Composer
Johannes Brahms
1833–1897
Johannes Brahms was born on May 7, 1833, in Hamburg, into a family of modest means. His father, a jobbing musician who played horn and double bass in taverns and dance halls, gave him his first lessons; later, the talented boy studied with the distinguished teacher Eduard Marxsen. Stories that the young Brahms played piano in Hamburg’s waterfront bars to help support his family are persistent, but they rest on anecdote, and many modern scholars doubt them.
Brahms’s life changed dramatically in 1853 when, at age twenty, he met the violinist Joseph Joachim, who introduced him to Robert and Clara Schumann. Robert, recognizing genius, hailed Brahms in print in his article “Neue Bahnen” (New Paths) as the composer the age had been waiting for. When Robert’s mental collapse led to his institutionalization and death, Brahms became devoted to Clara, remaining close to her for the rest of his life, though the exact nature of their relationship remains one of music history’s enduring mysteries.
In 1863, Brahms settled in Vienna, which would be his home until his death. A lifelong bachelor, gruff and sometimes tactless but capable of great tenderness, he became the acknowledged master of symphonic and chamber music in the second half of the nineteenth century. His four symphonies, two piano concertos, this violin concerto, and vast quantities of chamber music and songs represent the culmination of the Classical-Romantic tradition. He died of cancer on April 3, 1897, just weeks after attending a performance of his Fourth Symphony.
Works
- A German Requiem, Op. 45 1
- Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D major, Op. 77 1
- Concerto for Violin, Cello, and Orchestra in A minor, Op. 102 (“Double Concerto”) 2
- Hungarian Dance No. 5 1
- Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15 1
- Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25 (orchestrated by Arnold Schoenberg) 1
- Serenade No. 1 in D major, Op. 11 1
- Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68 1
- Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 73 4
- Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98 1
- Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77 1
Performed at
Upcoming
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Two Symphonies in D Beethoven · Brahms
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Henze’s Chaconne and Brahms’s Second Meyer · Henze · Brahms
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Jakub Hrůša and Yuja Wang: Dvořák, Bartók and Brahms Dvorak · Bartók · Brahms
Past guides
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Poetry and Pastoral in Taipei Beethoven · Brahms
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Grace and Grandeur Beethoven · Brahms
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Classics Live: Beethoven’s Ninth in the Ziggo Dome Glinka · Grieg · Brahms · Verdi · Rossini · Beethoven
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Hadelich’s Tchaikovsky and Brahms’s Fourth Glinka · Tchaikovsky · Brahms
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Seascapes, Reconciliation, and a Descent into Madness Mendelssohn · Brahms · Berlioz
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Seascapes, Reconciliation, and a Descent into Madness Mendelssohn · Brahms · Berlioz
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Romantic Rivals and a Brotherhood at the Keyboard Liszt · Mozart · Brahms
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From Earth to Heaven: Brahms and Scriabin Brahms · Scriabin
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Honeck: Mozart’s Last Concerto and Brahms’s Requiem Mozart · Brahms
Sources 3
- Johannes Brahms, Wikipedia
- Programme Note: Johannes Brahms, Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor op. 25 (orchestrated by Arnold Schoenberg), Berliner Philharmoniker
- Piano Quartet No. 1 (Brahms), Wikipedia