Wikipedia:Today's featured article/July 16, 2016
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The Requiem by Max Reger is a late Romantic setting of Friedrich Hebbel's poem "Requiem" for alto or baritone solo, chorus and orchestra. The text begins with a plea not to forget the dead. Composed in 1915, Reger dedicated it "to the memory of the German heroes" who died in the World War. He had composed Requiem settings before: in 1912 a motet for male chorus, set to the same poem, and in 1914 an unfinished setting of the Latin Requiem, in memory of victims of the war. The 1915 Requiem, Reger's last completed work for chorus and orchestra, was published by N. Simrock in 1916, after the composer's death. It was paired with another choral composition, Der Einsiedler (The Hermit), set to a poem by Joseph von Eichendorff, titled Zwei Gesänge für gemischten Chor mit Orchester (Two songs for mixed chorus with orchestra), Op. 144. Both works were first performed in Heidelberg on 16 July 1916 as part of a memorial concert for Reger, conducted by Philipp Wolfrum. Reger thought that The Hermit and the Requiem were "among the most beautiful things" he had ever written. (Full article...)