1856, the Five Songs for mixed chorus a cappella are his late legacy in the field of secular choral song, written between 1886 and 1888. In between are the Three Songs, written at a time when Brahms was also very practically occupied with choral singing as a choral conductor, then the Seven Songs for four- to eight-part choir and finally his large-scale Motte op. 74, No. 1 Warum ist das Licht gegeben from 1877 and its sister work O Heiland, reiß die Himmel auf op. 74 No. 2. In the course of more than 30 years, the composer shows a fascinating development, which - of course always in the most demanding facture - leads from romantic opulence of the six- to eight-part movement to rather reduced austerity. Chorwerk Ruhr traces this development with fascinating intensity.