Hampstead Chorus‘s Autumn term will begin on Wednesday 5th September when we will start rehearsing Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem (German Requiem), which we will be singing in its original German version. Our concert, accompanied by professional soloists and orchestra as usual, will be on Saturday 1st December at 7.30pm in the Great Hall at UCS.
Choir members can buy tickets at £18 (£5 for students under the age of 24) at rehearsals. Otherwise tickets can be bought via Ticketsource (link above) with a booking fee.
Rehearsal Schedule
All rehearsals are at UCS. Soprano & Alto sectionals are in the New Lecture Theatre. Tenor & Bass sectionals are in M7 in the Music School. Final rehearsals are in the Great Hall. Wednesday evening rehearsals run from 7.30 – 9.30 pm, with sectionals in the first half and a break for provided refreshments. If you miss a rehearsal or find a passage tricky which we have covered, please go through it in your own time, via one of the learning websites (see below, but please ask if you need more information on this) as there isn’t always time to go over every individual request during rehearsals.
| 5 September | 7 pm | Registration |
| 5 September | 7.30 pm | Rehearsal – No. 1 Selig sind, die da Leid tragen (page 3 |
| 12 September | 7 pm | Registration |
| 12 September | 7.30 pm | Rehearsal – No. 2 Denn alles Fleisch, es ist wie Gras (page 11-19) Finish No. 1 No. 1 Selig sind, die da Leid tragen (pages 3-11) |
| 17 September (NB - this is a Monday not a Wednesday - moved due to Yom Kippur) | 7.30 pm | Rehearsal – No. 2 Denn alles Fleisch, es ist wie Gras (page 19-27) |
| 26 September | 7.30 pm | Rehearsal – No. 3 Herr, lehre doch mich (page 28-38) |
| 3 October | 7.30 pm | Rehearsal – No. 3 Herr, lehre doch mich (page 38-43) |
| 10 October | 7.30 pm | Rehearsal – No. 4 Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen (page 44) |
| 17 October | 7.30 pm | Rehearsal – No. 5 Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit (page 54) + Sing through all music to date if time. |
| 24 October | No rehearsal - half term | |
| 31 October | 7.30 pm | Rehearsal – No. 6 Denn wir haben hie keine bleibende Statt (pages 61-72) |
| 7 November | 7.30 pm | Rehearsal – No. 6 Denn wir haben hie keine bleibende Statt (pages 73-83) |
| 14 November | 7.30 pm | Rehearsal – No. 7 Selig sind die Toten (page 84 |
| 21 November | 7.30 pm | Rehearsal – Revision all (tricky bits tbc) |
| 28 November | 7.30 pm | Revision all plus Seasonal Social |
| 1 December (Saturday) | 2.00 pm - 5.00 pm | Final Rehearsal with Orchestra & Soloists [The Great Hall] |
Practice Aids
There are many useful practice aids for the Brahms Requiem. Here is a selection:
This is a very user friendly tool which allows you to play your voice part at different speeds and to select passages to go over and over. Occasionally there can be playback problems with certain browsers (especially Firefox). If you experience these problems, we suggest you try using a different browser to access Cyberbass. You may also find a solution to some problems on this page.
John Fletcher Music (requires sign in, but this is free for the German Requiem).
There are also individual voice part versions on YouTube. Remember that you can speed up and slow down Youtube playback in some browsers.
Recommended recordings
Simon recommends the following recordings available on Youtube: