The published correspondence between Brahms and Karl Reinthaler includes seventy-seven letters, only two of which are from Reinthaler to Brahms. Styra Avins includes eight of Brahms's letters to Reinthaler in her magisterial collection of the composer's correspondence. Reinthaler's first surviving letter to Brahms (October 5, 1867) is a response to Brahms's request to return the manuscript of the Requiem, which their mutual friend Albert Dietrich had loaned to Reinthaler with the idea of facilitating a Bremen premiere. The letter has selectively been quoted by scholars focusing on the conductor's concern about the doctrinal suitability of the text for a church performance on Good Friday, an issue treated in the preceding chapter. The complete letter appears here for the first time in an English translation to allow readers to make their own judgment. Brahms's reply to this letter appears complete in Avins's collection.

Karl Reinthaler, Letter to Brahms

Bremen, October 5, 1867

Enclosed, dear sir, I return to you in your “German Requiem” a treasure that I have kept in my house longer than I was probably entitled to considering the underlying circumstances. My friend Dietrich, who knows how much I take an interest in your creations, sent it to me at my request and came himself; he told me that he believes you would not object if I wanted to produce a performance of the work in the Bremen cathedral, of course, if possible, with you personally and if you would consider it most appropriate.

I read through the work with the highest interest, and it has touched my soul in the deepest way. For a performance here only the beautiful cathedral seems to me the appropriate place; and for this winter we have nothing but Good Friday available (unless we had arranged a special concert). I looked at your “Requiem” with that in mind and, forgive me, the thought came to me whether an extension of the work would not be possible that would bring it closer to a Good Friday performance; such an extension, it seems to me, is consistent with the concept of the work itself.