First Sunday Music - Brahms

[HoosierHawk]

Johannes Brahms

Introduction

Johannes Brahms was born in Hamburg on May 7, 1833. After studying the violin and cello with his father, a double bass player in the city theater, Brahms mastered the piano and began to compose under the guidance of the German music teacher Eduard Marxsen, whose conservative tastes left a lasting imprint on him. In 1853 Brahms went on a concert tour as accompanist to the Hungarian violinist Eduard Reményi. In the course of the tour he met the Hungarian violinist Joseph Joachim, who introduced him in turn to the German composer Robert Schumann. Schumann was so impressed by Brahms's unpublished compositions that he wrote a wildly enthusiastic magazine article about him. Brahms cherished a deep affection for both Schumann and his wife Clara, a famous pianist. The friendship and encouragement he received from them gave impetus to his work. Many biographers contend that Brahms was deeply in love with Clara, but he did not propose to her after Schumann's death in 1856, and he never married.

His Early Works

In 1857 Brahms secured appointment as conductor at the court theater in Detmold, where he remained until 1859; for several years thereafter he traveled in Germany and Switzerland. His first major work to be publicly presented was the Piano Concerto no. 1 in D Minor, which he performed in Leipzig in 1859. The composition was not well received, however, because it lacked the showiness and the virtuoso passages then in vogue. The composer went to Vienna in 1863 and became director of the Singakademie (Choral Academy) but left the post a year later.

In 1868 Brahms won fame throughout Europe following the performance of his German Requiem, in which he departed from Catholic tradition by using a German rather than a Latin text. The piece, cast in seven divisions, expresses his sorrow at the death of his mother and of Schumann. Brahms settled in Vienna in 1871, accepting the directorship of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde (Society of Friends of Music). In 1874 he resigned his position to devote himself to composing.

His Major Works

Until 1873 Brahms had written chiefly for the piano, the instrument he knew best, and for chorus and orchestra. In that year, however, he produced the Variations on a Theme by Haydn, scored for full orchestra. Demonstrating Brahms's increasing mastery of large orchestral form, the Variations presaged his major works, which are among the finest expressions in all music literature. His masterpieces include the grandiloquent Symphony no. 1 in C Minor (1876); the gentler, more mellifluous Symphony no. 2 in D Major (1877); the Academic Festival Overture (1880), incorporating German student songs; the somber Tragic Overture (1881); the poetic Symphony no. 3 in F Major (1883); and the Symphony no. 4 in E Minor (1885), with its brilliant and emotionally overwhelming finale.

All these works display a tightly knit structure, stemming from the Viennese classical tradition. Unlike his contemporaries, Brahms shunned exploitation of new harmonic effects and new tone colors for their own sake. He concerned himself rather with creating music of inherent unity, utilizing new or unusual effects only to enhance internal structural nuances. Thus, his best works contain no extraneous passages; each theme, each figure, each modulation is implicit in all that has preceded it. The classicism of Brahms was a unique phenomenon in its day, entirely at odds with the trends in contemporary music as represented especially by the German composer Richard Wagner. Although Brahms revived a tradition to which no important composer since Ludwig van Beethoven had adhered, he was not wholly isolated from his own milieu, and the fiery emotional range of the romantic spirit permeates his music.

Unfortunately, little is known of Brahms's methods of work. A merciless self-critic, he burned all that he wrote before the age of 19 as well as some sketches of later masterpieces. It is known that he frequently reworked pieces over a period of 10 to 20 years, and before achieving the final form he often transcribed them for several different combinations of instruments.

Brahms wrote in every medium except opera. His numerous other important works include Schicksalslied (Song of Destiny, 1871), a musical setting of a poem by the German poet Friedrich Hölderlin, scored for chorus and orchestra; the Violin Concerto in D Major (1878), a classic in the violin repertoire; 3 string quartets; 5 trios; a clarinet quintet; numerous other chamber works for various combinations of instruments; and more than 150 songs.

In 1896 Brahms sorted out his affairs and wrote his will, a task made more urgent by the death of Clara after she had suffered a stroke. He was too late in his last visit to her. In July he did not feel well and went to a doctor. He was not told the gravity of his condition which was cancer of the liver or pancreas. His last concert where Mühlfeld asked if he should play Brahms’ "Clarinet Quintet" or that by Weber. Brahms choose the Weber.

Brahms died on 3 April 1897. His funeral was a grand affair and he was buried next to both Schubert and the great Beethoven.

Read more of Brahms life here.

Symphonies No. 1 and 2

Symphonies No. 3 and 4

The Chicago Symphony Orchesta conducted by Sir George Solti
Grammy Award Winner for Best Classical Music Album in 1980

[Publius]

The biography by Swafford is exceptional.

[HoosierHawk]

Thanks, Publius.

[curmudgeonII]

But, I suppose the life expectancy of men in the 1800's was nothing like it is today, alas.

If you were fortunate enough back then to get to the age of 6 or 7, or so, the life expectancy wasn't much different than it is today. The overall low life expenctancy was largely due to deaths of fairly young children. If you ever have the opportunity to go through an old cemetary look at the number of deaths of children in the first few years of their lives. About half of the deaths were of children below 8 years of age

[Publius]

And what chamber music!!

• Piano Trio in B, Op. 8 (original 1854 version)
• Sextet in B-flat, Op. 18 (where he first tries solving the formal problem of string sextet writing)
• Piano Quartet in G minor, Op. 25 (one of the greatest crowd pleasers in the chamber repertory)
• Piano Quartet in A, Op. 26
• Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34
• Sextet in G, Op. 36 (where he solves the formal problem of sextet writing)
• Cello Sonata in E minor, Op. 38 (with that great uncompromising fugue in the finale)
• Horn Trio in E-flat, Op. 40 (with one of the greatest slow movements ever written by Brahms)

These are the Cadillacs of chamber music.

[Publius]

You should check out the Brahms symphonies as recorded by Roger Norrington and the London Classical Players on EMI. Although Brahms left no metronome markings behind, Norrington has tried to piece together the composer's intentions by understanding classical performance traditions as Brahms understood them, not Wagner. What helped Norrington was the testimony of an earwitness who clocked the entire 1st Symphony at 41 minutes without the first movement exposition repeat.

In the first symphony, the speed directions are "Un poco sostenuto" for the introduction, then simply "allegro" for the first subject. The "poco" implies a comparison to the "allegro", which would indicate that the introduction is not to be taken as a dirge, but just "somewhat" slower than "allegro". Norrington takes it at a brisker pace than Solti and others. It's breathtaking -- but not as fast as the first subject!

Norrington also observes the exposition repeat. Brahms does not write a first ending but simply sends you back to the first subject without ceremony. It's one of the most shocking moments in the symphonic literature. (The first time I heard it, I dropped a whole armful of CD's in the Tower Records flagship store in West Hollywood.)

Using a smaller orchestra also helps because it restores the balance in favor of the winds, and having string instruments strung with gut, not steel, makes a difference.

Give them a listen.

[Borges]

His pre Op. 34 chamber music can be heavy handed. It suffers from a complete lack of charm. Even the opus 34 has a bit of that heaviness. I saw Leon Fleisher play it with a quartet who’s name escapes me. The Clarinet Quintet gets my vote as the greatest Chamber work of the Romantic ERa (post Schubert - pre Debussy).

[Borges]

Uchida still concertizes. I saw her last year.

[Publius]

His pre Op. 34 chamber music can be heavy handed. It suffers from a complete lack of charm. Even the opus 34 has a bit of that heaviness.

Whoa, pardner, them's fightin' words!

I'll stipulate that the Op. 8 trio (in both versions) has problems. I'll stipulate that the seams show in the finale of the Op. 26. But the slow movement of the Op. 26 quartet is one of his best. The Op. 18 sextet has its flaws, but it's a beautiful first try -- and it's better than Tchaikovsky's sextet (from our argument on a previous thread).

The Op. 25 quartet is a crowd pleaser for a reason. It's beautiful, fun -- and yes! -- charming. I've never failed to see an audience charmed into a standing ovation by that piece.

The Op. 34 quintet, which I saw performed a few weeks ago at the Seattle Chamber Music Festival, may be on the heavy side, but I never fail to find it charming, particularly after the flawless performance I heard.

I'll agree with you about the Clarinet Quintet, however. The Op. 115 is a four-handkerchief piece and certainly one of the monuments of the romantic tradition.

[HoosierHawk]

Give them a listen.

Will do and thanks for the info.

[Borges]

The great critic Alan Rich heard both sextets (Brahms Opus 18 and Tchaikovsky's) at a recent concert and said he disliked the Tchaikovsky but gained a new appreciation for it after hearing the Brahms.

But I find it strange how underwhelming his three string quartets are. They really aren't in the forefront of his chamber music. He was too nervous about writing quartets after Beethoven. I prefer Tchaikovsky's three quartets to his. Brahms VS Tchaikovsky arguments are good. Those two tower over every composer born between 1825-1850 or so. Those some would say Mussorgsky was more original than either.

[Borges]

‘Though some’

[Publius]

The two Op. 51 quartets are truly poor. He shouldn't have published them. The Op. 67 is a lot of fun, though.

But I would place Tchaikovsky's first quartet in D Major ahead of any of Brahms'.

[seoul62]

All noted, thank you./Just Asking - seoul62.......