Johannes Brahms
7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897
•Johannes Brahms 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) wasa German composer and pianist, and one of theleading musicians of the Romantic period.
•Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of hisprofessional life in Vienna, Austria, where he wasa leader of the musical scene.
•In his lifetime, Brahms' popularity and influencewere considerable; following a comment by thenineteenth-century conductor Hans von Bülow,he is sometimes grouped with Johann SebastianBach and Ludwig van Beethoven as one of theThree Bs.
•Brahms composed for piano, chamberensembles, symphony orchestra, and for voiceand chorus. A virtuoso pianist, he premieredmany of his own works;
•Many of his works have become staples of themodern concert repertoire. Brahms, anuncompromising perfectionist, destroyed manyof his works and left some of them unpublished.
•Brahms is often considered both a traditionalistand an innovator. His music is firmly rooted in thestructures and compositional techniques of theBaroque and Classical masters.
•He was a master of counterpoint, the complexand highly disciplined method of compositionfor which Bach is famous, and also ofdevelopment, a compositional ethospioneered by Joseph Haydn, WolfgangAmadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven.
•Brahms aimed to honor the "purity" of thesevenerable "German" structures and advancethem into a Romantic idiom, in the processcreating bold new approaches to harmony andmelody.
Works
•Brahms wrote a number of major works fororchestra, including two serenades, foursymphonies, two piano concertos (No. 1 in Dminor; No. 2 in B flat major), a Violin Concerto, aDouble Concerto for violin and cello, and twocompanion orchestral overtures, the AcademicFestival Overture and the Tragic Overture.
•His large choral work A German Requiem is not asetting of the liturgical Missa pro defunctis but asetting of texts which Brahms selected from theLutheran Bible.
•Brahms's works in variation form include theVariations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel andthe Paganini Variations, both for solo piano, andthe Variations on a Theme by Haydn in versionsfor two pianos and for orchestra. The finalmovement of the Fourth Symphony, Op. 98, isformally a passacaglia.
•His chamber works include three string quartets,two string quintets, two string sextets, a clarinetquintet, a clarinet trio, a horn trio, a pianoquintet, three piano quartets, and four pianotrios (the fourth being published posthumously).
•He composed several instrumental sonatas with piano,including three for violin, two for cello, and two forclarinet (which were subsequently arranged for viola bythe composer).
•His solo piano works range from his early piano sonatasand ballades to his late sets of character pieces.
•Brahms was a significant Lieder composer, who wroteover 200 songs. His chorale preludes for organ,Op. 122, which he wrote shortly before his death, havebecome an important part of the organist's repertoire.
•Brahms strongly preferred writing absolute music thatdoes not refer to an explicit scene or narrative, and henever wrote an opera or a symphonic poem.
Style and influences
•Brahms maintained a Classical sense of form and orderin his works – in contrast to the opulence of the musicof many of his contemporaries. Thus many admirers(though not necessarily Brahms himself) saw him asthe champion of traditional forms and "pure music", asopposed to the "New German" embrace of programmusic.
•Brahms also loved the Classical composers Mozart,Haydn, and Beethoven. He collected first editions andautographs of their works, and edited performingeditions. He also studied the music of pre-classicalcomposers, including Giovanni Gabrieli, Johann AdolphHasse, Heinrich Schütz, and, especially, JohannSebastian Bach.
•The early Romantic composers also had a majorinfluence on Brahms, particularly Schumann, whoencouraged Brahms as a young composer.Brahms often met Robert and Clara Schumann.During his stay in Vienna in 1862–63, Brahmsbecame particularly interested in the music ofFranz Schubert.
•his contribution and craftsmanship have beenadmired by subsequent figures as diverse as theprogressive Arnold Schoenberg and theconservative Edward Elgar. The diligent, highlyconstructed nature of Brahms's works was astarting point and an inspiration for a generationof composers.