Johannes Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem has a strong personal connection to Craig Jessop.
Craig Jessop
“Our son was born while I sang the baritone part,” Jessop told Reichel Recommends. That was while he was a graduate student at Stanford. “I looked up to where my wife had been sitting and she wasn’t there, so I knew she was on her way to the hospital.” Fortunately, she was able to delay the birth until after the performance so Jessop could be at the hospital with her.
Years later, Robert Shaw was scheduled to come to Salt Lake City to conduct the piece with the Utah Symphony and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. That was for the Tanner Gift of Music concert in February 1999. But Shaw died in January, which was a blow to Jessop since he was close to Shaw. And to add to the tragedy, Jessop’s father died the following day. “Mr. Shaw died on the 25th and my dad on the 26th,” he said. Jessop was the associate music director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir at the time and had been prepping the choir for the performance. “Keith Lockhart [the then music director of the Utah Symphony] came to me and asked if I would go forward and conduct the concert.” The concert was dedicated to Shaw and Don Jessop, Craig Jessop’s dad. “The work has a lot of personal pathos for me.”
This Friday, Jessop will once again conduct Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem, this time in Logan with his American Festival Chorus.
Originally, Jessop was going to do the English version but decided on performing it in its original German. “It would have been easier for me to do it in English, but I felt it was more important to be as authentic as possible.” At first, the singers were struggling with learning to sing the work in German. “They were looking at me cross eyed,” Jessop said. But gradually they became accustomed to the language and Jessop saw that he had made the right decision in regard to language. “They’ve been doing a great job. There really is more satisfaction in singing the work in German. Shaw would have said that as well.”
The deaths of Brahms’ mother and Robert Schumann, the two people who were closest to him, were the direct inspiration for him to write a requiem. But unlike most of the other requiems written in the 18th and 19th centuries, Brahms’ work focuses on the living and not on the dead, Jessop said. “He makes a compelling case for what the meaning of life is.” And the spiritual content of the work is remarkable, given the fact that Brahms was an agnostic, “although he does acknowledge the Resurrection and that there is life after death.” Brahms also touches on immortality. “The deeds you do on Earth will live forever,” Jessop said.
Joining the chorus and orchestra will be soprano Cindy Dewey, head of the voice department at USU, and baritone Steve Meredith, who teaches voice at Snow College.
The concert was also to include the world premiere of Utah composer Jeff Detton’s Tritone: A Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, which was inspired by the 10th anniversary of 9/11. But due to unforeseen circumstances, the work’s premiere will be postponed until the chorus’ March 27, 2015, concert, which will also include a performance of Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem.
- CONCERT DETAILS
- What: Johannes Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem, American Festival Chorus, Craig Jessop, conductor
- Venue: Ellen Eccles Theatre, 43 S. Main, Logan
- Time and Date: 7:30 p.m. March 28
- Tickets: $12-$20
- Phone: 435-752-0026
- Web: www.americanfestivalchorus.org