Brahms

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) composed his music during the Romantic Period of music. Brahms was born on May 7, 1833, in Hamburg, Germany. His father was also a musician: he played the double-bass in the local theatre orchestras. Brahms' father was his first piano teacher. He began his lessons when he was 5 years old. One story states that Brahms amazed his father during his early lessons: the little boy created his own complete system of musical notation. He thought that it was necessary to have one, and did not know yet that there was already a way in which musicians/composers wrote down music.

By the time he was 10, Brahms began to take music lessons from a famous music theorist, Eduard Marxsen. He was extremely talented, and soon began to help his family financially by playing piano in local cafes and taverns. He made his debut as a concert pianist when he was 14 years old, performing pieces by Bach and Beethoven. He also performed his own composition, a theme and variations which was based on a folk song. By the time he was 20 years old, Brahms had already composed several piano pieces, such as the "Scherzo in e-flat minor".

In 1853, when Brahms was about 20 years old, he was invited to tour with the Hungarian violinist, Eduard Remenyi, as his accompanist. In this way, he met the violinist Joseph Joachim, who like him so much that he helped Brahms to meet some famous musicians of the day: Franz Liszt and Robert and Clara Schumann. Johannes Brahms became good friends with the Schumanns, and their friendship remained a close one for the rest of their lives. Robert Schumann died a few years after their friendship began.

When Brahms debuted his "Piano Concerto No. 1 in d minor" in 1859, it was Clara Schumann who was the featured pianist. The public did not like Brahms' first concerto right away. Audiences were becoming accustomed to flashy performances and virtuoso passages during the concerts which they attended. At this time, Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner were both very popular composers. Brahms' music contrasted this showiness. His style was more conservative (some people believe that this was due to the influence of his early teacher).

Brahms settled in Vienna in 1863, working as a conductor and a composer. In 1868, he debuted his "German Requiem", and won fame and recognition as a composer. The "German Requiem" was different than many of the requiems of other composers, because it used the German Bible as the text, instead of the more "accepted" Latin text. He became very popular and occasionally toured to perform and conduct his own musical works.

It is said that fame did not change Johannes Brahms: he remained a sincere and plain-spoken man, who often liked to walk through the countryside. Clara Schumann, Brahms' old friend, died in 1896, and he attended her funeral. When he returned to Vienna, he became very ill. He died on April 3, 1897.

Brahms' Music

Many people believe that Brahms' greatest music was composed after 1868. Among hisworks, he wrote 4 symphonies, 2 piano concertos, piano solos and duets, a violin concerto (for his friend Joseph Joachim in 1878), choral works, and chamber music. He used folk tunes which he loved as the basis of much of his music. Brahms was very critical of his own compositions. In his later life, he burned everything he had written befor he was 19 years old. He even burned some sketches of his own later works. He was a very careful worker, and took his time with his compositions. He rewrote some of his compositions over a period of many years.

Although some followers of Liszt and Wagner criticized Brahms' music, today we recognize that he was a great composer.

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