A German Requiem (Brahms) humanism persists through the work. Brahms purposely omitted Christian dogma. In his correspondence with Carl Reinthaler, when Reinthaler expressed concern over this, Brahms refused to add references to "the redeeming death of the Lord", as Reinthaler described it, such as . In the Bremen performance of the piece, Reinthaler took the liberty of inserting the aria "I know that my Redeemer liveth" from Handel's "Messiah" to satisfy the clergy. In addition to soprano and baritone soloists and mixed chorus, "A German Requiem" is scored for: Since Brahms inserted the fifth movement, the work shows symmetry around the fourth movement, which
Classical music include the "Dies irae" from the Verdi Requiem, Edvard Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King" from "Peer Gynt", the opening bars of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5, Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" from "Die Walküre", Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumblebee", and excerpts of Aaron Copland's "Rodeo". Several works from the Golden Age of Animation matched the action to classical music. Notable examples are Walt Disney's "Fantasia", Tom and Jerry's "Johann Mouse", and Warner Bros.' "Rabbit of Seville" and "What's Opera, Doc?" Similarly, movies and television often revert to standard, clichéd excerpts of classical music to convey refinement or opulence: