Every year near All Souls Day, a community choir and local musicians come together to sing a Requiem at St. Mary’s Catholic Church.
This year, the Ein Deutches (German) Requiem by Johannes Brahms will be sung on Sunday, Nov. 3, at 3 p.m. in the main church of St. Mary’s, at 304 W. San Antonio St.
The Sacred Music Series has been a part of the music programs offered at St. Mary’s Catholic Church for the past five years.
In 2019, they sang the Faure Requiem. Unfortunately, 2020 and 2021 brought a halt to all music concerts, but in 2022, the community choir sang the Rutter Requiem.
In 2023, the Mozart Requiem was performed with a choir of 26 singers and orchestra of 17 local musicians with great success.
Amy Voorhees, Director of Liturgy and Music Ministry at St. Mary’s, has chosen the Ein Deutches (German) Requiem by Brahms to open up the Sacred Music Series.
“The Brahms Requiem is a perfect start to our series this year,” Voorhees said. “It will be sung in German, the language Brahms wrote it in, which makes it a unique Requiem for our choir. The past Requiems have been in Latin with some English sections in the Rutter. There is no better community to bring this incredible music to than Fredericksburg with its German heritage.”
“We’re planning to bring down our baby grand piano from the choir loft and have two pianos supporting our small choir of about 20 singers,” Voorhees said.
The soprano soloist, Dr. Suzanne Ramo-Getcher, is a world-renowned opera singer, and the baritone soloist is local resident Jim Wilhite.
The choir has been rehearsing since the beginning of September.
“This is the first time this particular arrangement has been used in Fredericksburg and we’re so excited to bring this piece to the ears of Fredericksburg and beyond,” Voorhees said.
Requiem music was traditionally composed to be used for Catholic funeral Masses, which is why many of them are written in Latin.
“In recent years, classical music has been heard less and less. The reason for the Sacred Music Series here at St. Mary’s is to bring this particular music, especially the Requiem Mass music, back to the churches where they were intended to be sung. We always start our season with a Requiem around All Souls Day as this is the time when we continue to pray for our loved ones who have passed on.
“St. Mary’s, with its gothic architecture, lends itself beautifully to singing this sacred music,” she said. “We turn off all microphones and let the sound echo around the space as it was originally intended to be heard. This creates a unique experience where the music physically surrounds the audience.”