Brahms Quintet A Brahms Symphony Ensayo Sinfonica Five Brahms Waltzes in the Manner of Isadora Duncan Interludes Intermezzo Triptych |
Johannes Brahms was born in
Hamburg, Germany in 1833, the son
of a double bass player in the
Hamburg city orchestra. His first
music lessons were with his
father, and the age of seven he
became a pupil of Otto F. W.
Cossel, under whom he quickly
became a proficient pianist and
appeared in a public concert in
1843 at the age of ten. When
Cossel noticed Brahms' eagerness
to compose, Cossel's own teacher,
Eduard Marxsen, undertook Brahms'
training in musical theory. Brahms
gained experience as a composer
and arranger for the Alster
Pavilion orchestra. This helped
train his sense of musical effect
and developed his talent for
improvisation. In 1848, at the age
of fifteen, Brahms gave his first
solo concert as a
pianist.
After leaving school, Brahms added
to his living by playing in
sailors' taverns and dancing
saloons. In 1853, he toured North
Germany with the Hungarian gypsy
violinist Eduard Remenyi, composed
one of his first major works, the
C Major piano sonata, Op.
1, and began his friendship
with the great violinist Joseph
Joachim, who arranged for him to
meet Liszt and Schumann, who
prophesied his genius. Schumann's
attempted suicide and subsequent
madness affected Brahms greatly
and is reflected in his D minor
piano concerto and in his
other works of that
period.
Additionally, he was in love with
Clara Schumann, although neither
of them pursued this relationship
or the possibility of marriage
after Schumann's death, and Brahms
remained a bachelor all his
life.
In 1857, Brahms became director
of music to the Prince of
Lippe-Detmold, a part time post
which gave him time to compose
two orchestral serenades, the
first version of his C minor
piano quartet, Op. 25, and to
complete his D minor piano
concerto. He remained in
Hamburg until 1863 when he was
invited to become conductor of
the Singakademie in Vienna.
Failing to win the post of
conductor of the Hamburg
Philharmonic, he accepted the
Vienna post and, except for tours
and holidays, remained in Vienna
for the rest of his
life.
In 1868, his real choral
masterpiece, the German
Requiem, Op. 45 was finished.
He had begun composing it in
1857. The real impetus to finish
it came out of the shock of his
mother's death, and in February,
1865 he had begun work on it
again, completing it in 1868. It
was first performed, in its
completed form, in 1871, and
Brahms was hailed by the public
as a patriot. In 1872, he was
appointed artistic director of
the Gesellschaft der
Musikfreunde. The orchestral
version of his Variations on
the St. Anthony Chorale
(formerly known as the Variations
on a Theme of Haydn) was given
its premiere by the Vienna
Philharmonic in 1873. In 1875,
Brahms resigned from the
Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde and
continued work on his first
symphony. This symphony, begun
when Brahms was in his early
twenties, was not completed until
he was 43. After its premiere in
Karlsruhe, it was soon hailed as
Beethoven's "Tenth". Comparison
with Beethoven did not deter him
from completing his second
symphony in 1877, his violin
concerto in 1879, and his third
and fourth symphonies in 1883 and
1884,
respectively.
His later years enhanced his
reputation as one of the greatest
composers of the day with such
works as the clarinet
quintet and clarinet
trio (1891), both written for
the Meiningen clarinetist Richard
Muhlfeld. In 1896, he attended
the funeral of Clara Schumann in
Bonn, a journey which damaged his
already weak health. Cirrhosis of
the liver was diagnosed and he
died the following year in 1897
at the age of
64.
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