Johannes Brahms wrote Ein deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem), Op. 45, following the deaths of his mother and Robert Schumann, his mentor. Although Brahms based his Requiem on scriptural passages, beginning and ending the work with a blessing “Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matthew 5:4), he didn’t write it as a religious piece concerning itself with the souls of the departed, but as a cantata whose message is of comfort, acceptance, peace, and serenity for those left behind.