Born in Hamburg, Germany, on May 7, 1833, Brahms was the great master of
symphonic and sonata style in the second half of the 19th century. He can be
viewed as the protagonist of the Classical tradition of Joseph Haydn, Mozart,
and Beethoven. Widely considered one the 19th century's greatest composers and
one of the leading musicians of the Romantic era, Johannes Brahms was born May
7, 1833, in Hamburg, Germany.He was the second of Johanna Henrika Christiane
Nissen and Johann Jakob Brahms' three children. Music was introduced to his
life at an early age. His father was a double bassist in the Hamburg
Philharmonic Society, and the young Brahms began playing piano at the age of
seven.By the time he was a teenager, Brahms was already an accomplished
musician, and he used his talent to earn money at local inns, in brothels and
along the city's docks to ease his family's often tight financial conditions.In
1853 Brahms was introduced to the renowned German composer and music critic
Robert Schumann. The two men quickly grew close, with Schumann seeing in his
younger friend great hope for the future of music. He dubbed Brahms a genius
and praised the "young eagle" publicly in a famous article. The kind
words quickly made the young composer a known entity in the music world.But
this music world was also at a crossroads. Modernist composers like Franz Liszt
and Richard Wagner, the leading faces of the "New German School"
rebuked the more traditional sounds of Schumann. Theirs was a sound predicated
on organic structure and harmonic freedom, drawing from literature for its
inspiration.For Schumann and eventually Brahms, this new sound was sheer
indulgence and negated the genius of composers like Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig
van Beethoven.In 1854 Schumann fell ill. In a sign of his close friendship with
his mentor and his family, Brahms assisted Schumann's wife, Clara, with the
management of her household affairs. Music historians believe that Brahms soon
fell in love with Clara, though she doesn't seem to have reciprocated his
admiration. Even after Schumann's death in 1856, the two remained solely
friends.Over the next several years, Brahms held several different posts,
including conductor of a women's choir in Hamburg, which he was appointed to in
1859. He also continued to write his own music. His output included
"String Sextet in B-flat Major" and "Piano Concerto No. 1 in D
Minor."Listen song here:YouTube
No comments:
Post a Comment