Life & Death in Brahms' "Four Serious Songs"

Birgit Matzerath and Bill Edwards will present a program of music and discussion focusing on Johannes Brahms’ “Four Serious Songs,” a set of four songs that Brahms wrote at the end of his life, contemplating the fundamental question of life and death. The words are taken from the bible, though Brahms himself was possibly agnostic. They will talk briefly about the background, composition and content of the songs, and perform them (which takes about 20 minutes) — Bill Edwards, vocalist, and Birgit on the piano (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUioxhzXEZ0; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vier_ernste_Gesänge). Birgit Matzerath is a pianist, teacher, writer and composer who was born and raised in Germany. She received degrees in music education and piano from the Hochschule fuer Musik and University in Koeln (Cologne), Germany and pursued additional private studies with Oxana Yablonskaya and Seymour Bernstein. For more than 20 years she taught at community music schools in the Cologne area, before relocating to the US in 2002. After teaching at the Concord Community Music School in Concord, NH for seven years, she relocated to Maplewood, NJ, where she now lives and maintains a private studio. In addition to being a musician, Bill Edwards — together with his wife Margaret — does therapy with cats. They gave a platform talk about their work in February, 2012, and brought two of their wonderful animals with them. The Ethical Culture Society of Essex County is a progressive non-theist religion dedicated to living ethically in a complex world. Founded in l876 and established in Maplewood in l945, over the years the ethical culture movement (known as The American Ethical Union) has been instrumental in launching Planned Parenthood, the NAACP, Visiting Nurses, New York Settlement House, Fieldston School, and National Ethical Service at the UN. The Society began a long-running Ethics for Children program and most recently, Essex Time Exchange (a time bank facilitating the exchange of services) among other initiatives. The Maplewood Society was the first peace site in the country. Its motto is: to act so as to bring out the best in ourselves by bringing out the best in others.