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
Polish Requiem Ciaccona "in memoria Giovanni Paolo II per archi" (in memory of John Paul II for strings). The completed Requiem was first performed on 17 September 2005 in Wroclaw, during Wratislavia Cantans 2005, by Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra Katowice, under the direction of the composer himself. The "Polish Requiem" is scored for soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor and bass soloists, SATB mixed choirs, and an orchestra consisting of three flutes (third doubling piccolo), three oboes, three clarinets in B-flat, one bass clarinet, three bassoons, one contrabassoon; six horns in F, four trumpets in C, four trombones, one tuba; a percussion section consisting