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Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) was a German classical composer and pianist best known for "A German Requiem." His works, which are firmly rooted in the techniques of Classical and Baroque masters, were staples in modern concert repertoire.
181 Questions
What was Johannes Brahms religion?
Brahms was brought up a Lutheran protestant.
Apparently, he read the Bible throughout his life, but early on distanced himself from Christian doctrine. He regularly used the Bible as a source of powerful poetry, e. g. in his choral motets op. 29, op. 47, and op. 110, as well as in his "Four Serious Songs" and in the "German Requiem".
However, when reading the texts chosen for the latter carefully, you will notice that all the texts are about the human condition in general, about grief, suffering, the vanity of human existence, and about the promise of consolation. All direct connections to Christ, to the resurrection, or to sin and forgiving are carefully avoided. In a letter written short before the first performance, Brahms all but renounced Christian doctrine explicitly when referring to John 3:16 ("For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.") and saying that he would do rather without that line.
This was noticed by Brahms' contemporaries immediately. When the German Requiem was first performed in Bremen cathedral, on Good Friday, 1868, the conductor suggested to insert movements by Bach and Handel to make up for the lack of a statement of specifically Christian belief.
What does the song by Brahms called Sonntag mean?
The third song, called 'Sonntag' from Brahms' Five Songs, Op. 47, is the German word for Sunday. The song is about the day, as it represents the Sabbath; a time for rest and contemplation.
Who were Johannes brahms friends?
It has been said that Brahms' friends included Robert and Clara Schumann, Hans von Bulow, Albert Dietrich, Felix Mendelssohn, Joseph Joachim, Franz Liszt (to a certain extent), and Eduard Remenyi. As to Richard Wagner, one might say that they had a 'professional relationship'; but, owing to 'the War of the Romantics' (it is recommended that you read about this), most would conclude that the two were sworn enemies. ~ A rather new friendship that developed near the end of Brahms' life was with the young Gustav Mahler. After Brahms had vocally (and loudly so!) protested to his colleagues on an evening in Prague, that he was not at all interested in hearing Mahler conduct Mozart's comic opera, 'Don Giovanni', Brahms' reportedly curled up on a sofa for a nap, in the box at the opera house; but when Mahler gave the performing musicians his downbeat, Brahms sat straight up, just minutes into the Mahler interpretation, and from that moment, Johannes Brahms became a converted Mahler fan. History records, as well, that it was upon Brahms' recommendation to the Austrian emperor, that the Jewish Mahler, once he was converted to the Catholic faith, was in 1897 engaged by royal and imperial decree to serve as Director of the Vienna Court Opera. Further, but a short time prior to Brahms' death in that same year, legend has it that Mahler visited Brahms for several days at the senior composer's lakeside home in the Austrian alps. And upon Mahler's arrival in Vienna to accept his new position, it was his friend, Brahms' funeral that Mahler would attend mere days after his relocation from Hamburg, Brahm's city of birth, to Vienna, where the 36 year old Mahler would usher in "The Golden Autumn of Opera", to endure for a decade before Mahler moved on to New York's Metropolitan Opera, in January 1908.
What music era was Johannes Brahms from?
Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897) was one of the leading composers of the Romantic period - a period of music generally seen as lasting between c. 1800 and c. 1910.
What other jobs has Morris Chang had?
Texas Instruments, 1958-1983, several management positions, including group vice president in charge of the company's worldwide semiconductor business; General Instrument Corporation, 1984-1985, president and chief operating officer;
Yes - here's an article I wrote about him in 1996. Forgotten Heroes of Western Art Music No. 3 - Friedrich Brahms I've always felt sorry for this man. He, like his father, was one of the vast army of skilled, solidly reliable musicians who are the life-blood of any town with pretensions to culture; not spectacularly talented but hard-working and dedicated. His career as a piano teacher in 19th-century Hamburg lasted over 30 years, and he earned a good living from it. He should have been held in such esteem ...
Brahms' father served a three-year apprenticeship learning his trade as a town musician before moving to Hamburg at the age of 19, following a similar career path to that of Quantz one hundred years before. In order to earn a living, town musicians needed to be versatile, and Father Brahms could perform competently on strings (violin, viola, cello, bass), flute and French horn. He found himself a useful post as bugler in the town's military band, which he held for 32 years, while also performing as double bassist for many years in a local string sextet (eventually also joining the bass section of the Hamburg Philharmonic) and freelancing on whatever instrument happened to be required. He was well respected and liked by his fellow musicians.
At the age of 24 he married a woman 17 years older than himself and in due course the children arrived: a daughter in 1831 and two sons in 1833 and 1835. Friedrich, known as Fritz, was the youngest child. The lads showed some aptitude for music so their father started them off on violin and cello when they were four years old, taking it for granted they'd follow him into the music business. There was a bit of a problem when both boys decided they'd rather learn the piano instead as their father didn't play it - buying a piano and paying for lessons stretched the family budget rather thin - but the family managed somehow and the boys went to Otto Cossel, a respected teacher who had himself been taught by Hamburg's foremost pianist, Eduard Marxsen.
Pianists don't get orchestral jobs, and in choosing to concentrate on the piano the boys were condemning themselves to a fairly precarious professional existence as accompanists, choirmasters and the like, unless they attempted to embark on a career as soloists. Fritz was a good player but not a gifted one, and he didn't particularly enjoy performing in public, but he found his niche when he started taking pupils at the age of 16, as his brother had before him. In 1853, aged 18, he moved to Leipzig to take up a teaching post in the household of Countess Ida von Hohenthal, who had befriended his brother, but this didn't last and he was back in Hamburg living with his parents by the spring of 1854. But he gradually built up his teaching practice until he was earning a steady enough income to support himself, his parents and his semi-invalid sister, and teaching became his life's work.
Fritz spent nearly all of his life in Hamburg, although around 1870 he took off for Venezuela, where he spent two years. He did occasionally perform - one of his brother's pupils remembers playing through the Bach Triple Concerto with both Brahmses in 1855 - and there is at least one instance of his performing in public. Otherwise he lived a contented life teaching piano to the good people of Hamburg and steadily prospering. When he died in 1886 he left the substantial estate of 10,000 marks to his brother (who, like Fritz, never married).
A meritorious life, and one which should have brought him esteem and recognition in his own right; and it probably would have done had he not spent his entire life being compared to his elder brother Johannes. It would have been galling enough if Johannes had merely been a better musician than he was - but Johannes, of course, was a greater musician than nearly everyone else in Europe. He was a far better pianist whose tuition, by the time he was 10, had been taken over by Marxsen himself (Fritz stayed with Cossel) and as a composer he was regarded by his contemporaries as the natural successor to Bach and Beethoven. Against such overwhelming genius Fritz's competence and dedication faded into insignificance.
Johannes eventually settled in Vienna but continued to pay occasional visits home, often bringing musical giants such as Joachim and Clara Schumann with him. He arranged for his publisher to send Fritz a copy of each new piano work, and Fritz occasionally performed it. It was just his bad luck that on one occasion, when he tackled the Variations on a Theme of Handel Op 24, his audience included the woman who at the age of 18 had been ranked as one of the four greatest pianists in Europe together with Liszt, Hanselt and Thalberg. The only critique we have of his performance was Clara's, and she said he was hopeless and the piece was quite beyond him. But he can't have been that bad, surely ...
All musicians strive to do their best and we can't all be geniuses. Where would virtuosi be without the humble, hardworking teachers who first taught them their scales? Fritz followed his calling for over 30 years and did a fine job to the best of his ability. I hope readers of this article will pay their respects to this long-suffering man who, during his entire professional career, was known throughout Hamburg as "the wrong Brahms".
Hope this helps,
Clare Redfarn
What music of Brahms was played in the Japanese film Departures?
The amazing score in the movie "Departures" -- most of it -- was written by Joe Hasaishi.
What was the theme music by Brahms for the 1946 movie Undercurrent?
I think it's Brahms' Symphony (in F # minor?), Poco Allegetto http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1trE3ms3AGo
What was Brahms most popular composition?
His famous works are:
Piano Concert No. 1 in D Minor
Piano Concert No. 2 in B-flat Major
Symphony No. 1 in C Minor
Symphony No. 3 in F Major (3rd Movement)
A German Requiem
Violin Concerto in D Major
Hungarian Dances
Variations on a Theme by Paganini
His Lullaby
How many parts are in Brahm's German Requiem?
Brahms formed the Requiem tightly and symmetrically with the first and last movement bestowing blessings on those who mourn, the second and sixth movements expressing the darkness and of death, the third and fifth movements meditatively expressing a seeking of hope and the promise of it. However, it is the fourth/middle movement (and the shortest) that Brahms uses to provide calm, rest, and tranquility in an almost pastoral manner. The text is taken from Psalm 84:1-2, 4 : "How lovely is Thy dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth, yea, fainteth for the courts of the Lord: my heart and my body crieth out for the living God. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house; they praise Thy name evermore" (Psalm 84:1-2, 4).
How is economics often described?
Economics is often described as a body of knowledge or study that discusses how a society tries to solve the human problems of unlimited wants and scarce resources.
Was brahms father part Jewish?
Unless you were an archivist for the Third Reich, there is no such thing as "part Jewish".
A person is either is or is not.
In Jewish law, if Brahms' father's mother was Jewish, then Brahms' father was Jewish.
And if Brahms' father was Jewish but his mother was not, then Brahms himself was not.
Where was Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D Major composed?
In the Swiss town of Clarens, near Montreux, in march 1878.
Beethoven
Who were some composers of music between 1815 and 1910?
Adolphe Adam
Johann Sebastian Bach
Vincenzo Bellini
Hector Berlioz
Johannes Brahms
Frederic Chopin
Gaetano Domenico Maria Donizetti
Mikhail Glinka
Georg Fridric Handel
Franz Liszt
Felix Mendelssohn
Nicolò Paganini
Giaocchino Antonio Rossini
Franz Schubert
Clara Wieck Schumann
Robert Schumann
Arthur Sullivan
Carl Maria von Weber
Reason Brahms never put Goethe's poetry to music?
I disagree, Brahms used Goethes Poetry in several ocassions, in so important works like Alt Rapsodie, Rinaldo or Gesang der Parzen. Its true, that Brahms said that Goethe work was so perfect, that it did not need any music.
What composer did Johannes brahms model his work after?
He modeled his choral works after those of Handel and Haydn. His love for musical tradition was influenced by Bach and the other Viennese Classical Composers.
What are the key signatures of Brahms' symphonies?
Johannes Brahms composed four (4) Symphonies:
- No 1 is in the key of C Minor
- No 2 is in the key of D Major
- No 3 is in the key of F Major
- No 4 is in the key of E Minor
