Brahms published his final orchestral work, the Double Concerto, in 1887, a full decade before his death; but there was no diminishment in the composer’s output of significant compositions during these years. It is this late productivity to which we owe the remarkable double-choir motet of Unsere Väter from “Fest und Gedenkspruche” op. 109. Composed in 1889 for a festival in Hamburg commemorating German Unification in 1871, Brahms cherry-picked the words of Psalm 29 (the psalm of the day in the Revised Common Lectionary) – words which evoked a sense of divine benevolence and earthly unity. This motet begins by lingering on a grand F major chord broken into its component parts. The musical content showcases both the mastery of counterpoint and deep affection for the antiphonal choral music of Gabrieli and Schütz. The choirs are set against each other, each adopting a different rhetorical pose (emphatic/stoic on one side, lyrical/rapturous on the other) as they sing about the strength of God’s people, and the promise of eternal peace.

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