Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was born on the 7th of May 1833 in a poor apartment in the quarter of Hamburg. His father Johann Jakob worked as a double bass player and hornist for the Hamburg militia. The family struggled economically, and they lived in cramped conditions while Johannes grew up. He began composing music at a very young age despite his parents' disapproval. They believed he should focus on being a performer instead of a composer. By 1845 he had written a piano sonata in G minor that his family rejected. He studied piano with Otto Friedrich Willibald Cossel who complained that Brahms would not stop composing. At ten years old he made his debut playing Beethoven's Quintet for Piano and Winds Op. 16. He also played an étude by Henri Herz as a solo work. From 1845 to 1848 he studied with Eduard Marxsen who taught him the traditions of Bach and Haydn.
In October 1853 Brahms visited Düsseldorf with a letter of introduction from Joseph Joachim. Robert Schumann published an article entitled Neue Bahnen in the journal Neue Zeitschrift für Musik on the 28th of October. The article nominated the twenty-year-old Brahms as someone fated to give expression to the times in the highest manner. This praise aggravated Brahms's self-critical standards and dented his confidence. He wrote to Schumann in November 1853 stating that the public expectations were too high to fulfill. After Schumann attempted suicide in February 1854 and was confined to a mental sanatorium near Bonn, Brahms based himself in Düsseldorf. He supported Clara Schumann's household and dealt with business matters on her behalf. Brahms began to feel deeply for Clara who represented an ideal of womanhood to him. They remained close lifelong friends after Robert's death in 1856. Brahms never married perhaps in an effort to focus on his work as a musician and scholar.
Brahms laboured over his First Symphony for almost fifteen years from about 1861 to 1876. He had begun it as early as 1855 but the finale may not have begun its conception until 1868. During the decade it evolved very gradually while he remained cautious and self-deprecating. He wrote to his friends that the symphony was long and difficult and not exactly charming. The work appeared in 1876 though it had been announced by Brahms to Clara and Albert Dietrich in the early 1860s. Richard Taruskin points out that writing it in C minor made it clear Brahms was taking on the model of Beethoven's Fifth. Despite warm reception Brahms remained dissatisfied and extensively revised the second movement before publication. He destroyed the original slow movement and substituted another before the score was published. When premiered in Vienna it was immediately hailed as Beethoven's Tenth. Brahms replied that any dunce could see the resemblance to Beethoven's Ninth finale.
In autumn 1862 Brahms made his first visit to Vienna staying there over the winter. He soon made it his home and in 1863 was appointed conductor of the Wiener Singakademie. He surprised audiences by programming works by Heinrich Schütz and J.S. Bach alongside music by Beethoven and Felix Mendelssohn. Finding the post encroached too much time needed for composing he left the choir in June 1864. From 1864 to 1876 he spent many summers in Lichtental on the north side of Vienna where Clara Schumann also stayed. His house in Lichtental is preserved as a museum today. In January 1863 Brahms met Richard Wagner for the first time playing his Handel Variations Op. 24. The meeting was cordial although Wagner later made critical comments on Brahms's music. Brahms became an associate of Eduard Hanslick who celebrated them polemically as absolute music. Hans von Bülow cast Brahms as the successor of Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven. Richard Wagner mocked this idea while Brahms regretted his public involvement in the polarized context of the War of the Romantics.
After the successful Vienna premiere of his Second String Quintet Op. 111 in 1890 the fifty-seven-year-old Brahms thought he might retire from composition. He told a friend that he had achieved enough and could enjoy carefree old age in peace. His admiration for Richard Mühlfeld clarinettist with the Meiningen orchestra revived his interest in composing. This led him to write the Clarinet Trio Op. 114 in 1891 and the Clarinet Quintet Op. 115 also in 1891. He composed two Clarinet Sonatas Op. 120 in 1894 which were subsequently arranged for viola by the composer. Brahms wrote at this time his final cycles of piano pieces Opp. 116, 119 and the Vier ernste Gesänge Four Serious Songs Op. 121 in 1896. These works were prompted by the death of Clara Schumann and dedicated to Max Klinger who was his great admirer. The last of the Eleven Chorale Preludes for organ Op. 122 written shortly before his death became an important part of the organ repertoire.
Arnold Schoenberg wrote and broadcast an essay Brahms the Progressive in 1933 revised in 1947 and published in 1950. He established Brahms's historical continuity as a forward-looking innovator against the image of him as an academic traditionalist. Schoenberg highlighted Brahms's fondness for motivic saturation and irregularities of rhythm and phrase terming them developing variation. Webern identified Brahms's influence in the dense cohesive textures and variation techniques of Schoenberg's first quartet. Anton Webern claimed Brahms anticipated developments of the Second Viennese School in his 1933 lectures posthumously published under The Path to the New Music. Webern's 1908 Passacaglia Op. 1 is clearly in part a homage to the passacaglia finale of Brahms's Fourth Symphony. Brahms remains a staple of the concert repertoire continuing to influence composers into the 21st century. His output influenced composers like Max Reger Alexander Zemlinsky and later figures such as Milton Babbitt Elliott Carter and György Ligeti.
Continue Browsing
Common questions
When was Johannes Brahms born and where did he grow up?
Johannes Brahms was born on the 7th of May 1833 in a poor apartment in the quarter of Hamburg. He grew up in cramped conditions while his father Johann Jakob worked as a double bass player and hornist for the Hamburg militia.
Who helped Johannes Brahms develop his early musical skills and when did he make his debut?
Johannes Brahms studied piano with Otto Friedrich Willibald Cossel and later studied with Eduard Marxsen from 1845 to 1848. He made his debut at ten years old playing Beethoven's Quintet for Piano and Winds Op. 16 along with an étude by Henri Herz.
What happened during Johannes Brahms's visit to Düsseldorf in October 1853?
Robert Schumann published an article entitled Neue Bahnen in the journal Neue Zeitschrift für Musik on the 28th of October 1853 that nominated the twenty-year-old Johannes Brahms as someone fated to give expression to the times in the highest manner. This praise aggravated Johannes Brahms's self-critical standards and dented his confidence.
Why did Johannes Brahms never marry and what was his relationship with Clara Schumann?
Johannes Brahms never married perhaps in an effort to focus on his work as a musician and scholar. He supported Clara Schumann's household after Robert Schumann attempted suicide in February 1854 and they remained close lifelong friends after Robert's death in 1856.
How long did it take Johannes Brahms to complete his First Symphony and when was it premiered?
Johannes Brahms laboured over his First Symphony for almost fifteen years from about 1861 to 1876 though he had begun it as early as 1855. The work appeared in 1876 and when premiered in Vienna it was immediately hailed as Beethoven's Tenth.
What major compositions did Johannes Brahms write near the end of his life starting in 1890?
After thinking he might retire from composition following the successful Vienna premiere of his Second String Quintet Op. 111 in 1890, Johannes Brahms wrote the Clarinet Trio Op. 114 and the Clarinet Quintet Op. 115 both in 1891. His final works included two Clarinet Sonatas Op. 120 in 1894 and the Vier ernste Gesänge Four Serious Songs Op. 121 in 1896.