It has been truly said that great
composers cannot be compared one with another.
Each is a solitary star, revolving in his own orbit.
For instance it is impossible to compare Wagner and
Brahms; the former could not have written the German
Requiem or the four Symphonies any more than Brahms
could have composed “Tristan.” In
the combination of arts which Wagner fused into a
stupendous whole, he stands without a rival.
But Brahms is also a mighty composer in his line of
effort, for he created music that continually grows
in beauty as it is better known.
Johannes Brahms was born in Hamburg,
May 7, 1833. The house at 60 Speckstrasse still
stands, and doubtless looks much as it did seventy
years ago. A locality of dark, narrow streets
with houses tall and gabled and holding as many families
as possible. Number 60 stands in a dismal court,
entered by a close narrow passage. A steep wooden
staircase in the center, used to have gates, closed
at night. Jakob and Johanna lived in the first
floor dwelling to the left. It consisted of a
sort of lobby or half kitchen, a small living room
and a tiny sleeping closet-nothing else.
In this and other small tenements like it, the boy’s
early years were spent. It certainly was an ideal
case of low living and high thinking.
The Brahms family were musical but
very poor in this world’s goods. The father
was a contra bass player in the theater; he often
had to play in dance halls and beer gardens, indeed
where he could. Later he became a member of the
band that gave nightly concerts at the Alster
Pavillion. The mother, much older than her husband,
tried to help out the family finances by keeping a
little shop where needles and thread were sold.
Little Johannes, or Hannes as he was
called, was surrounded from his earliest years by
a musical atmosphere, and must have shown a great
desire to study music. We learn that his father
took him to Otto Cossel, to arrange for piano lessons.
Hannes was seven years old, pale and delicate looking,
fair, with blue eyes and a mass of flaxen hair.
The father said:
“Herr Cossel, I wish my son
to become your pupil; he wants so much to learn the
piano. When he can play as well as you do it will
be enough.”
Hannes was docile, eager and quick
to learn. He had a wonderful memory and made
rapid progress. In three years a concert was arranged
for him, at which he played in chamber music with
several other musicians of Hamburg. The concert
was both a financial and artistic success. Not
long after this, Cossel induced Edward Marxsen, a distinguished
master and his own teacher, to take full charge of
the lad’s further musical training. Hannes
was about twelve at the time.
Marxsen’s interest in the boy’s
progress increased from week to week, as he realized
his talents. “One day I gave him a composition
of Weber’s,” he says. “The
next week he played it to me so blamelessly that I
praised him. ‘I have also practised it in
another way,’ he answered, and played me the
right hand part with the left hand.” Part
of the work of the lessons was to transpose long pieces
at sight; later on Bach’s Preludes and Fugues
were done in the same way.
Jakob Brahms, who as we have seen
was in very poor circumstances, was ready to exploit
Hannes’ gift whenever occasion offered.
He had the boy play in the band concerts in the Alster
Pavillion, which are among the daily events of the
city’s popular life, as all know who are acquainted
with Hamburg, and his shillings earned in this and
similar ways, helped out the family’s scanty
means. But late hours began to tell on the boy’s
health. His father begged a friend of his, a wealthy
patron of music, to take the lad to his summer home,
in return for which he would play the piano at any
time of day desired and give music lessons to the
young daughter of the family, a girl of about his
own age.
Thus it came about that early in May,
1845, Hannes had his first taste of the delights of
the country. He had provided himself with a small
dumb keyboard, to exercise his fingers upon. Every
morning, after he had done what was necessary in the
house, Hannes was sent afield by the kind mistress
of the household, and told not to show himself till
dinner time. Perhaps the good mistress did not
know that Hannes had enjoyed himself out of doors
hours before. He used to rise at four o’clock
and begin his day with a bath in the river. Shortly
after this the little girl, Lischen, would join him
and they would spend a couple of hours rambling about,
looking for bird’s nests, hunting butterflies
and picking wild flowers. Hannes’ pale cheeks
soon became plump and ruddy, as the result of fresh
air and country food. Musical work went right
on as usual. Studies in theory and composition,
begun with Marxsen, were pursued regularly in the
fields and woods all summer.
When the summer was over and all were
back in Hamburg again, Lischen used to come sometimes
to Frau Brahms, of whom she soon grew very fond.
But it troubled her tender heart to see the poor little
flat so dark and dreary; for even the living room
had but one small window, looking into the cheerless
courtyard. She felt very sorry for her friends,
and proposed to Hannes they should bring some scarlet
runners to be planted in the court. He fell in
with the idea at once and it was soon carried out.
But alas, when the children had done their part, the
plants refused to grow.
Johannes had returned home much improved
in health, and able to play in several small concerts,
where his efforts commanded attention. The winter
passed uneventfully, filled with severe study by day
and equally hard labor at night in playing for the
“lokals.” But the next summer in
Winsen brought the country and happiness once more.
Hannes began to be known as a musician
among the best families of Winsen, and often played
in their homes. He also had the chance to conduct
a small chorus of women’s voices, called the
Choral Society of Winsen. He was expected to
turn his theoretical studies to account by composing
something for this choir. It was for them he produced
his “A B C” song for four parts, using
the letters of the alphabet. The composition
ended with the words “Winsen, eighteen-hundred
seven and forty,” sung slowly and fortissimo.
The little piece was tuneful and was a great favorite
with the teachers, from that day to this.
The boy had never heard an opera.
During the summer, when Carl Formes, then of Vienna,
was making a sensation in Hamburg, Lischen got her
father to secure places and take them. The opera
was the “Marriage of Figaro.” Hannes
was almost beside himself with delight. “Lischen,
listen to the music! there was never anything like
it,” he cried over and over again. The
father, seeing it gave so much pleasure, took the
children again to hear another opera, to their great
delight.
But the happy summer came to an end
and sadness fell, to think Johannes must leave them,
for he had found many kind friends in Winsen.
He was over fifteen now and well knew he must make
his way as a musician, help support the family, and
pay for the education of his brother Fritz, who was
to become a pianist and teacher. There was a
farewell party made for him in Winsen, at which there
was much music, speech making and good wishes for
his future success and for his return to Winsen whenever
he could.
Johannes made his new start by giving
a concert of his own on September 21, 1848. The
tickets for this concert were one mark; he had the
assistance of some Hamburg musicians. In April
next, 1849, he announced a second concert, for which
the tickets were two marks. At this he played
the Beethoven “Waldstein Sonata,” and the
brilliant “Don Juan Fantaisie.”
These two works were considered about the top of piano
virtuosity. Meanwhile the boy was always composing
and still with his teacher Marxsen.
The political revolution of 1848,
was the cause of many refugees crowding into Hamburg
on their way to America. One of these was the
violinist, Edward Remenyi, a German Hungarian Jew,
whose real name was Hofmann. But it seemed Remenyi
was really in no haste to leave Hamburg. Johannes,
engaged as accompanist at the house of a wealthy patron,
met the violinist and was fascinated by his rendering
of national Hungarian music. Remenyi, on his
side, saw the advantage of having such an accompanist
for his own use. So it happened the two played
together frequently for a time, until the violinist
disappeared from Germany, for several years.
He reappeared in Hamburg at the close of the year
1852. He was then twenty-two, while Brahms was
nineteen. It was suggested that the two musicians
should do a little concert work together. They
began to plan out the trip which became quite a tour
by the time they had included all the places they wished
to visit.
The tour began at Winsen, then came
Cella. Here a curious thing happened. The
piano proved to be a half tone below pitch, but Brahms
was equal to the dilemma. Requesting Remenyi to
tune his violin a half tone higher, making it a whole
tone above the piano, he then, at sight, transposed
the Beethoven Sonata they were to play. It was
really a great feat, but Johannes performed it as though
it were an every day affair.
The next place was Lüneburg and
there the young musician had such success that a second
concert was at once announced. Two were next
given at Hildesheim. Then came Leipsic, Hanover
and after that Weimer, where Franz Liszt and his retinue
of famous pupils held court. Here Johannes became
acquainted with Raff, Klindworth, Mason, Pruekner and
other well-known musicians.
By this time his relations with Remenyi
had become somewhat irksome and strained and he decided
to break off this connection. One morning he
suddenly left Weimar, and traveled to Goettingen.
There he met Joseph Joachim, whom he had long wished
to know, and who was the reigning violinist of his
time. Without any announcement, Johannes walked
in on the great artist, and they became fast friends
almost at once. Joachim had never known what
it was to struggle; he had had success from the very
start; life had been one long triumph, whereas Johannes
had come from obscurity and had been reared in privation.
At this time Johannes was a fresh faced boy, with
long fair hair and deep earnest blue eyes. Wuellner,
the distinguished musician of Cologne, thus describes
him: “Brahms, at twenty, was a slender youth,
with long blond hair and a veritable St. John’s
head, from whose eyes shone energy and spirit.”
Johannes was at this time deeply engaged
on his piano Sonata in F minor, O. He had
already written two other piano sonatas, as yet little
known. The O, is now constantly heard in concert
rooms, played by the greatest artists of our time.
In disposition Hannes was kindly and
sincere; as a youth merry and gay. A friend in
Duesseldorf, where he now spent four weeks, thus describes
him:
“He was a most unusual looking
young musician, hardly more than a boy, in his short
summer coat, with his high-pitched voice and long fair
hair. Especially fine was his energetic, characteristic
mouth, and his earnest, deep gaze. His constitution
was thoroughly healthy; the most strenuous mental
exercise hardly fatigued him and he could go to sleep
at any hour of the day he pleased. He was apt
to be full of pranks, too. At the piano he dominated
by his characteristic, powerful, and when necessary,
extraordinarily tender playing.” Schumann,
whom he now came to know in Duesseldorf, called him
the “young eagle-one of the elect.”
In fact Schumann, in his musical journal, praised the
young musician most highly. And his kindness
did not stop there. He wrote to Hannes’
father, Jakob Brahms, in Hamburg, commending in glowing
terms his son’s compositions. This letter
was sent to Johannes and the result was the offering
of some of his compositions to Breitkopf and Haertel
for publication. He had already written two Sonatas,
a Scherzo, and a Sonata for piano and violin.
The Sonata in C, now known as Op. I, although
not his first work, was the one in which he introduced
himself to the public. For, as he said: “When
one first shows one’s self, it is to the head
and not to the heels that one wishes to draw attention.”
Johannes made his first appearance
in Leipsic, as pianist and composer, at one of the
David Quartet Concerts, at which he played his C major
Sonata and the Scherzo. His success was immediate,
and as a result, he was able to secure a second publisher
for his Sonata O.
And now, after months of traveling,
playing in many towns and meeting with many musicians
and distinguished people, Johannes turned his steps
toward Hamburg, and was soon in the bosom of the home
circle. It is easy to imagine the mother’s
joy, for Hannes had always been the apple of her eye,
and she had kept her promise faithfully, to write
him a letter every week. But who shall measure
the father’s pride and satisfaction to have
his boy return a real musical hero?
The concert journey just completed
was the bridge over which Johannes Brahms passed from
youth to manhood. With the opening year of 1854,
he may be said to enter the portals of a new life.
He now betook himself to Hanover,
to be near his devoted friend Joachim, plunged into
work and was soon absorbed in the composition of his
B major Piano Trio. Later Schumann and his charming
wife, the pianist, came to Hanover for a week’s
visit, which was the occasion for several concerts
in which Brahms, Joachim and Clara Schumann took part.
Soon after this Schumann’s health failed and
he was removed to a sanatorium. In sympathy for
the heavy trial now to be borne by Clara Schumann,
both young artists came to Duesseldorf, to be near
the wife of their adored master, Robert Schumann.
There they remained and by their encouragement so
lifted the spirits of Frau Clara that she was able
to resume her musical activities.
Johann had been doing some piano teaching
when not occupied with composition. But now,
on the advice of his musical friends, he decided to
try his luck again as a concert pianist. He began
by joining Frau Clara and Joachim in a concert at
Danzig. Each played solos. Johann’s
were Bach’s “Chromatic Fantaisie”
and several manuscript pieces of his own. After
this the young artist went his own way. He played
with success in Bremen, also in Hamburg. It is
said he was always nervous before playing, but especially
so in his home city. However all passed off well.
He now settled definitely in Hamburg, making musical
trips to other places when necessary.
Robert Schumann rallied for a while
from his severe malady, and hopes were held out of
his final recovery. Frau Clara, having her little
family to support, resumed her concert playing in good
earnest, and appeared with triumphant success in Vienna,
London and many other cities. When possible Brahms
and Joachim accompanied her. Then Schumann’s
malady took an unfavorable turn. When the end
was near, Brahms and Frau Clara went to Endenich and
were with the master till all was over. On July
31, 1856, a balmy summer evening, the mortal remains
of the great composer were laid to rest in the little
cemetery at Bonn, on the Rhine. The three chief
mourners were: Brahms-who carried
a laurel wreath from the wife-Joachim and
Dietrich.
Frau Schumann returned to Duesseldorf
the next day, accompanied by Brahms and Joachim.
Together they set in order the papers left by the
composer, and assisted the widow in many little ways.
A little later she went to Switzerland to recover
her strength, accompanied by Brahms and his sister
Elise. A number of weeks were spent in rest and
recuperation. By October the three musicians were
ready to take up their ordinary routine again.
Frau Clara began practising for her concert season,
Joachim returned to his post in Hanover, and Johann
turned his face toward Hamburg, giving some concerts
on the way, in which he achieved pronounced success.
The season of 1856-7, was passed uneventfully
by Brahms, in composing, teaching and occasional journeys.
He may be said to have had four homes, besides that
of his parents in Hamburg. In Duesseldorf, Hanover,
Goettingen and Bonn he had many friends and was always
welcome.
It may be asked why Brahms, who had
the faculty of endearing himself so warmly to his
friends, never married. It is true he sometimes
desired to found a home of his own, but in reality
the mistress of his absorbing passion was his art,
to which everything else remained secondary.
He never swerved a hair’s breadth from this devotion
to creative art, but accepted poverty, disappointment,
loneliness and often failure in the eyes of the world,
for the sake of this, his true love.
Johannes was now engaged as conductor
of a Choral Society in Detmold, also as Court Pianist
and teacher in the royal family. The post carried
with it free rooms and living, and he was lodged at
the Hotel Stadt Frankfort, a comfortable inn, exactly
opposite the Castle, and thus close to the scene of
his new labors.
He began his duties by going through
many short choral works of the older and modern masters.
With other musicians at Court much chamber music was
played, in fact almost the entire repertoire.
The young musician soon became a favorite at Court,
not only on account of his musical genius but also
because of the general culture of his mind. He
could talk on almost any subject. “Whoever
wishes to play well must not only practise a great
deal but read many books,” was one of his favorite
sayings. One of his friends said, of meetings
in Brahms’ rooms at night, when his boon companions
reveled in music: “And how Brahms loved
the great masters! How he played Haydn and Mozart!
With what beauty of interpretation and delicate shading
of tone. And then his transposing!” Indeed
Johann thought nothing of taking up a new composition
and playing it in any key, without a mistake.
His score reading was marvelous. Bach, Handel,
Mozart, Haydn, all seemed to flow naturally from under
his fingers.
The post in Detmold only required
Brahms’ presence a part of the year, but he
was engaged for a term of years. The other half
of the year was spent in Hamburg, where he resumed
his activities of composing and teaching. The
summer after his first winter in Detmold was spent
in Goettingen with warm friends. Clara Schumann
was there with her children, and Johann was always
one of the family-as a son to her.
He was a famous playfellow for the children, too.
About this time he wrote a book of charming Children’s
Folk Songs, dedicated to the children of Robert and
Clara Schumann. Johann was occupied with his
Piano Concerto in D minor. His method of working
was somewhat like Beethoven’s, as he put down
his ideas in notebooks. Later on he formed the
habit of keeping several compositions going at once.
The prelude to Johann’s artistic
life was successfully completed. Then came a
period of quiet study and inward growth. A deeper
activity was to succeed. It opened early in the
year 1859, when the young musician traveled to Hanover
and Leipsic, bringing out his Concerto in D minor.
He performed it in the first named city, while Joachim
conducted the orchestra. It was said the work
“with all its serious striving, its rejection
of the trivial, its skilled instrumentation, seemed
difficult to understand; but the pianist was considered
not merely a virtuoso but a great artist of piano
playing.”
The composer had now to hurry to Leipsic,
as he was to play with the famous Gewandhaus orchestra.
How would Leipsic behave towards this new and serious
music? Johann was a dreamer, inexperienced in
the ways of the world; he was an idealist-in
short, a genius gifted with an “imagination,
profound, original and romantic.” The day
after the concert he wrote Joachim he had made a brilliant
and decided failure. However he was not a whit
discouraged by the apathy of the Leipsigers toward
his new work. He wrote: “The Concerto
will please some day, when I have made some improvements,
and a second shall sound quite different.”
It has taken more than half a century
to establish the favor of the Concerto, which still
continues on upward wing. The writer heard the
composer play this Concerto in Berlin, toward the end
of his life. He made an unforgettable figure,
as he sat at the piano with his long hair and beard,
turning to gray; and while his technic was not of
the virtuoso type, he created a powerful impression
by his vivid interpretation.
After these early performances of
the Concerto, Johann returned to Hamburg, to his composing
and teaching. He, however, played the Concerto
in his native city on a distinguished occasion, when
Joachim was a soloist in Spohr’s Gesang-Scene,
Stockhausen in a magnificent Aria, and then Johann,
pale, blond, slight, but calm and self controlled.
The Concerto scored a considerable success at last,
and the young composer was content.
In the autumn of this year, Johann
paid his third visit to Detmold, and found himself
socially as well as musically the fashion. It
was the correct thing to have lessons from him and
his presence gave distinction to any assemblage.
But Johann did not wish to waste his time at social
functions; when obliged to be present at some of these
events he would remain silent the entire evening, or
else say sharp or biting things, making the hosts
regret they had asked him. His relations with
the Court family, however, remained very pleasant.
Yet he began to chafe under the constant demands on
his time, and the rigid etiquette of the little Court.
The next season he definitely declined the invitation
to revisit Detmold, the reason given was that he had
not the time, as he was supervising the publication
of a number of his works. Brahms had become interested
in writing for the voice, and had already composed
any number of beautiful vocal solos and part songs.
We are told that Frau Schumann, Joachim
and Stockhausen came frequently to Hamburg during
the season of 1861, and all three made much of Johannes.
All four gave concerts together, and Johannes took
part in a performance of Schumann’s beautiful
Andante and Variations, for two pianos, while Stockhausen
sang entrancingly Beethoven’s Love Songs, accompanied
by Brahms. On one occasion Brahms played his
Variations on a Handel Theme, “another magnificent
work, splendidly long, the stream of ideas flowing
inexhaustibly. And the work was wonderfully played
by the composer; it seemed like a miracle. The
composition is so difficult that none but a great artist
can attempt it.” So wrote a listener at
the time. That was in 1861. We know this
wonderful work in these days, for all the present time
artists perform it. At each of Frau Schumann’s
three appearances in Hamburg during the autumn of
this year, she performed one of Brahms’ larger
compositions; one of them was the Handel Variations.
Although one time out of ten Johann
might be taciturn or sharp, the other nine he would
be agreeable, always pleased-good humored,
satisfied, like a child with children. Every one
liked his earnest nature, his gaiety and humor.
Johann had had a great longing to
see Vienna, the home of so many great musicians; but
felt that when the right time came, the way would
open. And it did. Early in September, 1862,
he wrote a friend: “I am leaving on Monday,
the eighth, for Vienna. I look forward to it like
a child.”
He felt at home in Vienna from the
start, and very soon met the leading lights of the
Austrian capital. On November 16, he gave his
first concert, with the Helmesberger Quartet, and before
a crowded house. It was a real success for “Schumann’s
young prophet.” Although concert giving
was distasteful, he appeared again on December 20,
and then gave a second concert on January 6, 1863,
when he played Bach’s Chromatic Fantaisie,
Beethoven’s Variations in C minor, his own Sonata
O, and Schumann’s Sonata O.
Johann returned home in May, and shortly
after was offered the post of Conductor of the Singakademie,
which had just become vacant. He had many plans
for the summer, but finally relinquished them and sent
an acceptance. By the last of August he was again
in Vienna.
Now followed years of a busy musical
life. Brahms made his headquarters in Vienna,
and while there did much composing. The wonderful
Piano Quintette, one of his greatest works, the German
Requiem, the Cantata Rinaldo and many beautiful songs
came into being during this period. Every little
while concert tours and musical journeys were undertaken,
where Brahms often combined with other artists in
giving performances of his compositions. A series
of three concerts in Vienna in February and March,
1869, given by Brahms and Stockhausen, were phenomenally
successful, the tickets being sold as soon as the
concerts were announced. The same series was given
in Budapest with equal success.
Early in the year 1872, when our composer
was nearly forty, we find him installed in the historic
rooms in the third floor of Number 4 Carl’s
Gasse, Vienna, which were to remain to the end of his
life the nearest approach to an establishment of his
own. There were three small rooms. The largest
contained his grand piano, writing table, a sofa with
another table in front of it. The composer was
still smooth of face and looked much as he did at
twenty, judging from his pictures. It was not
until several years later, about 1880, that he was
adorned by the long heavy beard, which gave his face
such a venerable appearance.
The year 1874, was full of varied
excitement. Many invitations were accepted to
conduct his works in North Germany, the Rhine, Switzerland,
and other countries. A tour in Holland in 1876,
brought real joy. He played his D minor Concerto
in Utrecht and other cities, conducted his works and
was everywhere received with honors. But the
greatest event of this year was the appearance of his
first Symphony. It was performed for the first
time from manuscript in Carlsruhe and later in many
other cities. In this work “Brahms’
close affinity with Beethoven must become clear to
every musician, who has not already perceived it,”
wrote Hanslick, the noted critic.
We have now to observe the unwearied
energy with which Brahms, during the years that followed
added one after another to his list, in each and every
branch of serious music; songs, vocal duets, choral
and instrumental works. In the summer of 1877
came the Second Symphony. In 1879 appeared the
great Violin Concerto, now acclaimed as one of the
few masterpieces for that instrument. It was performed
by Joachim at the Gewandhaus, Leipsic, early in the
year. There were already four Sonatas for Piano
and Violin. The Sonata in G, the Rhapsodies
O and the third and fourth books of Hungarian
Dances, as duets, were the publications of 1880.
He now wrote a new Piano Concerto, in B flat, which
he played in Stuttgart for the first time, November
22, 1881. In 1883 the Third Symphony appeared,
which revealed him at the zenith of his powers.
This work celebrated his fiftieth birthday.
The Fourth Symphony was completed
during the summer of 1885. Then came the Gipsy
Songs.
From 1889 onward, Brahms chose for
his summer sojourn the town of Ischl, in the Salzkammergut.
The pretty cottage where he stayed was on the outskirts
of the town, near the rushing river Traun. He
always dined at the “Keller” of the Hotel
Elizabeth, which was reached by a flight of descending
steps. In this quiet country, among mountain,
valley and stream, he could compose at ease and also
see his friends at the end of the day.
A visit to Italy in the spring of
1890, afforded rest, refreshment and many pleasant
incidents.
The “Four Serious Songs,”
were published in the summer of 1896. At this
time Brahms had been settled in his rooms at Ischl
scarcely a fortnight when he was profoundly shaken
by news of Clara Schumann’s death. She
passed peacefully away in Frankfort, and was laid beside
her husband, in Bonn, May 24. Brahms was present,
together with many musicians and celebrities.
The master felt this loss keenly.
He spent the summer in Ischl as usual, composing,
among other things, the Eleven Choral Preludes.
Most of these have death for their subject, showing
that his mind was taken up with the idea. His
friends noticed he had lost his ruddy color and that
his complexion was pale. In the autumn he went
to Carlsbad for the cure.
After six weeks he returned to Vienna,
but not improved, as he had become very thin and walked
with faltering step. He loved to be with his
friends, the Fellingers, as much as possible, as well
as with other friends. He spent Christmas eve
with them, and dined there the next day. From
this time on he grew worse. He was very gentle
the last months of his life, and touchingly grateful
for every attention shown him. Every evening
he would place himself at the piano and improvise
for half an hour. When too fatigued to continue,
he would sit at the window till long after darkness
had fallen. He gradually grew weaker till he
passed peacefully away, April 3, 1897.
The offer of an honorary grave was
made by the city of Vienna, and he has found resting
place near Beethoven and Mozart, just as he had wished.
Memorial tablets have been placed
on the houses in which Brahms lived in Vienna, Ischl
and Thun, also on the house of his birth, in Hamburg.