Robert Schumann
Requiem für Mignon in minor op. 98/b
for solo voices, [bad word] and orchestra (1849)
First public performance with orchestra: Düsseldorf, 1850
Text by Wolfgang von Goethe from ‘Wilhelm Meister’
No. 1. Wen bringt ihr uns zu stillen Gessellschaft? - Langsam (minor) [bad word]  SS/AA, Ch]
No. 2. Ach! Wie ungern brachten wir ihn her! - Etwas bewegter (minor) [S/A]
No. 3. Seht die machtigen Fleugel doch an! - Lebhaft (major) - [Ch, SS/Ch]
No. 4. In euch lebe die bildende Kraft - Feierlich, doch nicht zu langsam (major) [Ch, SS/A/Ch]
No. 5. Kinder, kehret in's Leben [bad word] #33; - Die Viertel wie vorher die Halben (major) [Bass, SS/AA, Ch]
No. 6. Kinder, eilet in's Leben hinan! - Lebhaft (major) [Ch, SS, Ch]

Edith Mathis & Christa Lehnert, sopranos
Maura Moreira & Margarete Witte-Waldbauer, altos
Robert Tize, bass
 [bad word] Symphony Orchestra and Choir
Robert Wagner, conductor

[Prose text from the opening of Book 8, Chapter 8 of Goethe’s novel]
In the evening the Abbé summoned everyone to the funeral rites for Mignon. The [bad word] proceeded to the Hall of the Past; they found it strangely decorated and illuminated. The walls were almost entirely draped with tapestries of azure blue, so that only the base and the frieze remained uncovered. Large wax candles were burning in the four big candelabras at the corners of the room, and others of appropriate size in the four smaller ones surrounding the sarcophagus in the center. Four boys were standing beside the bier, dressed in silver and blue, fanning with sheaves of ostrich feathers a figure that lay on top of the sarcophagus. The [bad word] all took their seats, and two invisible [bad word] intoned in gentle strains: “Whom do you bring to those at rest?” The four boys replied with lovely voices: “weary playmate we bring you; here let him stay and rest till the rejoicing of his heavenly sisters shall wake him once more.”

 [bad word] 
Child so young for this our realm, we [bad word] you! We [bad word] you in sorrow! May no boy, nor girl follow thee! Old age alone shall wend its way, eagerly, calmly, here to this silent Hall, but thou, dear child, shalt rest here too, rest in [bad word] 
BOYS Ah, reluctantly we brought him here! Ah, and here shall he stay! We too will stay, let us weep and mourn, shed our tears above his corpse!
 [bad word] 
See how the mighty wings, see the light unspotted robe, the golden circle gleaming in his hair; see the beauty and grace of his repose!
BOYS
Ah! They lift him not, those mighty wings. His garments float no more in easy play. His head we crowned with roses, sweet and friendly was his gaze.
 [bad word] 
Lift the eyes of the spirit!
 [bad word] 
Lift the eyes of the spirit! May in you dwell the power that transports what in life is finest, loveliest, highest, beyond the stars.
BOYS
But ah! Down here he is lost to us now. In gardens he wanders no more, flowers he gathers no more. Let us weep and leave him here!Let us weep and stay with him!
 [bad word] 
Children, return to life! Your tears shall bedried in freshness of air circling water’s edge. Flee the night! Day and joy and continuance are the lot of the living.
BOYS Up! We turn to life again. The day will give us labor and joy, till evening brings us rest, and night refreshing sleep.
 [bad word] 
Children! Hasten to life! And beauty clothed in raiment pure shall bring you love with heavenly gaze and the crown of immortality!
(J. W. von Goethe, ‘Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship’, edited and translated by Eric A. Blackll. Goethe’s Collected Works,Vol. 9. New York: Suhrkamp, 1989)