The Gesang aus Fingal [Song from Fingal] op. 17b for mixed choir and orchestra is an arrangement of the fourth movement from the Four Songs for Women’s Choir, Horns, and Harp op. 17 which Brahms made in 1879 at the suggestion of Ferdinand Hiller. He was convinced that the original instrumentation was not sufficient for large halls such as Cologne's Gürzenich, where Hiller conducted the orchestra. To this end, he shifted the soprano II to the alto and the alto to the tenor part, while the bass fo...