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
Women in classical music the soloist setting more frequently in recent years. Pianist (and composer) Clara Schumann and vocalist Jenny Lind were two rarer examples prominent in the nineteenth-century. One of the first historically recorded women in medieval music was Hildegard of Bingen, who wrote religious songs in the 12th century. Women have also been necessary for the functioning of choirs, which require the upper register that women can sing, although Pope Leo IV (847–855 A.D.) banned women in choirs from singing in churches, and Pope Pius X banned women from church choirs in 1907. Antonio Vivaldi led an all-girl orchestra in 1714 at