Brahms

(brims), Johannes, Hamburg, May 7, 1833—Vienna, April 3, 1897; son and pupil of a double-ba player in the Hamburg City Theatre, later studied with Marxsen of Altona; début Hamburg, at 14, playing his own variations on a folk-song; 1853, Remenyi. heard him and sent him to Schumann, at Dii eldorf. Schumann, with characteristic openne of mind and enthusiasm, pub. an article in the Neue Zeitschrift fiir Musik, greeting B. as the new Me iah of music, a welcome that was a mixture of ble ing and bane, embarra ing the young Brahms with a mi ion that was a white elephant on his hands; for he forsook the romanticism which Schumann, and later Liszt expected of him, and took up a determined cla icism in the matter of form, in which, however, he made mod‘fications to suit his enormous intellectuality and technical resource. This early welcome also gave him over to be bandied between, believers like Hanslick who were frantic to find an opponent to the progre of Wagner, and sceptics who would not have him praised for any quality. Schumann’s advocacy did not save B.’s publication and concert performance of his 3 pf.sonatas and 3 books of songs from failure. After serving for a time as cond. to the Prince of Lippe-Detmold, he retired for study to Hamburg, 1858-62. Vienna; 1863-64 cond. of the Singakademie there; 1864-69 Hamburg, Zurich, BadenBaden, etc., and made tours with Stock hausen; 1869, Vienna, which was afterward his headquarters. In 1871-74, cond. ‘‘Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde.” In 1877 Cambridge University offered him the degree of Mus. Doc., which offer he ignored, accepting, 1881, Dr. Phil. from Breslau and writing in acknowledgment the ‘‘A kade misc he Fest ouvert i ire’’; 1886, a knight of the Pru ian Ordre pour le Mérite, with voting privilege, and a member of the Berlin Acad. of Arts. 1889 presented with the freedom of Hamburg. “German Requiem,” op. 45 (the first 3 choruses given in Vienna, 1867), was given complete in the Bremen cathedral, April, 1868, and established him on a peak where he has since remained while the storms of debate rage below him. He wrote in almost every form but opera (he had considered that at one time) but admitted he ‘“‘knew nothing about the theatre.” Wagner’s scores, and owned several Wagner autographs; Wagner, however, said “Brahms is a composer whose importance lies in not wishing to create any striking effect.” His first symphony, on which he had spent to years, made a sensation when prod. 1876. His vln.-concerto when first shown to Joachim was so impo ible to the vIn. that J. laughed at it till tears poured down his cheeks; he is said to have materially a isted in its revision. a brilliant pianist in his youth; in his 2oth year, at a concert with Remenyi, the piano was discovered to be a semitone concert-pitch; B., playing without notes, transposed the accompapiment Beethoven’s “ Kreutzer Sonata,’ a semitone higher throughout. (Beethoven transposed his own concerto in C to C# at a rehearsal.) Compositions (exclusive of Songs for voice with pf.). For orch. Symphonies, Op. 68, in C minor, Op. 73, D, op. 90, F, op. 98, E minor; overtures, op. 80, ‘““A kade misc he Fest overt i ire’’; op. 81, “Pragische Ouvertitre’; op. 11-16, serenades; op. 56, variations on a theme of Haydn’s. CHAMBER Music. Op. 8, trio for pf., vin., ’cello; 18, 36, sextet for strings; 40, trios, pf., vin., horn; 114, pf., clar. and ’cello; 51, two string quartets; 67, string-quartet; 88, 111, * string-quintet; 115, quintet for clar. and strings. For piano, op. 1, 2 and 5, sonatas, 4, scherzo; variations on a theme by Schumann; to, four ballads; 15, 83, concertos; 21, 35, variations; 24, variations and fugue on theme. by Handel; op. 76, 8 pcs.: 79, 2 Rhapsodies; 116, Fantasien; 117, 3 Intermezzi; 118, 6 Clavierstiicke (3 Intermezzi, Ballades, Romanze); 1109, 4 Clavierstiicke (3 Intermezzi, Rhapsodie;—unnumbered—Gluck’s _ gavotte, and 2 studies). For piano, 4 hands, op. 23, variations on a theme by Schumann; 34, sonata arr. from Op. 34; 39, 16 waltzes; op. 25, 26, 60, pf.-quartets; 34, pf.-quintet; 87, ror, pf.-trios. For piano and ’cello, op. 38, and 99; sonatas; for vln., 77, concerto; 78, too—108, sonatas pf. and vln.; for vin. and ’cello, op. 102, concerto; for clarinet (or viola) and pf., op. 120, 2 sonatas; for organ, Prelude and fugue, and fugue poe numbered). voices, op. 50, “Rinaldo” (Goethe); 63, Rhapsodie (from Goethe’s ‘‘ Harzreise”), for alto solo, male chor. and orch.; 54, ‘‘Schicksalslied”’ (Song of Destiny), for chor. and orch.; 55, ‘“‘Triumph lied” (Revelations, chap. XIX.), for 8-part chor. and orch.; 82, “‘ Nénie’”’ (Schiller), for chor. and orch.; 89, ‘“‘Gesang der parzer’? (Goethe), for 6-part chor. and orch.; op. 12, ‘Ave Maria,” female chor. with orch. (or org.); 13, funeral hymn, 109. Deutsche Fest-und Ge_denkspruche, for double chorus, also pumerous works for choruses of all sorts accompanied or a cappella.