Wie Lieblich Sind Deine Wohnungen (From Ein Deutsches Requiem)

“Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen” (How lovely is Thy dwelling place) is the fourth movement of Johannes Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem), a sacred choral work, op. 45, written in the Romantic era. It was first composed in 1868 originally in six movements, but Brahms later added a seventh movement added in 1869 to honour his mother.

The text is borrowed from the Old and New Testaments of the German Lutheran Bible, and features soprano and baritone soloists, SATB chorus, and orchestra. The complete work has a symmetrical structure with movement 1 and 7 more pastorale chorale movements, movements 2 and 6 darker and march-like, and solo voices featured in movement 3 and 5, although baritone appears in movement 6. The fourth movement is at core of this arch-like shaping and thus offers a vision of heaven with translated title of “How Lovely is Thy Dwelling Place, O Lord of Hosts.” The text for this particular movement is drawn from Psalm 84, is in the key of E flat major, and is in rondo form (ABA1CA2). The movement opens with the clarinets playing an inverted version of the soprano melody that subsequently comes right after. There are multiple instances in the movement where word painting occurs to emphasize certain words, such as in the beginning soprano line which ascends as if rising up to heaven, as well as fugal texture evidenced in Sections B (“verlanget und sehnet” - “longs and yearns”) and C. In addition, the climax in Section C features a specific emphasis on the words “Die loben Dich immerdar,” which translates to “They will always be praising Thee,” accompanied by the composer’s trademark use of hemiola. The end of Section B is also more homorhythmic, in the high register, with delicate pizzicato figures giving way to fp accents to emphasis the growing mood intensity. Through these compositional devices, this work highlights some of the many features in Brahms’ musical style and signifies his ultimate message to humanity.